Carbon

Overview

Wyoming's first coal town

Carbon was founded in 1868 on the line of the Union Pacific, which was still being built across Wyoming, and it was named for the coal the railroad needed. Thomas Wardell, Michael Quealy and William Hinton worked the first mines; the Union Pacific took them over in 1874, and seven mines around town fed its locomotives. Labor fights with the mostly immigrant miners from the British Isles led the company to hire Finnish and other Scandinavian miners here. The town had a rough name, and in 1881, by WyoHistory's account, miners pulled a prisoner off a train and hanged him from a telegraph pole.

The census counted 1,140 people in 1890, the peak. That June a fire burned the downtown north of the tracks, 20 buildings or more, and with no reliable water few were insured. By then only one mine was working, and that year the Union Pacific opened new mines at Hanna. In 1899 the railroad rebuilt its main line through Hanna and left Carbon behind. The mines closed in 1902 and the town emptied, though a few people stayed another decade.

The cemetery, in use since 1868, is still kept by the Carbon Cemetery Association and is on the National Register. Over a rise to the south, out of sight of the graves, lie sandstone walls of stores, a hotel and a saloon, hillside dugouts, mine ruins and the cindered grade of the first Union Pacific line.

Timeline

Coal, fire, bypass

1. 1868Carbon is founded on the line of the Union Pacific, then still under construction, and named for its coal. The Wyoming Coal and Mining Company of Thomas Wardell, Michael Quealy and William Hinton works the mines. Burials begin in the cemetery.
2. 1874The Union Pacific takes over the mines. Seven mines around Carbon fuel its locomotives.
3. 1881Miners stop a train, pull off Dutch Charley Burris, on his way to trial in Rawlins for murder, and hang him from a telegraph pole by the tracks, by WyoHistory's account.
4. 1884About 500 residents, with a floating population that can push the total past 1,000.
5. 1890The census counts 1,140, the peak. In June a fire destroys the downtown north of the tracks, 20 buildings or more; with no reliable water, few were insured. The Union Pacific opens Hanna as a company town the same year, and only one mine is still working.
6. 1894A Sanborn fire insurance map still shows a Main Street of stores and houses beside the tracks.
7. 1899The railroad rebuilds its main line through Hanna and bypasses Carbon.
8. 1902The last mines close. A few people stay on for about another decade.
9. 2002The Carbon Cemetery Association forms and starts restoring the cemetery.
10. 2010-2011Anadarko Petroleum deeds 40 acres to the association in October 2010, including part of the townsite and about a third of the fenced cemetery. The cemetery goes on the National Register in July 2011.
11. 2022A University of Wyoming history team is excavating at the townsite when two travelers stop by on July 8.
12. 2026The University of Wyoming's archaeology field school runs test excavations in a planned neighborhood of the townsite in June.

What's left

What you'll see

WyoHistory lists old foundations, roads, mine ruins and the cindered roadbed of the original Union Pacific line at the townsite. The Alliance for Historic Wyoming adds sandstone walls and foundations of stores, a hotel and a saloon, and dugouts in the hillside that served as houses. Two travelers who stopped on July 8, 2022 saw rock-wall ruins, one of them among the larger buildings left, and a large cemetery that appeared to be still in use. A University of Wyoming history team was excavating that day and worried that more traffic would mean damaged or missing artifacts. In June 2026 the university's archaeology field school was back, digging test pits in a planned neighborhood of the old town.

The cemetery covers about five acres. It holds townspeople and miners, including men killed in explosions at the Hanna mines, with ornamental iron fences around family plots. The fence posts are reinforced with pipe cut from the steam system of Carbon's No. 2 Mine. WyoHistory's town article reports a burial in 2011; its cemetery article gives 1995 as the latest.

The 1914 Saddleback Hills sheet below shows Carbon as a cluster of buildings on the road between Hanna and Medicine Bow; by 1954 the sheet prints "Carbon (ruins)," and the 1971 sheet marks the cemetery north of the old grade.

• Sandstone walls and foundations of stores, a hotel and a saloon
• Hillside dugouts
• Mine ruins
• Cindered grade of the 1868 Union Pacific line
• Carbon Cemetery (National Register, 2011)

Historic maps

Carbon on USGS maps, 1914–1980

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19141:62,50019541:250,00019711:24,00019801:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Medicine Bow is the nearest town. US 30 runs west from it, and County Road 115 turns south about ten miles out toward the townsite. The road is seasonal and crosses private land, so arrange access with the Hanna Basin Museum first.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Carbon in photos

The Carbon Cemetery, September 2020Sanborn fire insurance map of Carbon, June 1894

Visitor reports

Been to Carbon?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Carbon

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Wyoming index.

• Medicine Bow9.7 mi E · Carbon
• McFadden18.5 mi SE · Carbon
• Fort Fred Steele29.8 mi W · Carbon
• Shirley Basin32.3 mi N · Carbon
• Bosler39.9 mi SE · Albany
• Riverside48.5 mi SW · Carbon
• Encampment49.2 mi SW · Carbon
• Battle57.2 mi SW · Carbon

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Carbon, Wyoming", read October 28, 2026: the location 9.5 miles west-southwest of Medicine Bow, the National Register cemetery, the coordinates.
2. ghosttowns.com, Carbon, read October 28, 2026: the 4WD road, foundations and cemetery, summer as the best time, the climate, the private land.
3. WyoHistory.org, "Carbon, Wyoming," November 8, 2014: the 1868 founding, the first operators, the Union Pacific in 1874, seven mines, the miners hired, the 1881 hanging, 500 people in 1884 and 1,140 in 1890, the June 1890 fire, Hanna, the 1899 reroute, closing in 1902, the remains, the cemetery association, a burial in 2011, County Road 115 and appointment access.
4. Stephanie Lowe, "Carbon Cemetery," WyoHistory.org, November 8, 2014: five acres on private land, the association formed in 2002, the 2010 Anadarko deed, the No. 2 Mine pipe in the fence posts, the latest burial in 1995, the July 2011 National Register listing, appointment access through the Hanna Basin Museum.
5. WyoHistory.org field trip, Carbon Cemetery, read October 28, 2026: seasonal road, two gates, vehicle access by appointment, the museum contact.
6. Chamois Andersen, "Carbon, Wyo," Alliance for Historic Wyoming, July 13, 2015: the walls of stores, a hotel and a saloon, the dugouts, the miners from the Hanna explosions, the iron fences.
7. AdventureTaco, "Elk Mtn to Alcova: A Most Welcome Detour", visit of July 8, 2022: private and historically sensitive, the gates, the rock-wall ruins, the cemetery still in use, the University of Wyoming excavation.
8. University of Wyoming College of Arts and Sciences, June 2026 newsletter, published June 30, 2026: the archaeology field school's test excavations at Old Carbon earlier that month.
9. Sanborn Map Company, Carbon, June 1894 (Library of Congress, via Wikimedia Commons).
10. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

• The Carbon Cemetery, September 2020: 25or6to4, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• Sanborn fire insurance map of Carbon, June 1894: Unknown author, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Saddleback Hills 1914, 1:62,500; Rawlins 1954, 1:250,000; Carbon 1971, 1:24,000; Medicine Bow 1980, 1:100,000.