Frannie is named after Frannie Norris, daughter of Jack Norris, who came into the country in 1886. This little town of Frannie is located in the northwest corner of Big Horn County and at the east end of Park County, enjoying the unique distinction of being located in two counties. It is the junction point of the Cody branch and the Billings-Casper-Denver line of the Burlington. The land adjacent to Frannie was placed under government reclamation, ditched and opened for settlement under the soldier preference provision of reclamation. It was quickly settled, but the land has not yet been developed to any great extent. (WPA) Frannie has the distinction of being the only town in the Big Horn Basin that was named for a woman. She was the very attractive auburn haired daughter of William A. (Jack) Morris, who located a cattle spread and road house on Sage Creek, a mile or so northeast in 1885. When the Burlington road reached this point on its way to Cody in 1901, a depot and section house were built. (Wasden) The Frannie division of the Shoshone project seems to be named, along with the town of Frannie, after Frannie Norris, cowgirl daughter of a ranchman who made herself and the town famous by her picturesque and typically Western manner, particularly in the matter of carrying the mail from the train to the ranch post office where her father was postmaster of the Frannie station. Paternal and local pride were no doubt responsible for the naming of the Frannie station in 1901, later the town and Frannie division of the Shoshone project. ("Speaking of Names" in The Reclamation Era, June 1946, p. 136)
County:
Big Horn
Feature Category:
Manmade Features
More Reading:
The Frannie-Deaver proposition : a chronicle of optimism; and alkali. White, Robert (John Robert) [Billings, MT : R. White, c1990]
