Carbon Timber Company

Construction of the Union Pacific Railroad stimulated the growth of the timber industry in southern Wyoming. Two companies began supplying ties to the railroad in 1868, but the firm of Coe and Carter was the leading supplier to the Fort Fred Steele collection yards until 1896. Cut and shaped in the Medicine Bow Mountains to the south, ties were floated downriver during the spring run-off and were gathered behind a boom here. Coe and Carter also supplied timbers for coal mines at Carbon, Hanna and Dana to the east, and lumber for buildings at Fort Fred Steel and the surrounding area. The Carbon Timber Company, successor to Coe and Carter, floated over 1.5 million timbers down the North Platte in 1909. Directly across the North Platte River east of Fort Steele are the remains of the Carbon Timber Company tie processing facility, a privately-owned site.

Wyoming · United States