Bi-Weekly Newsletter

Ames Monument
Many Easton residents are aware that Oakes and Oliver Ames are owed great credit for connecting the US by rail. The First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869. There is a pyramid not far from Laramie, Wyoming, called the Ames Pyramid, dedicated to Oakes and Oliver as they provided essential financial support for the project. Oliver served as president of the Union Pacific Railroad from 1866 to 1871, and Oakes largely controlled the construction.
The monument marked the (original) highest point on the railroad line (8,247 feet); the tracks were later moved south of that location.

Ames Monument, seen from Hermosa Road, Albany County, Wyoming, September 2011. Wikipedia. In July of 2017 the Ames Monument became a National Historic Landmark.

Designed by H.H. Richardson, the monument is a four-sided pyramid of local granite. Inside the pyramid is a passageway that is now sealed. On the pyramid are 2 bas-relief medallions showing Oakes & Oliver Ames. These were completed by August Saint-Gaudens, a well-known sculptor who was also responsible for the bas-relief of Oliver Ames in the reading room at Ames Free Library.

Ames Monument, Sherman WY. Cowboy State Daily.
The pyramid is in the town of Sherman, Wyoming. Unfortunately, the town became a ghost town when the Union Pacific moved the original tracks south as the grade was better. After thriving for a relatively short time, Sherman ceased to exist. Today the Ames monument is pretty much in the middle of nowhere!

Sherman, Wyoming, about 1870

Correction to the last Biweekly: Dr. Moody had the 1907 Morse car until he died, and then it was sold. In 1991 the Morse car went to collector/dealer Charles LeMaitre of western Massachusetts. LeMaitre traded the 1907 car to Fred Hoch of NJ where it still resides.

Sources/Links:

• Ames Monument Historic Site, https://wyoparks.wyo.gov/index.php/about
• Ames Monument, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ames_Monument
• Cowboy State Daily, https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/08/19/what-the-heck-is-that-60-foot-pyramid-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-off-i-80/
• Visit Laramie, https://www.visitlaramie.org/things-to-do/history/legends-of-laramie/the-ames-monument/

Anne Wooster Drury

[email protected]



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