Railroad and River

Railroad and River. Fort Fred Steele's Lifelines. The Union Pacific Railroad and the North Platte River are important parts of the story of Fort Fred Steele. Located where these two great resources met, the fort and the local industries surrounding it would depend upon the rails and water for supplies and commerce. , The steam engines of the railroad depended from the beginning on often-scarce water sources in the American West. Fred Steele's location was a major water-loading stop. Eventually, the traditional wooden trackside water storage tower was supplanted by a brick pumping station with steam driven, coal fired pumps that filled a large underground reservoir on a hill above the tracks. The pumping station still exists, while the dome of the reservoir on the hill southwest of the railroad bridge has collapsed. , The North Platte provided transportation for the tie industry from the forests of the Medicine Bow Mountains to the railroad at Fred Steele for many decades, with the last tie drive taking place in the 1940's. Each year, several thousand ties were floated down the river to be loaded on railroad cars for shipment to various railroad and mining operations. , Cutting ice was another industry at Fort Fred Steele that provided what was a luxury at many forts and towns in the West. The frozen waters of the North Platte were cut and stored during the winter months, providing relief and refrigeration during the hot Wyoming summers for soldiers, lumberjacks, travelers, and railroad refrigeration cars.