Wyoming Commentary
Wyoming Atlas of Historical County
Boundaries
John H. Long, Editor; Peggy Tuck
Sinko, Historical Compiler; Emily Kelley, Research Associate; Laura Rico-Beck, GIS
Specialist and Digital Compiler; Peter Siczewicz, ArcIMS Interactive Map Designer; Robert Will, Cartographic Assistant
Pre-Territorial Period
As territories and states were established in the American
West, the Continental Divide and Rocky Mountains served as a logical barrier
separating territorial jurisdictions. The area that became Wyoming was bisected
by the Continental Divide, which resulted in a very complex jurisdictional
history of the area prior to the establishment of Wyoming Territory. Between
the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the creation of Wyoming
Territory in 1868, parts of present Wyoming fell under the jurisdiction of the
District of Louisiana, Louisiana Territory, Missouri Territory, Oregon
Territory, Washington Territory, Nebraska Territory, Dakota Territory, Utah
Territory, Idaho Territory, Spain, Mexico, and the Republic of Texas. During
those years, the District of Louisiana, the territories of Oregon, Washington,
Idaho, Utah, and Dakota, as well as the Republic of Texas, established counties
whose boundaries included parts of present Wyoming. All counties established by
other territories and the Republic of Texas are mapped in the Atlas of
Historical County Boundaries (Digital): Wyoming. While few non-Indians lived in
the vast stretches of what later became Wyoming, territorial officials wanted
to extend governmental authority throughout their jurisdiction to leave no
place beyond the law. Some of these early counties covered thousands of square
miles, yet had populations that rarely exceeded 2000 individuals.
Dakota Territory played the biggest role in the modern
development of Wyoming counties. Between 1861 and 1869, major portions of
present Wyoming were part of Dakota Territory. In 1867 and 1868, Dakota created
four counties—Laramie, Carter (now Sweetwater), Carbon, and Albany—which became
the first counties of Wyoming Territory. Although the United States Congress
passed an act authorizing the creation of Wyoming Territory on 25 July 1868,
delays in the appointment of territorial officers resulted in Dakota Territory
continuing to exercise jurisdiction for an additional nine months. In fact,
Dakota Territory created Carbon and Albany Counties in December 1868. In April
and May 1869, the governor, secretary, and justices of the new territory took
their oaths of office, and Wyoming Territory was officially organized on 19 May
1869.
One unusual feature of Wyoming’s eastern and western state
boundaries is that they are defined by meridians of longitude measured from
Washington, D.C., not Greenwich, England. An act passed by the United States
Congress in 1850 required the use of the Washington meridian “for all astronomical
purposes” (U.S. Statutes at Large, 9:ch. 80/p. 515). The Washington
meridians do not correspond neatly to Greenwich meridians, so that Wyoming’s
eastern boundary, 27 degrees west of Washington, corresponds precisely to the
Greenwich meridian 104 degrees, 3 minutes, 06.276 seconds. Nineteenth-century
Wyoming county boundaries are sometimes defined in terms of the Washington
meridian, and sometimes in terms of the Greenwich meridian. For example, the
line between Carbon and Sweetwater Counties was variously defined as 107
degrees, 30 minutes (Greenwich), and 30 degrees, 30 minutes (Washington). It is
clear that those two definitions were meant to be identical, and that no change
in the line was intended or implied, even though the two descriptions cited
above do not coincide exactly. Use of the Washington meridian was repealed by
an act passed in 1912, and neither state nor county lines changed as a result.
In most cases, the Greenwich meridian was used for mapping purposes in this
Atlas.
