Powder River Basin Coal
Beginning
For decades now our tradition has been, in most years, to travel to the west in spring or summer. The times are usually guided by work and school schedules. 2012 would be mid-summer so we looked in more northern high elevations. Our son has had a long interest in railroading and wanted to see the rail and mining operations in the Powder River Basin for some time. We also had not been to Yellowstone or the Tetons in over 20 years. Planning evolved into a grand loop around Wyoming beginning in Denver. My own photographic interests have long included the industrial landscape – more so as I approach my retirement from engineering. There was also a direct connection to these mines from early in my career as I will tell. Expectations that grow during preparations for a trip like this are often off the mark. This one was no exception.
We arrive in Denver and begin our drive north in the morning, passing through urban, suburban and rural landscapes east of the Rockies. Eventually it is just plain empty grassland. The open landscape is always a soothing drive for me even when it is in fact quite harsh. There have been terrible fires in the foothills west of us and temperatures have been above 100 for over a week on the plains east of here. We hope that going up in altitude will cool things off.
We arrive at Bill, Wyoming late in the afternoon. The Bill Store and Post Office don’t look very open. Bars on the windows suggest a roughness here at times for business by the side of the road. Bill is actually a more interesting place than it looked as I discovered after we got back home – see: A town named Bill for a little history. Turning off US-59 here, we follow Antelope Road towards our first mine in the Powder River Basin.
The approach to the North Antelope Rochelle mine climbs a low hill giving us a good viewpoint. The mine is busy but the road is not. We linger here allowing time to comprehend the scale of the place. It is always slow for perception to re-adjust when travelling from the Northeast to the West. We are tired and hungry – we continue on to the town of Wright and a welcome dinner.