Being Watched

Anyone who has taken Interstate 80 across southern Wyoming can tell you…well, not much at all. Besides a couple of restored forts and plenty of Antelope, most people who have taken this route consider it a particularly boring drive. As for myself, I have taken this way many times and cannot vouch for a ton of excitement either. However, in the eastern section, just past Laramie, there is a stretch of a few miles that I like to call the Road Through Weirdness.

There is nothing like cruising east over a mountain pass in Wyoming and being caught off guard at the site of a gargantuan Abraham Lincoln head staring down at you. One’s first words might be, “Why is Lincoln here, in eastern Wyoming?” It does seem awkward and grossly out of place.

In actuality, it is a rather fitting place for the huge bronze head, atop a towering stone pedestal, of honest Abe. Presiding over a rest area, this monument stands as a tribute to the highest point between New York and San Francisco along the Lincoln Highway. Built in 1959, It originally stood on the facing hill that the famous route crested. When it was bypassed by I-80, ten years later, it was moved here so it would not be lost along with the old route. It is situated within Medicine Bow Park.

The only odd part of it, for me, is the grave look on Abe’s face. He looks either severely constipated or very dissatisfied with the view. Then again, who would appear cheery having to look down upon the madness of Interstate 80 all day, every day.

On a happier note, this stop fulfilled a childhood curiosity. There is a photo of my Grandmother standing before this monument, taken in the 1960’s. Growing up, I used to look at it and wonder where in the heck this place was! I wonder no more.

If this first stop was not weird enough for you, keep on reading!

 

A Pyramid in the Middle of Nowhere

There is a pyramid on the plains of Wyoming. That’s right, a pyramid! I doubt there are any secret tunnels, tombs, or an alien connection to this one. Likewise, it is much smaller and not nearly as old as the fabled site at Giza.

It is a few minutes down the road from the afore mentioned Lincoln head, on a local ranch road, only moments from the pavement.  Also, it is here for a similar reason. Although the tracks are long gone, this pyramid, built in 1882, marks the highest point of the transcontinental Railroad at 8,247 feet. The pyramid itself peaks at 60 feet.

Officially, it is called “The Ames Brothers Monument.” Oaks Ames: A U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts, and Oliver Ames, who became President of The Union Pacific Railroad, were accredited as the financiers that connected the nation by railroad in 1869.

Interestingly enough, it appears their methods of acquiring the funds were not wholly ethical. An investigation implicated Oaks with fraud, Subsequently, he was censured by congress and forced to resign his position. He died a short time later.

The Ames brothers were still labeled by many as “Kings of Fraud” in 1882 when the monument was finished. This led many to believe that a monument to crooks existed on the plains of Wyoming.

A small railroad town, called Sherman, existed there as well. Often when trains stopped there, the passengers would examine the pyramid, sometimes climbing all over it. But in the early 1900’s the tracks were moved three miles distant and the town vanished, all but for a small cemetery.

The pyramid stands all alone now, as a monument to the railroad, or to crooks, or to the often-bizarre nature of American history.

 

Tree in the Rock

As the subtitle suggests, it is a tree growing out of a rock. And right in the middle of the freeway too! It is a pine tree; a Limber Pine to be exact. It is not growing out of some soft sedimentary rock either. Its growing out of good old fashioned billion-year-old granite.

When the tracks were laid for the railroad here in the 1860’s, the workers, amazed by this site, diverted the tracks off to the side to protect it. In the early 1900’s the Lincoln Highway carefully avoided it as well. However, when I-80 was built, it came straight on through, leaving the Tree in the Rock on an island between the east bound and west bound lanes.

For over 150 years it has been a source for pictures and postcards. It is unknown how old the tree is, but Limber Pines can live as long as two thousand years. It is an interesting site and there is a turnoff into the island to access it.

It is a tree growing out of a rock. And that’s all I have to say about that.

 

Highs and Lows

This short reprieve through weirdness dead ends at a place called Buford. Buford is a town that serves three notable distinctions. Along I-80 it is the highest town at an elevation of 8000 feet. It is also the town with the lowest population. The last count credited one soul in the town, but my own inspection of the place led me to believe it may have dropped by one. Buford also has its very own zip code.

However, Buford was not always so dismal. Founded in 1866 as a military outpost to protect the construction of the transcontinental railroad, it turned into a railroad town a few years later. The population swelled to 2000 people, consisting of railroad workers and merchants. A school existed here from 1905 until 1962. A post office, opened in 1899, operated for over a hundred years.

In 2012 the town was auctioned off to a Vietnamese businessman. He opened Phin Deli Coffee in the convenience store. He imported this very select coffee from Vietnam, but not too many people wanted to stop in Buford. Phin Deli folded in 2017 and the building is now boarded up and beginning to dilapidate, along with the other few remaining structures in Buford.

 

The Lincoln Monument, The Ames Brothers Pyramid Monument, The Tree in the Rock and Buford are all minutes from one another, beginning about 11 miles east of Laramie. This is a great way to break up the monotony of the long trek through Wyoming, before hitting the exciting plains of Nebraska. Almost any road has something interesting to be found.

For more information on Wyoming’s points of interest visit https://travelwyoming.com/things-to-do/historic-sites To learn about another weird roadside attraction on my blog, click on https://outerrealmz.com/thunder-mountain-monument-one-mans-desert-utopia/