Editing Sheridan, Wyoming (section)

==History==
The city was named after General [[Philip Sheridan]], [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] [[cavalry]] leader in the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=23237|title=Profile for Sheridan, Wyoming|publisher=[[ePodunk]]|access-date=May 28, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304044020/http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=23237|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Several battles between US Cavalry and the Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Shoshone, and Crow Indian tribes occurred in the area in the 1860s and 1870s before the town was built.

In 1878, trapper George Mandel built a cabin on Big Goose Creek, since reconstructed in the Whitney Commons park near the Sheridan County Fulmer Public Library. Jack Dow surveyed the townsite for Sheridan in 1882, at the behest of John Loucks, first mayor of the town who had served under Gen. Sheridan.<ref name="wyohistory.org">{{Cite web|title=Sheridan, Wyoming {{!}} WyoHistory.org|url=https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/sheridan-wyoming|website=www.wyohistory.org|access-date=May 22, 2020}}</ref>

In the early 1880s, the nearby town of Big Horn was larger in population. In 1888, Sheridan County split off of Johnson County, and voters chose Sheridan as the county seat in a run-off election. The arrival of the Burlington and Missouri Railroad in 1892 boosted Sheridan's economic status, leading to the construction of the Sheridan Inn, where [[Buffalo Bill Cody]] was once a financial partner. Railroad maintenance facilities and railroad-tie treatment plants were significant employers in Sheridan's first decades. The railroad created numerous side industries as well as export opportunities for raw materials. Maps of the day show Sheridan as part of the "hinterland" providing raw goods to cities like Chicago.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cronon |first1=William |title=Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West |url=https://archive.org/details/naturesmetropoli00cron_0 |url-access=registration |date=1992 |publisher=W.W. Norton and Company|isbn=9780393029215 }}</ref> For the next twenty years the economy and population boomed.<ref name="wyohistory.org"/>

Numerous coal mines funded by Chicago investors opened along Tongue River north of Sheridan in the 1890s, sparking immigration, and a major building boom that built Sheridan's brick downtown district. By 1910, an electric streetcar line, the only one in the state, connected the mining towns of Monarch, Dietz, and Acme to Sheridan.<ref name="wyohistory.org"/>

Sheridan was settled by farmers from midwestern states like Illinois, and a few people who came up the cattle trails from Texas, like [[John B. Kendrick]], who went on to be a cattle tycoon and Governor of Wyoming. Many immigrants from Poland, Italy, Greece, Germany, Mexico, and Japan settled in Sheridan, finding work in coal mines, railroad, or agriculture. One Muslim immigrant was [[Zarif Khan]], a charismatic Afghani tamale and hamburger vendor from what became Pakistan whose neighborly generosity is still remembered in Sheridan.<ref>{{Cite magazine|title=The Old West's Muslim Tamale King|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/06/06/zarif-khans-tamales-and-the-muslims-of-sheridan-wyoming|last=Schulz|first=Kathryn|magazine=The New Yorker|date=May 30, 2016|language=en|access-date=May 22, 2020}}</ref> Many Polish families came from the [[Jaworzynka]] village in southern Poland.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Coal Camps of Sheridan County {{!}} WyoHistory.org|url=https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/coal-camps-sheridan-county|website=www.wyohistory.org|access-date=May 22, 2020}}</ref> English immigrants who settled in the area were overwhelmingly farmers.<ref>Portrait of an English Migration: North Yorkshire People in North America By William E. Van Vugt pg. 230</ref>

Agriculture played a major role in Sheridan County's early economy. By the 1920s, Sheridan was an agricultural processing center for wheat, dairy, and sugar beets, with a stockyard for cattle shipping by rail. Many hobos rode the rails to Sheridan in the 1920s and 1930s, seeking employment in agriculture and ranches.<ref name="wyohistory.org"/> From 1935 through 1939, Sheridan was considered the state capital of the proposed state of [[Absaroka (proposed state)|Absaroka]], a secessionist movement that proved unsuccessful.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Jacobs |first=Frank |date=July 23, 2010 |title=Absaroka, a State of Rebellion Against FDR's New Deal |url=https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/301-look-at-the-state-youre-in-absaroka/ |access-date=November 14, 2022 |website=Big Think |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Pedersen |first=Nate |title=The State of Absaroka |url=http://www.southdakotamagazine.com/absaroka |access-date=November 6, 2022 |website=www.southdakotamagazine.com}}</ref>

The role of underground coal mining declined in the 1950s when demand for coal to power steam locomotives declined due to adoption of diesel locomotives. As coal mine towns dwindled, many employees moved into Sheridan and found other lines of work. The economy boomed in the 1970s with the construction of strip mines along Tongue River in Montana. Many subdivisions were built on former small farms outside of Sheridan in the 1970s and 1980s as the dairy, wheat, and sugar beet industry consolidated to other areas in Montana and South Dakota with more production capacity.<ref name="wyohistory.org"/>

Tourism has long been a significant factor in Sheridan's economy and community life. Numerous guest ranches including Eaton's Ranch hosted guests that arrived by rail. Books like ''Diary of a Dude Wrangler'' and ''Hell Among the Yearlings'' document this history. Many dude ranch guests moved to Sheridan permanently, leaving a lasting influence on the area's economy, cultural life, and charity institutions. Sheridan has a number of local educational and community foundations, and almost 400 non-profits.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Nonprofit Support|url=http://www.sheridancvc.org/nonprofit-support/|last=maraas|date=October 8, 2015|website=Center for a Vital Community|language=en-US|access-date=May 22, 2020}}</ref> Community-funded entities include a large Y.M.C.A. recreation center, and the WYO Theater.

In the 21st century, Sheridan is the economic center for a large area spanning three counties in north-central Wyoming and southern Montana. The town has a relatively diversified service economy — including government, healthcare, education, real estate, mining, and financial services, with a growing manufacturing sector — in contrast to many communities in Wyoming that rely mostly on natural resource extraction, government jobs, or national park tourism.{{cn|date=September 2024}}