Photo courtesy Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office Photo Collection Photographer Liz Stambaugh no date on photo.
On May 14, 1984, the Old Clearmont Jail was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Ann Arndt, former Clearmont teacher, was instrumental in making sure that the old jail was included in the Registry.
The town of Clearmont was founded in 1892 with the coming of the railroad. In 1893, work was begun on a rail line running from Clearmont to the Town of Sheridan.
In this early period of Clearmont’s history, much of the business in the valley was cattle ranching. The great numbers of cowboys who descended on Clearmont every Saturday night, sometimes engaging in gun play, gave the town the reputation of “Bloody Clearmont.” In addition to the cowboys, railroad workers would sometimes get drunk and add to the general confusion. A visitor at this time (1896) commented that “there were about a dozen little shacks in Clearmont covered with black tar pape