Lander Area Chamber of Commerce 2014 Travel and Relocation Guide | Page 30

Dubois, Wyoming
Where real cowboys work and play
Dubois, Wyoming was
originally known as
Never Sweat due to its
warm and dry winds.
However, the postal
service found the name
Never Sweat unacceptable so Dubois was accepted, named after Fred
Dubois, an Idaho senator
at the time. In protest,
the citizens of Dubois rejected the French pronunciation, instead opting for
Du with u as in Sue; bois,
as oi in voice. The accent
is on the first syllable.
Native Sheep Eater
Indians
Thousands of years before the arrival of European trappers and settlers,
early Indians of unknown
origins roamed the Dubois area and left behind
stone tools and other
evidence of their presence for archaeologists to
discover and ponder. But
who they were remains a
mystery.
The distinctive petroglyphs (rock art) pecked
and carved on rocks in
the Dinwoody and Torrey basins near Dubois
are thought to have been
the work of ancestors
of the modern-day Sho30

shone tribes who moved
up from the Great Basin
around three thousand
years ago.
Their descendents,
the Sheep Eater Indians
(Mountain Shoshone),
developed a lifestyle
perfectly adapted to their
rugged mountain homeland that sustained them
for hundreds of years.
However, the Sheep Eater’s harmonious way of
life ended when the Yellowstone area became a
national park. They were
rounded up and moved to
other reservations.
The remains of the
Sheep Eater’s hunting
traps and blinds, teepee
rings, and vision quest
sites are still visible in the
mountains around Dubois.
Tie Hacks
Wyoming Tie and
Timber Company’s railroad tie-cutting operation
in the Shoshone National Forest near Dubois
profoundly affected the
economy of the Upper
Wind River Valley for
nearly 40 years.
Between 1914 and
1946, Scandinavian loggers known as tie hacks

produced over 10 million
hand-hewn ties that were
floated 100 miles down
the Wind River to Riverton in massive weekslong drives. A wooden
flume constructed to carry
the ties from the mountains to the river was
considered a marvel of
engineering at the time,
and large sections of the
flume are still visible
today.
The Scandinavian tie
hacks also brought their
culture and traditions to
the tiny community growing up along the Wind
River. Dubois’ annual
spring Swedish Smorgasbord is a legacy of the tie
hacks.

The exploits of the hardworking tie hacks when
they came into Dubois
also became local legends. Tie hacks worked
all winter in deep snow
and bitter cold, and they
played as hard as they
worked when they came
into town.
The river tie drives
ended in 1946 as the
importance of railroads
waned. Ties were trucked
down from the mountains
to Riverton for a few
more years, but a colorful
era had come to an end.
Today, a memorial west
of Dubois plays tribute to
the rugged Scandinavian
tie hacks.

Tie hacks drive ties
down the Wind River.

Native Sheep Eater
Indian petrogylphs
near Dubois.

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