Shoshoni

Shoshoni. . In the summer of 1904, the Pioneer Townsite Company laid out the plat for Shoshoni. The first business to be erected in the town was the Elkhorn Hotel, built in September 1905. In 1906 the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad reached Shoshoni from Casper. Under the Homestead Act of 1905 about 1.5 million acres in Fremont County had been opened to settlement and people flooded into Shoshoni by train in August 1906 in anticipation of winning a draw in the lottery for 1600 homesteads. The town grew in population to approximately 2,000., Shoshoni was considered to be a natural supply point for the shipment of livestock and minerals (gold and silver) from the Copper Mountain Mining District about 13 miles to the north of the town. During its boom days, Shoshoni boasted 23 saloons, two banks, two large mercantiles, several livery and feed stables, a lumber yard, drug store. two physicians, several lawyers, a newspaper and more lodging than any town of equal size in the state of Wyoming. Boysen Reservoir was completed in 1952. In 2000 Shoshoni had a population of 635., Boysen State Park, which boasts excellent walleye and trout fishing, is located on the reservoir north and west of Shoshoni at the mouth of Wind River Canyon. The modern town of Shoshoni is the gateway to the Park and the Wind River Canyon Scenic Byway.