campgrounds
For people who live in Casper, Wyoming, the mountain to the south has long been a great recreation area. They are campgrounds and a ski resort, not to mention the trails that dot the mountain top. While the mountain is mostly recreational today, along with a number of people who live on the mountain full-time, that wasn’t always the case. In 1890, a gold strike on Casper Mountain brought a little gold rush to the area…along with many different kinds of people, looking to strike it rich. The mountain was crawling with people from all walks of life, but while they looked until 1895, they didn’t find much gold. The materials found were mostly asbestos and other non-profitable minerals.
Nevertheless, there arose a need for a town and supply stores, so the town of Eadsville was formed. It was located 12 miles due south of Casper on top of Casper Mountain. It was founded by Charles W Eads in 1891 after he had staked a 600-foot x 1,500-foot mining claim around a large spring. The town was named for one Charles W Eads, who was the second person to settle in Casper, following a Mr. Merritt, who was credited with being the first to locate to Casper. Eads appeared in the Natrona County Tribune, May 13, 1908, and was apparently accused of being a horse thief. He would go on to do time in prison.
It was thought that there were large deposits of precious minerals, such as gold, silver, lead, and copper. The town continued to develop, with lots being sold in the town during 1891 – 1892. During that time, about a dozen cabins were built. While the town became a ghost town before very long, the foundations of three cabins still remain today. During the boom years, some 40 to 50 people lived there, all hoping to make their millions in gold and silver. Some traces of gold and silver were found, and copper was also mined, but asbestos and feldspar were the most economical to mined. The “spar” was still being mined after nearly 100 years. It’s no longer being mined, but it could be again, if there was a need.
After a time of trying unsuccessfully to make a living, the miners finally gave up and abandoned the town 
between 1905 and 1906. The site was rediscovered in the 1980s, and numerous artifacts were uncovered during an archeological excavation that was conducted between 1983 and 1985. At one time it was surveyed as a stamp mill. Eadsville was located on Casper Mountain at an elevation of 7,800 feet and covered an area 20 acres.
As we were going through our parents things after the passing of our mother, we came across several very old maps of different states, and also one that I received of London during World War II. It occurred to me that my sisters and I are a real novelty these days, in that we know how to read a map, and plan out a route to travel to anywhere we would like to go. I’m sure there are other people out there who can read maps too, but in this day and age of the GPS, many people can’t either. I’m all for technology, and I have a GPS myself, but I can also read a map, and that is because of my dad, and his determination to teach us that art.
Every year our family would take a vacation. Sometimes we didn’t travel very far, like the year we took a Wyoming tour, in several separate legs over the course of two weeks. Other times, we traveled quite a ways, like the years we went to visit our sister, Cheryl Masterson, while she was living in upstate New York. As students go, we were a novelty too, because every year when the teacher asked the inevitable question about what we did over the summer, we always had a story to tell. At the time, we didn’t 
realize just how blessed…and how traveled we were, compared to other students in class. I always thought that everyone took a vacation, but that isn’t so. Many kids got to go visit a grandparent or some other relative, but going to the same place every summer isn’t really a vacation.
Our parents were so excited about our vacations every year, and we would often sit down and Dad would show us the route we were going to take on our trip. It was during these vacation planning sessions, that we learned to read a map, and that we learned to enjoy reading a map. The map was never confusing or complicated to us, because Dad showed us how to read it. We knew the difference between an interstate and a state highway. We knew how to pick out the larger cities, as opposed to the small towns. We knew what states and what towns we would be traveling through, and we knew how to find the sights that were located in the area that might be of interest. We knew how to find campgrounds in the area, and how to figure out how far we could easily travel in a days time. All these things are on a map, if you know where to look for them, and thanks to our dad, we did.
I suppose that many people wouldn’t think of a map as a treasure, but for my sisters and me, they really were. We all had to have some of them, and every time we look at them, they will serve as a reminder of those planning sessions, and of all those amazing vacations we took as kids, with our parents. I have no problem with the convenience of a GPS, and in the big cities my husband Bob and I travel to, they are a great help, but if my GPS ever failed, I could still get us there with a map. It is a legacy that our dad left for his daughters. It does make us a novelty, but it is something we are all proud to be able to do, and thankful that we had the parents we had. Their interest in travel, and Dad’s teachings on maps clearly enriched our lives.
