Post Offices

Two post offices were established in this area in 1877, one at Powder River and one at Buffalo. Over the next 150 years, over 40 Post offices would come and go in Johnson County. In 1900, there were 14 Post offices. By 1960 that number had dropped to the current four.

The Deadline

Wyoming grassland was all open range in the 1800s. The cattlemen had claimed it and when sheepmen began to move in, conflicts arose. A meeting was held in the Johnson County Courthouse on February 1, 1908. The end result was to plow a narrow furrow to mark a line that sheep would NOT be allowed to cross. A contract to this effect was drafted and signed by both groups. Richard Young and Ike Scotts were appointed to establish this line, known as the DEADLINE. A man by the name of Carrolton plowed the furrow over the Powder River prairie . For a time this agreement was respected and conflicts were avoided, but eventually they arose once again.

STEAMBOAT

While serving in France during WWI, George Osrum (of Sheridan) created a design for use by the Wyoming National Guard. He was a member of the 115th Cavalry Regiment known as the "Bucking Bronco Regiment" from Wyoming. In the 1930s, Wyoming Secretary of State, Lester Hunt chose that symbol to appear on the Wyoming License plates. Over the years, there have been several variations, some with the cowboy wearing a hat and some with the hat in his hand. Hunt secured a copyright for the symbol in 1936, but turned it over to the state in 1942. Who was the model? One story says it is Steamboat being ridden by Jake Maring, while another credits Deadman being ridden by A.J. (Stub) Farlow.

The lead animal on the carousel, which opened in June 1989 on the east edge of Buffalo is a black bucking bronc "Steamboat", created by local woodcarver, William Rogers Jennings.