Home On the Range, Wyoming (aka Jeffrey City)

Thanks for the coverage I’ve been working on putting the Homestead back together for almost 2 decades now – My grandfather built Home on the Range and it is a passion for me!

I only was there for a short time, the summer and fall of 1975. My Dad was there from 1967 tell 1978. I work on Sheep Mountain 1 when they were dropping the shaft.
All so was at the Goose. My Dad was the lead mechanic at the Goose.
I remember the town as being a little rowdy. I was single and at that time there were only three woman in town that was single. It was there that I new I would some day live in Wyoming.

I lived in the Jeffrey City area from 1966 to 1996. I started school there in the fall of 1967, third grade. The class (1976) was the first class, which went all the way through K-12. All of the preceding classes spent at least one year in Lander.

My dad was a principle contractor in the building of the town during the boom years 1975-1980. I poured most of the concrete,which covers the ground. We also poured the concrete for the new high school building and the gym building. After the boom died, a lot of my friends left and went elsewhere. Back when I could get out, I would make contact with them in the strangest places.

Deena, was Charlie Ogg your father..

Deena, I remember a Charlie Ogg. Is that your father, brother etc..my father is Stewart Smith worked at split rock mill for 24 years he passed four years ago. We had lots of conversation about j.c. over the years and his co-workers Charlie was mentioned. The last time I was in j.c 2007 it was strange I saw only 5 people most at the split rock cafe and several antalope following me as I walked around the closed school house. Ha. I’m still in touch with one former j.c. resident Rich Fairseris out of Casper
Do you know anyone else…Mike

I first visited Jeffrey City in 1990….I was escorted there by my fiance’ Bill Coats…his parents William and Dorothy Coats ran the Coats Motel until about 2004 when Williams health failed and they sold the Motel…William passed away in 2005 followed by Dorothy in 2007….my first impression was curiosity—all the sidewalks, curb and gutter and empty foundations spoke of the life that once filled the air with delightful aromas of dinner, and the sounds of bicycles, baseball and rollerskates that put those poor abandoned sidewalks to good use. We always enjoyed our trips back to see G’ma and G’pa Coats…..spent primarily indoors…cuz the ‘skeeters’ in Jeffrey City wereof prehistoric proportions!

Moved to JC in 1959 and left in 1980. It was an amazing place, full of amazing people (coming, going, and staying)! From the old ranchers on the Sweetwater to the tramp miners that moved through, they all shaped a lot of lives. Every week was a new adventure!

OH HOW THIS HAS CHANGED OVER THE YEARS.
LIVED THERE FROM 1969 TO 1982? OR SO.

Lived there from 1960 till 1973..second grade thru 12th-lander-grad 71. Moved my folks out in 81 to California where I lived still do. Crazy but interesting place to grow up.

Thank you for taking the time to notice our quaint little, ghost town now. You had to grow up and be from there to really understand the great place it was to grow up and be from. It was a place you got up in the morning played and explored all day and had to be home when the street lights came on.