Last week I talked about how a driver coming into Worland from Thermopolis during the 1950s would first cross the bridge that we now know as the old bridge.

The first gas station encountered would be Scotty’s Texaco (or, perhaps, Scotty’s Sinclair), located on the south side of the street, at Second Street and Culbertson. It was owned by Scotty Macintosh and is remarkable because it’s still there!

Tipped off by my elite team of geezers, I went to Goyn’s Machine & Automotive. There, Dennis Goyn showed me how the old Scotty’s station was wrapped within his present quarters. Dennis pointed out the site of the old big doors (located about 30 feet inside the existing building) and a hoist, and mentioned a women’s bathroom, which had not been used for 30 years. Dennis also said that when he came into this location, he remembered a big green dinosaur. That sounds like the Sinclair Oil symbol, leading me to believe that this station started out as a Texaco station and became a Sinclair Oil station.

Proceeding east leads to what was a Phillips station owned by Harold Aagard, located at Railway Avenue and Culbertson. Then, still proceeding along what was Worland’s main street (Fifth Street here), at the corner of Coburn and Fifth, you encountered a Sinclair station owned by Jerry Sinner. Just a block north, Worland Ford (Varney Motors) had a fuel pump on an island where the public could get gas.

Then, proceeding east on Big Horn, you would find another station on the north side of Big Horn (then across from the Hotel Washakie, now from Ranchito); it was owned by Fay Alexander, and is a building still in use. South from Mr. Alexander’s station, but slightly further east, was a station located in what is now a parking lot next to the old Kerby Theater. It must not have been around long, because I was never able to pin down the operator and the oil company.

Two blocks to the east, at Eighth Street and Big Horn, there was a station on every corner. Beginning at the northwest corner (what began in 1918 as George McClellan’s “Wild Bear Garage,” a Ford dealership), stood Krei’s Red Horse station. And directly across from Mr. Krei’s business (now Ace Hardware) was Lincoln McCann’s Amoco station. On the southwest corner of the street was another building still in use, a station operated for many years by Harry Faure. Due east was a gas station run by Big Horn Chevrolet.

Popping over to the north side of Big Horn, you found two stations on the block between Ninth Street and 10th Street. To the west was a Unocal station operated by Dick Schreckengaust (I apologize to the family if I have this spelled incorrectly), and to the east, on the northwest corner of 10th and Big Horn, was John Tibbs’s station, an Exxon, I believe. Directly south of the Tibbs station was the business of H. H. Fritzler, which he first established in 1939; it was a Conoco station called “Junction Service.”

Still proceeding east, you came to a small garage located on the 1100 block on Big Horn which sold gas to the public. I was never able to determine who owned it. But on the other side of the street, one block further east, was Bill Ward’s Texaco station, located just west of the Methodist Church (I think Randy Nissen owned it prior to Mr. Ward). The interesting thing I remember about this station was Mr. Ward’s display of a credit card slip, one that had never been sent in. The slip was signed by Clint Eastwood, who just happened to be driving through Worland on his way back to California.

The final service station on Big Horn was one that is still in operation, located at 1623 Big Horn Avenue. It has featured various oil companies, including, I believe, Standard, Shell, and now Sinclair. But all have been referred to as “East Side.”

By my count, that’s 16 stations on Worland’s main drag, although despite the assistance of an excellent group of technical experts, I may have overlooked a station or two.

Next week, I’ll talk about the service stations on 10th Street, and the big problem that arose in Worland because of all those gas stations in the town.

John Davis was raised in Worland, graduating from W. H. S. in 1961. John began practicing law here in 1973 and is mostly retired.