Wheatland, Wyoming

Episode 53 / 17 January 2018 / 127 min / full

Tragedy At The Trailer Park

"James says the show is going to Wheatland, Wyoming, in southeastern Wyoming, a couple of hours from Cheyenne, in Platt County" about 0:05:25

The case: Murders of the Conant children and Nakuma Conant (8 July 2011). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2018

Population

3,659

Median age

45.5

Median household income

about $35,000

Median home value

$144,000

Two-bedroom rent

$658

Cost of living

96

Religious

37%

Property crime

about average, slightly below

Violent crime

▼ about half

Murders in Wyoming

average 11 a year

History, in brief

• In the 1800s the area was ranching country, with sheep and cattle ranching across wide open spaces. about 0:09:55
• Brothers Alexander and Thomas Swan formed the Swan Land and Cattle Company, headquartered in Chugwater. about 0:11:48
• At its peak the Swan brothers said they had 100,000 head of cattle, ranging from Ogallala, Nebraska to Rawlins, Wyoming. about 0:12:26
• In the mid-1870s gold was discovered in the Black Hills of Dakota; a Cheyenne to Fort Laramie freight road was extended north to the gold camps and became the Cheyenne-Deadwood stage road. about 0:13:06
• In 1883 local rancher and judge Joseph M. Carey and others established the Wyoming Development Company to irrigate the dry area and sell farmland. about 0:16:09
• The company diverted water from Blue Grass Creek through two canals and a tunnel over 2,400 feet long. about 0:16:39
• The railway reached the area of Wheatland Flats in 1887. about 0:16:55
• In 1894 lots in town began to be auctioned off to make a town. about 0:17:02
• By 1915 there were many farms in the irrigated area. about 0:17:07
• The model for the bucking horse Steamboat on the Wyoming licence plate and University of Wyoming logo comes from this town. about 0:17:30
• Since 2014 the town's drinking water has been contaminated with uranium above standards; the town offers no explanation, and tap water should not be used by pregnant women, infants, the elderly or anyone with a compromised immune system. about 0:17:48
• Possible causes given are nitrates from animal waste or agriculture freeing uranium from aquifer rock, or injection wells in the county; the University of Nebraska and the Environmental Protection Agency are studying it. about 0:18:03
• Mayor Fabian said in 2016 that the town was not waiting to take action and had begun measures to remedy the situation, though it was still bad. about 0:19:04

Open the episode file