Page 242 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

Wyoming
Cheyenne, the capital city of Wyoming
Founded Incorporated Elevation Population
Metro
1867
1867
6,062 ft (1,848 m) 59,466
96,389 (US: 359th)
Cheyenne is both the capital and biggest city of Wyoming. Cheyenne is at the meeting of Crow Creek and Dry Creek. Cheyenne is at the northern end of the fast-growing Front Range Urban Corridor of business cities that lie immediately to the east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Cheyenne is also one of the windiest places in the U.S. and so is a favoured location for wind turbines.
Cheyenne is a creation of the railroad. As the railroad crossed the nation, so, for time to time, the railroad company founded and laid out townships. In part these were to encourage settlement along the railroad and so improve railroad revenues, and in part to act as service depots for the railroad itself. In 1867, General Grenville M. Dodge set out Cheyenne, which was then in Dakota Territory. They chose a place where the Union Pacific Railroad crossed Crow Creek, a tributary of the South Platte River. Bridges crossing rivers needed more time to build, and so tended to be favoured places for setting out camps intended to become towns. In this semi-arid environment, they were also good sources of water.
Dodge was to name it “Crow Creek Crossing”, but on discussion, this was changed to Cheyenne, after the American Indian Cheyenne nation.
242