One exception was made in the mapping of the 33rd
meridian, which is cited in county boundary descriptions in Wyoming from 1867
to 1909. There are three possible ways to map the 33rd meridian. The
first would be to follow the example above and map it to coincide with 110
degrees west longitude (Greenwich). A second approach would place it exactly 3
degrees, 06.276 seconds west of 110 degrees. The third way is to select a line
halfway between 32 degrees west of Washington (the eastern boundary of Utah as
defined by statute and survey), and 34 degrees west of Washington (the western
boundary of Wyoming as defined by statute and survey). The third solution was
the one selected. Approximately two and one-half miles separate the most
eastern and western of these lines, and contemporary maps of Wyoming do not
agree on the location of the 33rd meridian. Choice number three was
selected because it results in a line that most nearly corresponds with the
present county boundary in that part of the state.
The creation of America’s first national park, Yellowstone,
in 1872, affected county boundaries. Most of the park is located in Wyoming,
with small portions in Montana and Idaho. Most of the park was part of Uinta
County, which, in the late nineteenth century, covered a wide strip of
territory inside the western boundary of Wyoming. Questions arose regarding
jurisdiction within the Park’s boundaries, and, in 1884, the Wyoming
Territorial Legislature passed an act declaring that Yellowstone National Park
was part of Uinta County and authorizing justices of the peace and constables
for the area. The struggle between federal and local authorities continued, but
Yellowstone remained technically within the jurisdiction of Uinta County until
1911.
In February 1911 Wyoming county boundaries underwent major
alterations. First, seven new counties were created, and, second, county
boundaries were redefined to run on federal land survey lines. The
redefinitions also explicitly placed Yellowstone National Park outside the
boundaries of any Wyoming county. This completed a process begun a few years
earlier to regularize county lines, which had previously been defined as lines
of longitude or latitude or as lines running through certain landmarks. In 1880
only about one-seventh of Wyoming’s land had been surveyed, but by 1910 the
land survey was about ninety percent complete (Larson, History of Wyoming,
173; Stewart, Public Land Surveys, 73). The need to reconcile the
township and range system with county boundaries resulted in the wholesale
adjustment of county lines in February 1911. In most cases the gain, loss, or
exchange of territory was small. Eight separate legislative acts, passed
between February 9 and 21, laid out this realignment. Because this legislation
was so interconnected and was passed within less than a two-week period, this
project maps all Wyoming counties as of 21 February, rather than on the exact
date of passage, to bring together all the changes set forth in the eight
separate laws.
In 1929, the counties of Park and Teton were expanded to
include all of Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, once again explicitly placing it
within county jurisdiction. The last county boundary change in Wyoming occurred
in 1965 when approximately six square miles of United States Forest Service
land was transferred from Teton County to Lincoln County. This change is not
shown on many maps, including the USGS Wyoming Base Map (1:1M scale) revised in
1980, or the ESRI Digital Chart of the World. U.S. Forest Service maps do map
the boundary correctly.
The three-volume Wyoming Blue Book (1974), edited by
Virginia Cole Trenholm, contained helpful information on the evolution of
counties and included maps. Several contemporary maps were useful in locating
places. These included Masi’s Itinerary Map of Wyoming (1876?), Holt’s
New Map of Wyoming (1883), and Samuel A. Mitchell’s, Territory of
Wyoming (1880).
Special thanks is due Richard W. Greenwood of Greenwood
Mapping, Inc., for help with the Teton County/Lincoln County boundary.
This
interactive map was constructed and operates through the program ArcIMS, v. 4,
produced by Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI). The map was
produced by the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries Project, which has been
supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, an
independent federal agency. It also has benefited greatly from support from The
Newberry Library, the project’s headquarters and sponsor, software grants from
Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), and contributions from
foundations and individuals.
Contact
Us
Atlas
Staff:
John H.
Long, Editor
Peggy Tuck
Sinko, Associate Editor
Emily
Kelley, Research Associate
Laura Rico,
GIS Complier
Peter
Siczewicz, ArcIMS Interactive Map Designer
The Atlas
of Historical County Boundaries Project
The
Newberry Library
60 W.
Walton St.
Chicago, IL
60610
Contact:
Send questions or comments, or report suspected errors to the Newberry’s Atlas
of Historical County Boundaries Project (longj@newberry.org)
or Office of Research and Education (grossmanj@newberry.org).