| Cooper Lake, Wyoming | |
| Settlement Type: | Unincorporated community |
| Pushpin Map: | USA Wyoming#USA |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location within the state of Wyoming |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Wyoming |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Unit Pref: | Imperial |
| Population As Of: | 2000 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone: | Mountain (MST) |
| Utc Offset: | -7 |
| Timezone Dst: | MDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -6 |
| Coordinates: | 41.6328°N -105.7689°W |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP codes |
| Postal Code: | 82058 |
| Blank Name: | FIPS code |
| Blank1 Name: | GNIS feature ID |
| Blank1 Info: | 1586964[1] |
Cooper Lake is a railroad station and former settlement in Albany County, Wyoming, United States.
It is named for the lake located to west of the community[2] [3] and was created as a station on the Union Pacific Railroad and First transcontinental railroad in the late 1860s.[4]
During an 1867 surveying expedition, several Euro-American men died in a skirmish with Native Americans near where the Cooper Lake station became located.[5] The Cooper Lake station was about 15 miles west of the Wyoming station, at an elevation of 7,044 feet. During the construction of the railroad, a large number of railroad ties were delivered to this location.[4] The line from Omaha, Nebraska reached Cooper Lake by July 1, 1868.[6] A small store was opened at the Cooper Lake station to supply provisions to freighters and tie cutters. The store was robbed in 1869, and the guilty parties were captured.[3]
An 1869 railroad guide describes the station as follows: "The station, with a grocery in it, it owned by the occupant. Aside from this there is one saloon to fill this bill. The company receives a great many ties at this station. There is a Telegraph Office here. Elk Mountain can be seen off to the south from here."[7]
The 1916 edition of The Complete Official Road Guide of the Lincoln Highway describes Cooper Lake as "nothing but a section house; no accommodation for tourists. Drinking water, radiator water and camp site."[8]
The area around Cooper Lake features beds of sandstone and claystone dating to the Tertiary period, intercalated with beds of sand and conglomerate.[9] The lake bed had dried up by 1956.[10]