Cart 0
Street map of Diamondville, Wyoming

DIAMONDVILLE

Wyoming
Shop the collection

Diamondville is a town in Lincoln County, Wyoming, United States, often used as a suburb of neighboring Kemmerer.

The Diamondville Collection

Made for Diamondville. Printed to order.

Every piece is drawn from Diamondville's own map data and historic archives, then printed and shipped from the USA when you order. No two towns look alike.

A short history of Diamondville

Harrison Church discovered coal near the Hams Fork River in 1868. He gathered financial backing from a group in Minneapolis, and they formed the Hams Fork River Coal Company. Diamondville was built to house the miners. The management of the coal company came to S.F. Fields in Salt Lake City. He sought backing from the Anaconda Mining Company and renamed it Diamond Coal and Coke Company.

Many of the workers came from Almy, Wyoming where the mines had several explosions. The miners mainly lived in a "shack town" as no houses were built.

In 1894 a station for the Oregon Short Line Railroad was built in Diamondville. In 1898 the river was rerouted and the town moved from on the hill south of town into the valley area.

By the early 1900s there was a Mercantile, butcher shop, bakeries, photography studio, theater, dress shop, hardware store, and thirteen saloons. The Daly Hotel was a three story structure with fifty rooms, a dining room, barbershop, and saloon.

The town was incorporated on March 2, 1901. Thomas Sneddon, superintendent of the Diamondville Mine, became the first mayor.

The Diamondville Mine closed in August 1930. There is no longer an underground mine but there is an open-pit mine nearby.

Read the full history

Mine

The mine suffered a number of fires, explosions, and deaths during its operations. The first recorded fire was in December 1898. Practice at the time was to seal off the area, robbing the fire of oxygen, and continue operations in other areas of the mine. The fire continued for six weeks, eventually resulting in two deaths. Another fire started February 1901. This time miners and horses were left inside when it was sealed. The final report listed thirty two deaths. In December 1905 a coal dust explosion killed eighteen.

The miners led strikes in 1898, 1899, and 1903. There was also a statewide strike in 1908. The mine reacted strongly to these attempts at reform. In 1898 the miners and families were evicted. In 1899 non-union men were brought in to operate the mine. This time wives and daughters of the union workers marched on the mines. In response the mine called in over seventy five deputies. In 1903 the United Mine Workers brought in Mother Jones to Wyoming to organize several mines. The superintendent replied that she would be jailed if she attempted to influence the mine in Diamondville.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Diamondville, Wyoming, revision 1377177497 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

For local organizations

Are you with a Diamondville historical society?

We share a part of every Diamondville sale with local partners, and we'd love to print from your collection. Old photographs, maps and postcards make the best keepsakes.

Partner with us
Nearby

Neighboring towns