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Platte County named for the river

Growing populations in Wheatland and the Guernsey-Hartville-Sunrise area led the Legislature to create a new county out of the northwestern parts Laramie County of in 1911. Gov. Joseph M. Carey signed the bill establishing the county on Feb. 9, 1911. Organizing commissioners Chris Hauf of Glendo, T.J. Carrol of Wheatland and Robert Grand Jr. of Chugwater first met on March 8, local voters approved the idea in November 1912 and the county government was finally organized on Jan. 7, 1913. Wheatland is the county seat of Platte County.

Platte County is bordered on the northeast by Niobrara County; on the east by Goshen County; on the south by Laramie County; on the west by Albany County; and on the northwest by Converse County. Platte County includes five towns: Chugwater, Glendo, Guernsey, Hartville and Wheatland. Smaller, census-designated places are Chugcreek, Lakeview North, Slater, Westview Circle, Y-O Ranch, Whiting and Sunrise.

The county was named for the North Platte River. In the 1790s, French fur traders and trappers named the river “Platte,” from the French for “flat” or “shallow.” The river to this day is the lifeblood of the area, providing water to more than 335,000 acres in Wyoming and Nebraska, enabling the semi-arid plains to produce alfalfa, corn, potatoes, sugar beets and dry beans.

Platte County, in southeastern Wyoming, lies along the east slope of the Laramie Range, part of the front range of the Rocky Mountains. The county is a rectangle, 65 miles long north to south and 30 miles wide, with the North Platte River running through its northeastern corner.

Most of the county is dominated by the blue cone of Laramie Peak on its western horizon, and a north-south travel route along the mountain front, used by people since prehistoric times, dominates its economy as today’s Interstate 25. Water has been diverted from the river and its tributaries since the 1880s, and remains important to Platte County agriculture and to a large, coal-fired power plant today.

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