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National Register of Historic Places


Dale Creek Crossing

Albany County, Wyoming

Date Added to Register

Friday, May 09, 1986

Smithsonian Number

48AB145

Read all about it

Dale Creek Crossing is located approximately twenty miles southeast of Laramie, Wyoming. It is four miles west of Ames Monument which marks the highest point on the Union Pacific route of the first transcontinental railroad. Situated on the Dale Creek Gorge, the crossing consists of about twelve piers and two abutments of granite masonry spaced evenly along a northeast-southwest line. The two abutments lie directly opposite each other on the brink of the gorge. The piers were constructed for the first Dale Creek Bridge in 1868. The abutments were added circa 1885. Both piers and abutments are constructed of native Wyoming stone cut and fit by hand without the use of any type of mortar. The first Dale Creek Bridge was a wooden structure 720 feet in length. In 1876 the wooden bridge was replaced by an iron one manufactured by the American Bridge Company of Chicago, Illinois. It was constructed upon the same 1868 piers. In 1901 the bridge was replaced, abandoned and then dismantled by the Union Pacific when the line was rerouted. The Dale Creek Crossing is significant for its association with the establishment of the transcontinental railroad which opened the west for settlement following the Civil War.

Department of State Parks & Cultural Resources