Ten Sleep is a town in Washakie County,

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

, United States. It is located in the

Bighorn Basin The Bighorn Basin is a plateau region and intermontane basin, approximately 100 miles (160 km) wide, in north-central Wyoming in the United States. It is bounded by the Absaroka Range on the west, the Pryor Mountains on the north, the Bigho ...

in the western foothills of the

Bighorn Mountains The Bighorn Mountains ( or ) are a mountain range in northern Wyoming and southern Montana in the United States, forming a northwest-trending spur from the Rocky Mountains extending approximately northward on the Great Plains. They are separa ...

, approximately east of Worland and west of Buffalo. The population was 260 at the 2020 census.

Culture

Near the entrance to nearby Ten Sleep Canyon is the former site of the Girl Scout National Center West, a portion of which was one of the largest encampments in the world at . A part of that site is now owned and operated by the

Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in ...

as the Tensleep Preserve, with facilities for workshops and seminars. Ten Sleep Mercantile, also known as ''Ten Sleep Hardware'', is an example of a typical small-town

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

and it has been the focal point of the town since it was built in 1905 by H.T. Church. The building is an example of the tall, narrow and deep commercial buildings commonly found in small American towns. From 1919 to 1943 the store was operated by Paul Frison, who served as mayor of Ten Sleep and as a Wyoming state legislator. The area continues to thrive as a ranching community. Other industries include mineral extraction (

bentonite Bentonite ( ) is an Absorption (chemistry), absorbent swelling clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite (a type of smectite) which can either be Na-montmorillonite or Ca-montmorillonite. Na-montmorillonite has a considerably greater swelli ...

) and tourism. Logging and other small businesses have dwindled, leaving just a handful of small businesses supporting the community. Three cafes/restaurants, two bars, two motels, a historic hardware store, campground, bank, and a gas station/ convenience store offer the primary business services. Annual celebrations include a two-day rodeo and parade, hinging on the 4th of July celebration of Independence Day of the United States. The main street is also closed to through traffic to accommodate events such as live music. Another annual tradition is NoWoodStock, a music festival held the second weekend of August. Ten Sleep has a

microbrewery Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...

named Ten Sleep Brewing Company, which began brewing in October 2013.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , all land.

Climate

According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Ten Sleep has a

hot-summer humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

, abbreviated "Dfa" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Ten Sleep was on July 13, 2005, while the coldest temperature recorded was on December 22, 1990.

History

Ten Sleep was an American Indian rest stop, so called because it was 10 days' travel, or “10 sleeps,” from

Fort Laramie Fort Laramie (; founded as Fort William and known for a while as Fort John) was a significant 19th-century trading post, diplomatic site, and military installation located at the confluence of the Laramie and the North Platte Rivers. They joi ...

(southeast),

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U ...

(west-northwest), and the Indian Agency on the Stillwater River in

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

(northwest). The archeological sites in the area feature artifacts such as arrowheads, pictographs and

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

s. Ten Sleep was also the site of the Spring Creek Raid, one of the last feuds of the West's Sheep and Cattlemen's War. It was there in March 1909 that cattlemen attacked sheep herders and their flock, killing three men and shooting hundreds of the sheep.

Archaeology and geology

The region contains fossil specimens of dinosaurs, plants and sea-life. One such local area, Big Cedar Ridge, is open to the public for exploration and collection for personal use. The Tensleep Formation is the yellowish-gray to white sandstone which features in much of Ten Sleep Canyon. Formed during the Pennsylvanian geological period, it features in the western slope of the

. Red sandstone such as Signal Cliff west of Ten Sleep, as well as the dirt hills of Bighorn's western slope compose the Chugwater Formation from the

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

period. Above Chugwater is the marine Jurassic Sundance Formation and the terrestrial Late Jurassic

Morrison Formation The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltston ...

with dinosaurs. Called the "Painted Desert" or "Colored Hills" by locals, the Cloverly Formation is finely granulated sandstone and clay. The multicolor Cloverly formations are closely associated with strata containing dinosaur fossils. Numerous signs along U.S. 16 from Buffalo, through Ten Sleep and west to Worland identify the various geologic formations and their millennia.

