The largest iron mine west of the Mississippi River was named through a chance remark, made by one of the original locators of the property, Lieutenant Eaton, who was stationed at old Fort Laramie at the time of the discovery of copper in the area, in 1882. Eaton, with John London, who operated a civilian trading post at the military reservation, had become interested in the development of mining in this section, and the two men, making the trip of fifteen miles from the fort, in one of the army ambulances, sought out Henry T. Miller, well known pioneer, to ask his advice in regard to locating a mining claim. Miller, the first to discover copper in the district, went with Eaton and London to a point above Eureka Canyon, where the town of Hartville is now located. He had come upon this place some years before, and had noted the presence of minerals. As the men climbed the tall hill west of the spot where a great body of iron was subsequently to be developed, Lieutenant Eaton looked out over the country to the east. "You could see the sun rise from here," he remarked. "And that is just the name for our mine," replied London. "We will call it Sunrise." (WPA) Named by Lieutenant Eaton of Fort Laramie who, while inspecting copper deposits with John London and H.T. Miller, remarked that a rise over which they walked afforded a good view of the sunrise. (Annals of Wyoming 15:1)
County:
Platte
Feature Category:
Manmade Features
More Reading:
Sunrise silhouettes shadows from the shafts : Sunrise, Wyoming people and places 1900 to 1980. Costopoulos, Barbara Windom. [S.I. : s.n.], 2006.; Sunrise : a chronology of a Wyoming mine. MacCannon, R. W. Pueblo, CO : The Bessemer Historical Society, 2004.; Early Hartville and Sunrise : a study of the frontier and immigration in Wyoming. Mellinger, Philip J. 1969.
