Mar 5

Mar 5 Carbon County

The wagon ruts were quieted when the transcontinental railroad was built in 1869. Now people fly, or drive across Interstate Highways missing all the little whistle stops that are quiet along the nearby two-lane roads. Since America's destiny was deemed manifest (for better or worse), the landscape here has often been crossed in search of something more such as: California Gold, Utah Salt, or Oregon Timber. Carbon County, Wyoming was named after extensive coal deposits, when the Union Pacific Railroad began mining the area to fuel its steam locomotives. This is a region where American women first received the right to vote, and bandits such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid roamed, and robbed.

After an artist residency in 2015, I quickly became enamored with this land. As a native borne New Yorker, it beckoned me to return, and in 2017 as a result I sought employment at a private dude ranch. Wyoming and Carbon County grew ever larger in my imagination after we settled in as a family. Through popular culture I inherited a false mythos of the American West as a place of abundance and adventure. I strove to unburden myself from this flawed perception as I began searching for a notion of a True West shaped through a better understanding of its history. A metaphor within the title revealed itself. Carbon is to unquenchable desire for experience and resource, as County is to its untenable, bordered end.

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<span>Chasing the Union Pacific Along US 30, Wyoming</span>

<span>Lightposts at the Town Border, Saratoga, Woming</span>

<span>Kimatha and Wyatt, Medicine Bow, Wyoming</span>

<span>The Road to Muddy Gap, North of Rawlins, Wyoming</span>

<span>Wrangler, Brush Creek Ranch, Wyoming</span>

<span>Conical Burner, Grand Encampment, Wyoming</span>

<span>Shadowchaser, Brush Creek Ranch, Wyoming</span>

<span>Rodeo Overture, Brush Creek Ranch, Wyoming</span>

<span>Frontier Justice, Rawlins, Wyoming</span>

<span>Ranch Boys, North of Rawlins, Wyoming</span>

<span>Rodeo Moonrise, Brush Creek, Wyoming</span>

<span>Memorial a los muertos, Rawlins, Wyoming</span>

<span>The Cemetery at Old Carbon, Wyoming</span>

<span>Executive, Carbon County, Wyoming</span>

<span>Ride on Faith, Saratoga, Wyoming</span>

<span>Cattle Drive, Carbon County, Wyoming</span>

<span>Water Tanks, Wamsutter, Wyoming</span>

<span>Ramon, Carbon County, Wyoming</span>

<span>Beetle Kill, Medicine Bow Forest, Wyoming</span>

<span>Bull Rider, Brush Creek Ranch, Wyoming</span>

<span>Town Deer, Saratoga, Wyoming</span>

<span>Clearing Storm, Saratoga, Wyoming</span>

<span>County Sign, Near Muddy Gap, Wyoming</span>

Chasing the Union Pacific Along US 30, WyomingCompleted in 1869 the main route of the original transcontinental railroad still runs through Carbon County, Wyoming.

Chasing the Union Pacific Along US 30, Wyoming

Completed in 1869 the main route of the original transcontinental railroad still runs through Carbon County, Wyoming.

Lightposts at the Town Border, Saratoga, Woming

Two lightposts sit in a field outside Saratoga, Wyoming as a storm crosses the landscape.

Kimatha and Wyatt, Medicine Bow, Wyoming

Kimatha, wearing a long denim duster, stands with one of her two Great Danes in a field outside Medicine Bow, Wyoming.

The Road to Muddy Gap, North of Rawlins, Wyoming

Route 287 stretches off to the horizon as the sky clears above the landscape of Carbon County.

Wrangler, Brush Creek Ranch, Wyoming

A wrangler sits on a gate at an annual rodeo and watches the event.

Conical Burner, Grand Encampment, Wyoming

A conical burner (also known as a wig-wam or teepee burner) sits in a field in the town of Grand Encampment, Wyoming. These structures were long used for burning off scrap wood.