Book Description

In the southwest corner of Wyoming, the town of Kemmerer embodies a rich history of coal mining and those who came from many different countries to dig the black gold from the earth, then stayed to build a town. The mines, the miners and the unions led Kemmerer to prosperity and the establishment of the railroad, health care and other services in what was once a frontier town. In addition to her mining heritage, Kemmerer stakes her claim as the home of J.C. Penney's first Golden Rule store, the harbinger of a retailing empire that would spread throughout the country and remains a major player in the world of American business to this day. As she did in her previous books about the region, Echoes of Elkol, The Story of a Western Coal Camp and Glencoe, Spelling Out Western Coal Camp History, Dorothy Wright and her collaborators have captured a little known piece of Wyoming's past and preserved it through more than 100 photos along with oral histories, newspaper accounts and carefully documented information that follows the town of Kemmerer and her people from her birth through her history of Mining, Moonshining and Madams to her present day place as a vital part of Wyoming and the West