Pine Bluffs Wyoming Has An Amazing Museum

Pine Bluffs is the easternmost town in Wyoming. The bluffs themselves are worth a visit, along with the park and trails that lead into them. The town of Pine Bluffs looks good for such a small place in such an isolated location.

In town, you can enjoy some local restaurants, bars, and the Texas Trail Museum. 

Click here to get a quick photo tour from their website.

The museum consists of several buildings on a city-wide block. The first one you'll walk into used to be the old power station that provided electricity to the town. The massive old generators are still there, inside, for you to have a look at.

The mission of the Texas Trail Museum of Laramie County (as it was then called) expressed in its first mission statement, was to be carried out through preservation, restoration, and display of historic buildings and artifacts typically used by those individuals utilizing the various frontier crossroads found near Pine Bluffs, Wyoming.

Photo By Tim Mandese, Focus West Photography

Texas Trail (also called the Western Trail) was a major 19th-century cattle-driving route that stretched from Texas northward through the Great Plains to Wyoming, Montana, and Canada, allowing drovers to move massive herds of longhorns to northern grazing lands and railroad shipping points.

Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, served as a primary route and the largest cattle shipping point on the Union Pacific Railroad for herds moving up the trail, transforming the frontier camp into a bustling economic hub.

Photo By Tim Mandese, Focus West Photography

The Museum complex is owned by the Town. Additionally, they own the buildings located within that block with the exception of the Union Pacific caboose, the Schoolhouse, the Railroad Telephone Shack, and the Church. Through fiscal year 1993-1994, the Museum will have received from the Town a total of $28,000 over a period of eight years, not to mention numerous services provided by Town employees.

As of 1993, the Museum had been offered a Log Cabin, a Tar Paper Shack, and a Blacksmith’s Shop. None has been accepted yet, since the cost of moving them is high, and substantial restoration will be required for each building.

Photo By Tim Mandese, Focus West Photography

There is almost too much to see as you stroll from building to building. Take your time. Each old place you step into was once used by town members a long time ago. You will literally be stepping back into what the world looked like back then.