Abandoned Towns
Three beehive-shaped stone charcoal kilns and the broken shell of a fourth behind a fence at Piedmont, September 2020

Railroad and road town · Mill, lumber and company town

Piedmont

A railroad tie camp and helper-engine stop on the first Union Pacific line, left behind when the Aspen Tunnel moved the tracks. Three of Moses Byrne's stone charcoal kilns still stand beside the old grade as a state historic site; the rest of the town is on private ranch land.

41°13′04″N 110°37′40″W · ≈7,090 ft

Photo: Andrew K Smith, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Kilns open daily; townsite private

The Piedmont Charcoal Kilns State Historic Site is open every day, sunrise to sunset, with interpretive signs and picnic tables, off I-80 at exit 24 (the state says about ten miles off the interstate; our routed drive from the exit is 7.7 miles). Its page lists no fee. Cowboy State Daily (May 2025) describes the kilns beside a graded dirt road, County Road 173. The remains of the town are on the Guild family ranch, according to a 2009 Wyoming Livestock Roundup article, and an undated listing calls it a private working ranch. View the buildings from the county road; don't enter without the owner's permission.

Overview

A railroad town the tracks left behind

Abandoned houses at Piedmont, seen from the county road on the old railroad grade, May 2021
Abandoned houses at Piedmont, seen from the county road on the old railroad grade, May 2021 · Photo: Beneathtimp, Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Piedmont began around 1867 as a camp cutting ties for the Union Pacific, which was building west across southern Wyoming. It was first called Byrne, after the family that ran it, and renamed when the name kept being confused with Bryan Station. When the tracks arrived in 1868, trains needed helper engines on the eight-mile grade beyond town, and Piedmont became a wood and water stop with sidings, an engine house, a water tank and a telegraph office. The Guild family ran a store, and Wikipedia counts four saloons. In May 1869, by the Wyoming Livestock Roundup's account, railroad workers held Union Pacific vice president Thomas Durant here until they were paid, delaying the Golden Spike ceremony in Utah.

Moses Byrne, a Mormon pioneer who ran the station, built the beehive-shaped limestone kilns beside it to burn timber from the Uinta Mountains into charcoal for Utah's iron smelters. The state dates them to 1869; Wikipedia says 1877. The SHPO listing says more than forty kilns worked in the area at one time, and that the price of charcoal fell from 27 cents a bushel to 7 cents in the lean years.

The end came when the Union Pacific bored the Aspen Tunnel, about a mile and a half long, and moved the line off the old grade. Piedmont was left several miles from the tracks. The Guild store closed in 1940 and most of the buildings were hauled away. The old grade is now the county road. The state's page repeats the story that Butch Cassidy and Calamity Jane spent time here; we found nothing to confirm it, so treat it as legend.

Timeline

Ties, charcoal and a tunnel

The kilns in 1974, photographed for the Historic American Buildings Survey
The kilns in 1974, photographed for the Historic American Buildings Survey · Photo: Boucher, Jack E., Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
  1. The Guild family joins the Byrne family at Muddy River Station, having come from Salt Lake City.
  2. A camp grows up to cut ties for the Union Pacific. It is first called Byrne, then renamed Piedmont because the name was being confused with Bryan Station.
  3. The railroad arrives. Helper engines are needed on the eight-mile grade, so Piedmont becomes a wood and water stop with sidings, an engine house and a water tank.
  4. On the way to the Golden Spike ceremony at Promontory, Union Pacific vice president Thomas Durant is held at Piedmont by workers demanding their pay. A 2009 Wyoming Livestock Roundup article says the ceremony went ahead two days late; the state's page says three.
  5. Moses Byrne builds charcoal kilns beside the station to supply Utah's smelters. The state's page says four were built; the SHPO listing says five. Wikipedia instead dates the kilns to 1877, at a cost of $1,500.
  6. An estimated 100,000 bushels of charcoal: the state gives it as that year's output, the SHPO listing as a month's.
  7. The Aspen Tunnel takes the main line around the old grade, and Piedmont is stranded. Sources disagree on the date: the Wyoming Livestock Roundup gives October 2, 1902, Wikipedia about 1910 and an undated listing 1901.
  8. The Guild Mercantile closes for lack of business. Most of the buildings are hauled away afterward.
  9. The surviving kilns are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  10. Cowboy State Daily describes the kilns beside a graded dirt road on County Road 173.

What's left

Three kilns and a row of empty houses

The ruined fourth kiln, September 2020
The ruined fourth kiln, September 2020 · Photo: Andrew K Smith, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Inside a kiln, September 2020
Inside a kiln, September 2020 · Photo: Andrew K Smith, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The kilns are the public part of Piedmont. Each is about 30 feet across and 30 feet high, and three are whole; the fourth has caved in, which is why the state counts three and a half. The site has four interpretive signs and two picnic tables, and the Fort Bridger State Historic Site museum has an exhibit about them.

West of the kilns, along the county road on the old railroad grade, a few abandoned frame buildings still stand. Wikipedia lists three or four tumbledown houses, foundations, the coal dump where the engine house stood, and cemeteries; an undated listing counts about a dozen mostly intact wood buildings and a family cemetery uphill from the kilns, and the state's page mentions the Byrne family cemetery nearby. These are on private ranch land: look from the road.

The 1954 USGS sheet in the historic maps below labels the site "Piedmont (abandoned)" beside Big Muddy Creek, with the Piedmont and Guild reservoirs to the southwest and south. The main line runs well to the northwest, past Aspen Station and Altamont and through the railroad tunnels. The 1980 sheet shows the road on the old grade crossing Muddy Creek at Piedmont, with a reservoir on Piedmont Creek just west of the townsite.

