"The story of Horseshoe Creek would be incomplete without further mention of Bellewood, a story which is well told by Fred McDermott of Laramie. We came to Wyoming April 28, 1888. Father had preceded us by several years (1882). He later returned to New York for a sojourn of some three years, returning to Wyoming in 1886. There were five children in the family, ranging in age from one and a half to twenty years. Father had located a homestead land entry on a ranch on Horseshoe. The building of the Cheyenne and Northern Railroad, which was done intermittently, from Uva to Wendover in 1887, resumed traffic from that terminal to Douglas. There was no station at Orin at that time. The settlement on Horseshoe Creek and adjacent portion of the Platte River Valley emphasized the need for a post office at this point. It was generally presumed that the post office would be called Horseshoe, but when the late Joseph M. Carey, who was then the delegate to the Congress from Wyoming Territory, visited the ranch while traveling on the newly established stage coach (plying between Wendover and Douglas), he was attracted by my little sister Isabelle, and then and there concluded to name the post office Bellewood. In his official recommendation to the Postmaster General for the establishment of the office, he recommended Mother as Postmaster. There is no such title as Postmistress. Her Commission was signed by President Benjamin Harrison." (Trenholm)
Other Names:
Walker, Bellewood Stage Station, Old Horse Shoe, Horseshoe Station, Glendo
County:
Platte
Feature Category:
Manmade Features
Alternate Spellings:
Bellwood
More Reading:
Trenholm, Virginia Cole. Footprints on the Frontier Saga of the La Ramie Region of Wyoming. Douglas, WY: Douglas Enterprise Co., 1945.
