Things To Do
Town of Clearmont
Clearmont lies in the southeast portion of Sheridan County, Wyoming, just 38 miles from Sheridan, the county seat and nearest large community with full amenities and a hospital. The town of Buffalo is 30 miles away, and also has a modern hospital and shopping.
History
In 1890, the Pratt & Ferris Cattle Company controlled the valley where the town of Clearmont is located.
The in 1892, the Chicago Burlington and Quincy railroad came up Clear Creek from Arvada-Suggs, and created a water stop where Clearmont now is. Doc Huson, early homesteader, hoped the railroad would pass his town, Huson, which is about three miles north of Clearmont. However, the train made a turn as it headed toward Sheridan, by passing Huson. The business moved to the new town of Clearmont. Clearmont was named either because of Clear Creek, which runs past it, or the fact that there was a clear view of the mountains, or named after a town in Missouri. No one is really sure.
Clearmont was platted in September of 1892 by the Lincoln Co. The post office was established in 1892. There was a train depot for many years, with passenger train service. The first mercantile store was built by Jake and Cora Lang. Mary Boyd built the Clearmont Hotel. John Loafman built a pool hall, and J.N. Sweat built one of the finest hotels/saloons in the valley in 1904. Although the Sweat building burned in 1923, leaving only a shell of the rock walls standing, the store was rebuilt, and still stands today as a landmark in Clearmont.
The railroad brought homesteaders and the town grew. There were several large cattle ranches in the area of Clearmont, including the Spear Brothers ranch and the Kendrick Cattle Company. Due to the railroad, in the early 1900’s, Clearmont was a major shipping point for cattle and became a terminal point in 1914.
Crops in the area included wheat and sugar beets. Today, most of the crop land is either used for growing alfalfa hay or for grazing livestock.
During the 40s through the early 1970s, the Black and Yellow Highway, US 14-16, was a major tourist route between The Black Hills and Yellowstone. That was the hey-day of the town of Clearmont, the Sweat Building housed a grocery store, there were two motels, a bar, a soda fountain, a meat packing plant and a cold storage business. There has been a school in Clearmont since the early days of the 20th century, and today there is a modern K-12 school with around 100 students.
Although there is nothing left of it now and the site is on private land, in 1945, Clearmont was the site of a German POW camp. The POW men were housed in Clearmont and they worked for local farmers in their sugar beet fields.
Clearmont Today
Today Clearmont remains a small farm and ranch community. Children may attend school in Clearmont from kindergarten through 12th grade, and families may attend one of two community churches. Community amenities include city water, sewer and garbage services, as well as a library and a park. Public safety is maintained by the Sheridan County Sheriff’s department and the local volunteer fire department.
Three particular points of interest in the Clearmont area: the Clearmont Town Jail, built in 1922 and on the National Registry of Historic Places; the three concrete grain elevators built by the Leiter Estates grain farms, and were later owned by Best West Flour Company; a Veterans Memorial, and the Ucross Foundation art gallery, ten miles to the west, hosting numerous art exhibitions and having a unique artists-in-residence program drawing from all over the world.
Although most tourists take I-90 when traveling, more and more are finding the slower pace of the old ‘Black and Yellow Road’ through Clearmont a refreshing change of pace.
