[1] Homesteading in the area began in the 1870s, and a railroad station and post office were soon established.
The railroad was extended north from Cheyenne in anticipation of heavy mining development which never occurred.
Notorious range "detective" Tom Horn, who often spent time in the upper Chugwater valley as a "bronc buster", was suspected for both murders but never indicted.
In 1901 14-year-old Willie Nickell, son of the only sheepherder in the Iron Mountain region, was shot and killed while riding his father's horse in search for a herd of sheep that went missing nearby.
Suspicion fell again on Tom Horn, a confession was procured from him while intoxicated and he was prosecuted and executed for the murder in Cheyenne, Wyoming.