ABSTRACT
Wyoming is a wide open land made up of basins, prairies, and mountains. From border to border these different land forms create a varied appearance, but it is the wide open spaces that give the state continuity. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 brought the lands east of the Continental Divide under the jurisdiction of the United States, and it was not long before fur trappers began trapping for beaver in the streams of the region. In 1837 Russell, in describing the area adjacent to the Popo Agie River near Lander, noted that "beds of iron and coal are frequently found in this part of the country." The presence of coal along Deer Creek became well-known to travelers, and the coal "was commercially mined during the late nineteenth century." Joseph Goldsborough Bruff, who was part of the 1849 Gold Rush to California, reported finding coal two days before reaching Independence Rock on the Sweetwater River.
