Piedmont WY September 2020
A good friend recommended this Ghost Town. It just so happened I was going close to that area in the fall of 2020, so I took a little side trip to see what was left. I was impressed and upset. Numerous buildings to see but vandals had stolen information plaques, removed and destroy headstones in the small cemetery plus other damage to buildings. Will it never stop?
First known as Byrne after Moses Byrne one of the two founders of the town. That proved to be confusing with Bryan, so it was renamed to Piedmont. The charcoal kilns helped in the growth and success of the town. As they supplied the RR and mines of the area. They had a population of near 400 mostly RR workers in the roundhouse, mechanical shop and telegraph office.
Guess who was here…. Martha (calamity) Jane – Butch Cassidy – Vice President of Union Pacific Railroad Thomas C Durant. Jane was just a young girl of about 13 and was a babysitter till she was fired and then she worked in a boarding house. Butch stopped by before he and his associate went to Montpelier Idaho and withdrew about $7,000 in gold from the First National Bank.
As for Thomas Durant he was detained in Piedmont and forced to stay overnight. He was on the way to the joining of the Transcontinental RR. It seems the RR workers at Piedmont had not received their paychecks recently. Being resourceful employees when they realized the Vice President of the RR was coming through, they staked RR ties on the tracks to block the train from leaving the depot. He was forced to wire for money to pay the employees. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $300K.
By the way if you think we have some corrupt politicians and businessman today you should read about him. A shining star for the greedy,