For this #TBT, we’re stepping back aboard Wyoming’s last electric streetcar with a memory from one of the people who once ran it. The following is an excerpt from an interview with former conductor Joe Driear, who sat down and reminisced with Richard Lenz Sr. on December 14th, 1976.
“…I would like to tell little about this Fort car that we have just worked over and that we have there on Main Street. It ran to Ft. McKenzie when the old regular Army was up there. It cost 10 cents to go from Sheridan up to the Fort. It went up High School Hill, out to the fairgrounds, and straight across to the Fort.
“Then, when they had the campaign on, the sugar factory, that Fort car would go from the barn on Main Street down Coffeen Avenue to Montana Avenue and down Avoca Avenue across the bridge to the sugar factory. It took care of all the campaign workers out there.
“This car, as I say, went to Ft. McKenzie. The old regular Army was up there. The soldiers we’d have 15 or 20 of them riding back and forth on that car. There was a number of particular times that the car would stop there by the brewery, they’d put on two or three kegs of beer, there’d be maybe three or four soldiers on there. They’d get three or four kegs of beer, and about eight or ten painted ladies got on. They were going to the Fort and we had orders from D. W. Jones to never take no alcohol beverages on the government property.
“This Fort car, when it crossed Soldier Creek, we had to go through a locked gate to go in the government property. We got out and unlocked that gate, and would go up to the Fort and then come back and lock the gate again. Well, when we got to Soldier Creek, we’d say, “Here’s as far as the beer can go.” Of course, there were lots of soldiers there. The beer went off, and the painted ladies went off, and that’s where they partied, is right on Soldier Creek.
“I’m just in hopes that the old timers will remember some of those things that I have spoken about on this car. That’s about all at this time that I have to say, and I want to thank everybody.”
Join SCLT History Program Manager Kevin Knapp on Tuesday, December 9th at 10:00 a.m. at The Hub on Smith, where he will share the story of Wyoming’s last surviving streetcar, the Ol’ #115 — from its role connecting downtown Sheridan and Fort Mackenzie to its recent move to the SCLT Big Goose Natural Area. He’ll also highlight the second streetcar line that once served Tongue River coal communities and explain what comes next as SCLT works to preserve and restore this iconic piece of local history.
SCLT Explore History is free and open to all.