  • Three charcoal kilns (1869)
  • Ruined fourth kiln
  • Interpretive signs and picnic tables
  • Abandoned houses (private)
  • Foundations and coal dump
  • Byrne family cemetery (private)
  • Old Union Pacific grade, now the county road
USGS topographic map of Piedmont: the road along the Byrne Number 2 Ditch, the Piedmont Creek reservoir to the southwest and Muddy Creek to the east
USGS The National Map, topo. The Piedmont label sits where the county road crosses Piedmont Creek below its reservoir. The road runs northeast beside the Byrne Number 2 Ditch, with Muddy Creek to the east.
Aerial view of Piedmont: a straight dirt road on the old railroad grade running northeast past a reservoir, with sagebrush flats and a green creek bottom
Aerial imagery, same area. The straight road from bottom center to upper right follows the old Union Pacific grade, past the reservoir at bottom left and the green bottom of the creek.

Historic maps

Piedmont on USGS maps, 1954–1980

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.

USGS topographic map around Piedmont, 1954
Ogden sheet, 1954, 1:250,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Day trip

Plan a day trip to Piedmont from Evanston

Take it with you

Day trip itinerary

The essentials, the sample day with boxes to tick, what to photograph and the coordinates, on two printable pages. Handy where there's no signal.

Download the PDF (598 KB)

The Piedmont kilns are 40 minutes from Evanston and take a morning: three and a half charcoal kilns of 1869, four signs and two picnic tables, with the empty townsite on ranch land along the county road. In summer, add Fort Bridger State Historic Site on the way back, whose museum has an exhibit on the kilns.

A sample day

  1. Leave Evanston east on I-80. Take exit 24 and follow Piedmont Road south, about 40 minutes in all.
  2. Walk around the kilns and read the four interpretive signs.
  3. Drive on along the county road past the old houses on the railroad grade. Stay on the road.
  4. Picnic at the tables by the kilns, then head back to I-80.
  5. From May 1 to September 30, the Fort Bridger museum and historic buildings are open daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., about three miles off I-80 at exit 34. The grounds are open all year, sunrise to sunset. Its page doesn't list the fee.

Coming from Salt Lake City? It's a little over 2 hours on I-80. From October 1 to April 30, Fort Bridger's museum and buildings are closed to the general public; the state says they may open by appointment with advance notice.

What to photograph and film

  • The kilns in a row. Each is about 30 feet high. Shoot along the line of beehives to show all three and the ruined fourth.
  • The ruined kiln. The caved-in fourth kiln shows the thickness of the walls. Side light brings out their texture.
  • The townsite. Use a long lens from the county road. The houses are on private land.
  • Drones. The state's page doesn't mention them. Ask the office before you fly.

Map & directions

Getting there

Evanston is the closest city, 26.8 miles and about 39 minutes away: I-80 east, then 7.5 miles south on Piedmont Road (County Road 173). The state's page names the I-80 exit as exit 24, Leroy Road. From Salt Lake City the route joins I-80 and takes the same exit. Both routes pass the kilns and end on Piedmont Road about half a mile farther on, 220 meters from the mapped town point. They are computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us.

USGS topographic map between Evanston and Piedmont with the route drawn on it

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

From downtown Evanston26.8 miabout 39 min
  1. From Bear River Drive, turn left on Front Street (I-80 Business) and take the ramp to the interstate.1.0 mi
  2. Merge onto I-80 east (Dwight D. Eisenhower Highway, with US 189).18.2 mi
  3. Take the exit and turn right on Piedmont Road (County Road 173) to Piedmont.7.7 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • Cowboy State Daily (May 2025) describes the kilns beside a graded dirt road on a seldom-traveled stretch of County Road 173.
  • A visitor's report from 1999 called the I-80 route fine for 2WD, and found the longer approach from WY 150 on County Road 173 muddy and rutted after rain. That report is old; ask Fort Bridger State Historic Site about current conditions.
  • The townsite buildings are on private ranch land. Stay on the road and leave gates as you find them.

Photos

Piedmont in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Piedmont?

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 Piedmont

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

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. ghosttowns.com, "Piedmont": fact-sheet fields (roads, climate, best time, remains, the 1901 tunnel date, private ranch).
  2. Wikipedia, "Piedmont, Wyoming", retrieved October 2026: coordinates, the Guild and Byrne families, the Byrne name and Bryan Station, the 1868 wood and water stop, the saloons, the 1877 kiln date and cost, the Aspen Tunnel about 1910, the 1940 store closing, the remains and the 1971 listing.
  3. Wyoming State Parks, "Piedmont Charcoal Kilns State Historic Site", read October 20, 2026: open daily sunrise to sunset, I-80 exit 24, County Road 173, phone, three and a half kilns, signs and picnic tables, 1869, four kilns, size, the 1873 estimate, the Golden Spike delay, Butch Cassidy and Calamity Jane. Historical features: the Byrne family cemetery nearby.
  4. Wyoming SHPO, "Piedmont Charcoal Kilns", read October 2026: five kilns about 1869, the station's roundhouse, water tank and telegraph office, more than forty kilns in the area, prices, the June 3, 1971 listing, the old grade as a county road.
  5. Wyoming State Parks, "Fort Bridger State Historic Site", read October 21, 2026: grounds, museum and building hours by season, appointments in winter, exit 34, phone, restrooms. The kilns page was read again the same day for the day trip.
  6. Wyoming Livestock Roundup, "Piedmont central to Uinta County's history", October 16, 2009: Durant and the Golden Spike, the Aspen Tunnel on October 2, 1902, the kilns, and the town's remains on the Guild family ranch.
  7. Zakary Sonntag, Cowboy State Daily, May 25, 2025: the kilns beside a graded dirt road on County Road 173, built in 1869.
  8. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited below each one. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits