Historic Wyoming Hole, Hidding In Plane Sight

It's a good idea, when visiting a historic site, to look around to see what clues of the past might be right under your nose.

Ames Monument is one of those places that will keep your eyes focused on the monument right in front of you.

But everyone has been missing something important, just a few yards away.

This has been hiding in plain sight for 50 years.

This is the original turntable pit at the original summit of Sherman Hill, just a couple of hundred yards from the Ames Monument.

This original alignment was built in 1868 and abandoned around 1901 when the new and current alignment was opened.

 

This route passed directly by Sherman, WY, and the Ames Monument (which was built later, in 1882–85 to mark the highest point on this alignment — 8,247 ft, about 200 feet higher than the current summit, which is about 2 miles east). (Abandoned Rails Facebook Page).

 

Completed in 1882 at a cost of $65,000, this monolithic, 60-foot-high granite pyramid was built by the Union Pacific Railroad Company.

It stands on the highest elevation (8,247 feet) of the original transcontinental railroad route. Trains passed close by the north side of the monument, where the rail town of Sherman once stood.

In 1901, the railroad route was relocated several miles to the south, leaving the pyramid as a marker of the original route.

The monument serves as a memorial to the Ames brothers of Massachusetts. Oakes (1804 - 1873) and Oliver (1807-1877), whose wealth, influence, talent, and work were key factors in the construction of the first coast-to-coast railroad in North America.

The contribution made by Oakes was especially significant despite being implicated in a 1873 scandal involving the financing of the railroad construction.