COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
PHOTO: This former railroad route now serves as the popular Casper Rail Trail, connecting businesses, attractions and other amenities downtown.
Wyoming Casper’s Journey From Trail Town to Oil Town and Back Again
STORY AND PHOTOS BY LAURA STARK
WHAT IS RAILBANKING? Railbanking, established in 1983 as an amendment to the National Trails System Act, is a voluntary agreement between a railroad company and
Nestled in the rolling prairies and grasslands of east-central Wyoming, Casper—nicknamed “Oil City” for its long history as an oil boomtown—has a growing, and perhaps surprising, reputation as a trail town today. “Just this week, we were outside—two board members, myself and an engineer—looking at a new trail on the east side of town,” said Angela Emery, executive director of the Platte River Trails Trust ( platterivertrails.com ). “And we were wrapping up our meeting, and this young boy, maybe 13 or 14, comes riding past us on the trail, smiling and waving, and says, ‘It’s a great day to be on a bike!’” From school kids to commuters to parents with strollers to resi - dents from the local nursing home on an outdoor excursion—Emery sees firsthand all types of people enjoying the Platte River Trail from the vantage point of her office window at the trailside Tate Pump - house. The historical brick structure serves as the headquarters for the grassroots organization that has been at the forefront of Casper’s
trail movement since 1982. “Forty years later, people still look to us and recognize that we are citi - zen led and represent the interests of the people,” explained Emery. “We have a great working relationship with the City of Casper—the city has a lot that they bring to the table—but we, as a volunteer organization, also play an important role in trail build - ing in our community.” A Strong Foundation In the mid-19th century, thousands of migrants came through this area by wagon and horseback following the cross-country Oregon, California and Mormon trails. In recent years, Casper has seen a resurgence of trail development with the transfor - mation of the city’s riverbanks and former railroad corridors for use as public transportation routes. In the late 1990s, the Casper Rail Trail—tracing a century-old railroad— was railbanked (see sidebar), and the importance of preserving an east- west corridor right through the heart of downtown can’t be overstated. “I have to applaud the City of Casper for their foresight,” said
Emery. “Railbanking was something that was really novel in Wyoming at the time, and we may have even been the first municipality in the state to do so.” Along its 6-mile length are nods to this legacy, such as a trailhead bench made of railroad wheels, artistic silhouettes with railroad mo - tifs placed atop lamp posts, and an archway of wood and steel frames over one section of trail meant to represent the rails and ties of the old tracks. Together, the Casper Rail Trail and the 10-mile Platte River Trail, which follows the river along the city’s western and northern boundaries, often under a canopy of cottonwoods, form a paved, nearly contiguous route through down - town, the surrounding residential neighborhoods and a handful of popular parks. “We were able to sell the point that there was a loop that you could take along the rail-trail across the city and then get back down to the river, and that got people excited when they saw the networking aspect of it,” said Dave Hough, a former City of Casper planner and
a trail sponsor (such as a trail organization or government
agency) to use an out-of-service rail corridor as a trail
until a railroad might need the corridor again for rail service.
This interim trail use of railbanked corridors has preserved thousands of miles of rail corridors that would otherwise have been abandoned. Learn more: rtc.li/railbanking .
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RAILS TO TRAILS FALL 2022
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