Camp Dubois, Wyoming


Camp Dubois is a historical site at Union Pass in the Wind River Range in Fremont County of western Wyoming in the United States. Camp Dubois was west of the community of Dubois, Wyoming. Camp Dubois is at about elevation on the Continental Divide in the Shoshone National Forest, near the Little Warm Spring Creek. Camp Dubois opened in July 1944 and operated as World War 2 Prisoner of war camp. The camp was also called a Tie Camp. The camp closed in January 1946. Today there are a few remains of the camp. Before the POW camp, the site was a timber camp of the Wyoming Tie & Timber Company starting in 1914. The Wyoming Tie & Timber Company build the Tie Hack Historical Monument in 1946.

Wyoming Tie & Timber Company timber camp

Tie Camps opened near Camp Dubois in 1913. Trees were cut and turned into railroad ties for the growing railroad industry. Dubois timber camps supplied the Chicago and North Western Railway. Those that cut railroad ties were nickname, Tie Hack. Before World War 2 most of the workers immigrant from Ireland, Sweden and Norway. Most Dubois timber camps were operated by the Wyoming Tie and Timber Company. At the largest Dubois timber camp is a 14-foot limestone monument overlooks former Tie Camp built in 1946 on U.S. Route 26 at. The Tie Hack Historical Monument was built by the Wyoming Tie & Timber Company. Tie Hack Historical Monument was carved by Boris Gilbertson. The Tie Hack Historical Monument has a tie hack clutching a broad-head ax and a cross cut saw and other workers cutting and moving ties. A Tie Hack Memorial Marker is also at the site. The Tie Hack Historical Monument is northwest of Dubois, Wyoming. In 1914 the fist logging site for the Wyoming Tie & Timber Compan was in Togwotee Pass. In 1868 the first Tie Hacking start in Medicine Bow Mountains to supply the Union Pacific Railroad.
On the base of the Memorial:

Erected to perpetuate the memory
of the hardy woods and river men
who made and delivered the cross
ties for the building and maintenance
of the Chicago and North Western
Railway in the western country
Wyoming Tie & Timber Company

Prisoner of war camp

During World War 2, starting in July 1944 German prisoners were housed at Camp Dubois. Camp Duboi prisoners of war were used for timber operations. Prisoner of war labor worked for civilian employers under the military officials and the Department of Agriculture's Extension Service. At Camp Duboi the Camp prisoners worked for the Wyoming Tie and Timber Company. Wyoming Tie and Timber had request POW workers, due to the war labor shortage. Wyoming Tie and Timber Company cut and made railroad ties at the Wyoming Tie and Timber sawmill. The camp worked six days a week, with Sunday off. The POW Labor Program benefited the US as there was shortage of labor during the war. About 150 POWs lived at the camp, with about 10 Army guards. Most POWs came from Camp Scottsbluff in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. The local logging companies paid the prisoner labor, now lumberjacks, the same as local civilians. The cut logs taken to banks of the Wind River. In the spring, with a high river, the logs were bulldozed into the river. The logs were then floated down to Camp Riverton in Riverton. The pay was given in camp scrip. The scrip could be used at the camp store for candy, soda pop, stamps to write home and other items. At the end of the war the camp closed in January 1946. During World War II, two large POW base camps,, and seventeen smaller camps that did agricultural and timber work were located in Wyoming. Other smaller camps in Wyoming were: Basin, Wyoming, Clearmont, Deaver, Camp Esterbrook, Huntley, Lingle, Lovell, Pine Bluffs, Powell, Riverton, Torrington, Veteran, Wheatland, Ryan Park Camp, Centennial POW Camp and Worland.

Exhibit

At the Wind River Historical Center is a Camp Dubois: German Prisoner Of War Camp Exhibit. The exhibit opened May 23, 2019. The grand opening was for the 75th anniversary in June 2019, the 75th anniversary of the POWs arrival. The Dubois Museum, Wind River Historical Center, at, has exhibits with original POW artifacts and camp photos.