Hanging On

Lance Creek, Wyoming played an important role in WWII. The aviation fuel made from crude oil from the oilfields here had a higher than normal octane and was used by the Allied aircraft fighting the Germans over Europe.During it's boom several thousand people lived in the gas and oil camps in Lance Creek. It was once an active place filled with oil and gas camps and a carbon black factory. There were numerous restaurants, barber shops and beauty parlors, mechanic shops,filling and service stations,lumber yards,grocery stores,cold storage, a hardware and feed store, drug stores, a turkey farm wow!, dairies, laundromats, shoe repair shop, trucking and construction companies,Amazing it even had a 5 and 10, and of course several bars.You can't have rough necks without a bar or two. There were plenty of things for people to do as well. You could play tennis, golf, shoot at the range, go roller skating and ice skating, see a movie, go bowling, play pool or it you had a plane, Lance Creek has it's own airport. Once a bustling place Lance Creek has slowly declined. The 2010 census showed that forty three people make there home in Lance Creek.On my short visit looking at the school and some of the remaining buildings it's incredible to think about all of the lives that were once a vibrant part of this place. Many have moved on an there are a few souls that still make this place their home. God bless, chris Special thanks to my Brother in Law Steve Kant for his oral history and tour of Lance Creek and to The Niobrara Public Library for "Niobrara Historical Brevity" published by the Niobrara Historical Society, in observance of the Lusk Centennial 1886-1986