The Riverton Railroad Depot, a historic railway station, now a delicious restaurant. Photo: Wind River Country/Brad Christensen
Welcome to Riverton, WY
Riverton lies at the confluence of the Big and Little Wind Rivers and was established in 1906 on land ceded from the Wind River Indian Reservation. The town was placed in a natural basin that had long been a gathering point for humans from Native Americans since pre-history to the 1830 and 1838 mountain man rendezvous.
Central Wyoming Regional Airport “Fly Local, Explore the World.” www.centralwyomingairport.com
4800 Airport Road
Riverton, WY 82501
(307) 856-1307
Riverton Chamber and Visitors Center “Building a thriving, vibrant, diverse and prosperous community through education and business leadership.” www.wyriverton.com
524 E Main Street
Riverton, WY 82501 (307) 856-4801
History of Riverton, WY
CWC is a major contributor to Riverton’s cultural and commercial life. The college offers a wide variety of programs and services to students and community members of all ages. Off-campus locations are in Jackson, Lander, Dubois and the Wind River Indian Reservation.
Home of the 1830 & 1838 Rendezvous
As the site of the fur trade’s 1830 rendezvous and 1838 rendezvous, Riverton played host to many of the legendary names of the mountain man era. Jim Bridger, William Sublette, Kit Carson, and Jedediah Smith are only a few of the legendary trappers and traders who met here in 1838.
The most impressive of these was the 1838 event, which drew as many as 300 people including mountain men and traders, Native Americans and missionaries to a bench of cottonwood trees at the confluence of the Big Wind and the Little Wind. For several days, they traded and celebrated a season of trapping the mountains.
Riverton boasts the only rendezvous site that remains on original ground. The 1838 Rendezvous reenactment each summer features men and women who demonstrate skills that were used by the mountain men that have otherwise been virtually lost through the decades.
Soon after its founding, the Riverton area was promoted heavily in the East as a “farming paradise”. One of the last major homesteading ‘openings’ held in the United States, this development had all the drama of the Old West – greedy Eastern speculators, railroad expansion, claim jumpers, land races, feuds and shoot outs. The Army was even called in from Fort Washakie to keep the peace.
From these wild and wooly beginnings, Riverton has developed into the agricultural and commercial hub of Fremont County. With a farm/ranch agriculture base, the Riverton area is a major producer of top-quality cattle and horses, alfalfa hay and sugar beets.