Demographics

2020 census

The 2020 United States census counted 246 people, 120 households, and 76 families in Ten Sleep. The population density was 1,344.3 per square mile (519.0/km). There were 146 housing units at an average density of 797.8 per square mile (308.0/km). The racial makeup was 97.56% (240)

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

European American European Americans are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since th ...

(97.15%

non-Hispanic white Non-Hispanic Whites, also referred to as White Anglo Americans or Non-Latino Whites, are White Americans who are classified by the United States census as "White" and not of Hispanic or Latino origin. According to annual estimates from the Unit ...

), 0.0% (0)

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

, 0.81% (2) Native American or

Alaska Native Alaska Natives (also known as Native Alaskans, Alaskan Indians, or Indigenous Alaskans) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of Alaska that encompass a diverse arena of cultural and linguistic groups, including the I ...

, 0.0% (0) Asian, 0.0% (0)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiʻi was set ...

, 0.41% (1) from other races, and 1.22% (3) from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race was 0.81% (2) of the population. Of the 120 households, 28.3% had children under the age of 18; 47.5% were married couples living together; 24.2% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. 30.8% of households consisted of individuals and 16.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.9 and the average family size was 2.5. The percent of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher was estimated to be 20.3% of the population. 19.5% of the population was under the age of 18, 4.5% from 18 to 24, 18.7% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 34.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 52.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 83.6 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older, there were 83.3 males. The 2016-2020 5-year

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

estimates show that the median household income was $36,324 (with a margin of error of +/- $22,038) and the median family income was $66,786 (+/- $14,350). Males had a median income of $43,125 (+/- $31,607) versus $18,750 (+/- $12,426) for females. The median income for those above 16 years old was $25,000 (+/- $9,389). Approximately, 10.0% of families and 12.9% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 39.5% of those under the age of 18 and 8.2% of those ages 65 or over.

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 260 people, 133 households, and 76 families residing in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 157 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 97.3%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.8% Native American, 0.4% Asian, and 1.5% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 0.8% of the population. There were 133 households, of which 17.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.9% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 8.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.0% had a male householder with no wife present, and 42.9% were non-families. 36.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.95 and the average family size was 2.55. The median age in the town was 54.3 years. 17.3% of residents were under the age of 18; 2.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 20.8% were from 25 to 44; 30.8% were from 45 to 64; and 28.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 53.8% male and 46.2% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 304 people, 142 households, and 83 families residing in the town. The

was 1,789.7 people per square mile (690.4/km²). There were 158 housing units at an average density of 930.2 per square mile (358.8/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 99.01%

, 0.66% Native American, 0.33% from other races.

or Latino of any race were 0.66% of the population. There were 142 households, out of which 20.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.2% were

living together, 6.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.5% were non-families. 38.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.90. In the town, the population was spread out, with 22.0% under the age of 18, 2.3% from 18 to 24, 19.4% from 25 to 44, 33.2% from 45 to 64, and 23.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 48 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.1 males. The median income for a household in the town was $24,250, and the median income for a family was $30,357. Males had a median income of $28,125 versus $16,250 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $15,761. About 2.8% of families and 7.0% of the population were below the

, including 3.3% of those under the age of eighteen and 5.8% of those 65 or over.

Education

Public education in the town of Ten Sleep is provided by Washakie County School District #2. Ten Sleep School, a K–12 campus, serves the town. Ten Sleep has a

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

, a branch of the Washakie County Library.

Notable people

* Jalan Crossland, bluegrass singer, musician * Gerald "Jerry" Geis, President of the

Wyoming State Senate The Wyoming Senate is the upper house of the Wyoming State Legislature. There are 31 Senators in the Senate, representing an equal number of constituencies across Wyoming, each with a population of at least 17,000. The Senate meets at the Wyom ...

from 1985–1986Wyoming State Legislative Directory

References

External links

{{Authority control Towns in Washakie County, Wyoming Towns in Wyoming