Air race and the Celebration of Armistice Day

To mark the end of WWI, there was seven-week-long air race from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific and back again, with check points along the way. A landing strip was cleared on the cliffs above the Green River at present-day Hutton Heights. The local Boy Scout troop volunteered to guard the planes from souvenir hunters during their stop.

A variation on air races began in the 1920s. The people of Sweetwater County were mesmerized when a “flying circus,” consisting of a variety of aerial stunts, came to town with free shows.

airmail expands across the U.S.

Airmail service began in the east in 1920, eventually expanding across the country by 1924. Early airmail pilots, many of whom had flown in WWI, followed a route through Sweetwater County. Thanks to early business-people such as John Hay, Sr., Rock Springs became an important airmail terminal when a landing field was developed.

Sagebrush was cleared about four miles north of twon, current site of the county fairgrounds. A single hangar that was used for both regular and emergency landings was built soon afterwards.

Airmail pilots originally flew only during the day. If needed, they could fly close to the ground and follow the train tracks. Giant concrete arrows dotted the ground about every 15 miles along the route of the Union Pacific railroad, which was nicknamed the “iron compass” by pilots who often relied on train tracks in times of bad weather or faulty instruments.

Since this was the stopover between Cheyenne and Salt Lake City, pilots often stayed at the Park Hotel. When the U.S. government decided to improve service by providing night flights in 1928, light beacons were added to help pilots navigate in the dark.

Boeing offers passenger and freight air service

Boeing Aircraft was the first private company to take over airmail when the government began contracting it out in 1930. Boeing and other companies soon started offering passenger and freight air service to Rock Springs as well. Expanded services meant larger, metal planes. It also made clear that this area needed a better airport. The old airport was abandoned and a new airport was begun at our present site in the late 1930s./p>

Amelia Earhart and her gyroplane

Amelia Earhart stopped in Rock Springs to refuel her gyroplane in 1932. Five years later, she vanished while attempting to become the first woman to fly around the world. What many people don’t know is that Amelia Earhart has another, eerie connection with Sweetwater County. In 1937, a young Rock Springs local, Dana Randolph, made headlines when he claimed to have heard Ms. Earhart sending out a radio message for help around 8:00 a.m.

An avid amateur radio operator, the sixteen-year-old Randolph was listening on a commercial radio set equipped with a shortwave receiver two days after Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific Ocean. He reported he heard the following message on the morning of July 4, 1937: “This is Amelia Earhart. Ship is on a reef south of the equator, station KH9QQ.” Randolph said the pleas for help went on for nearly 25 minutes. The Rock Springs Rocket-Miner’s headline on July 5, 1937 read, “First Radio Contact With Miss Earhart Made By Springs Boy.” His report was forwarded to San Francisco by a local aviation official, but was later disregarded on the grounds that Randolph was not a professional radio operator.

A bright future

On February 1, 2018, the Rock Springs-Sweetwater County Airport became the Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport. The new name was created to be more representative of the region it serves, and the Wyoming way of life it supports and helps make possible.