• The book signing will be held at the Pioneer Museum main building, from 6:30 to 7:30pm.

Originally the settlers in the Lander Valley and Fort Washakie area relied on the path from Rawlins up to Fort Washakie and Lander to transport both people and goods. It was a long and at time grueling journey, and there were many stage stations along the way for travelers and freighters to stop and rest.

From 1878 to 1906, a 124–mile stage and freight line connected Rawlins to Fort Washakie, carrying mail, supplies, and passengers across Wyoming’s rugged plains. Along the route were stations like Belle Springs, Lost Soldier, and Crooks Gap, each with its own story of survival, hardship, and grit.

Author Randy Tucker combines historic newspapers, rare photographs, and detailed research to capture the daily lives of freighters, settlers, Native families, and travelers who kept this line alive. He shows how communities rose and fell with the trail, and how the arrival of the Chicago and North Western Railroad in 1906 ended an unforgettable chapter of the American West.

Randy Tucker will give a brief talk on this portion of history, and books will be available for signing afterwards.

Randy Tucker is an avid writer and historian living in central Wyoming. After bouncing around the world as the son of a U.S. Air Force sergeant, he came to Wyoming in 1971. He never left. His interests in history are broad. He majored in the Civil War and the American West with a minor in American Literature at the University of Wyoming. Of particular interest is telling stories that have never been told, such as the stories in “Rails to Trails on the Sweetwater.”

He has hunted, fished or hiked in all of the areas outlined in his stories, which adds a richer element to the historical narrative. Tucker retired as a teacher and IT administrator in 2012 after 32 years in Wyoming education and began life as a full-time writer. His work appears regularly on County10.com, in regional newspapers, historical sites and in museums and history groups across the region. He’s been happily married to his best friend Susan since 1982.

“Rails to Trails on the Sweetwater” will be our final speaker series for 2025, and we encourage people to watch the events page for more speaker series in 2026, along with long standing events such as Sheep Shearing Days and Apple Fest.

For more information visit the museum website at www.fremontcountymusuems.com, on Facebook at
Pioneer Museum Lander Wyoming, or call 307-332-3373.