photo courtesy of tripadvisor.com
Dave Walsh 18 Feb ’16
This Wonder is located in the pine-covered Big Horn Mountains, and it’s a marvel of the fish culture in Wyoming. It’s a Wonder that has provided so much to the streams and lakes of Wyoming. It has been a major contributor to the fish populations for over a century. The Cowboy State is revered world wide for its fishing, and each year, this facility stocks nearly a quarter-of-a-million fish, and processes up to four million trout eggs for local consumption or to be shipped to other states to be traded for species not raised in Wyoming.
It’s the Story Fish Hatchery, and it’s the oldest operating station in the state. Originally located in Sheridan, the hatchery was re-located to the beautiful mountain community of Story, in 1907. The water supply was better, colder, and plentiful, drawing from South Piney Creek a mile-and-a-half away. This was where the pines were used, back in 1866, to build Fort Phil Kearny.
The Story Fish Hatchery, managed by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, has become a popular tourist stop, hosting some 14,000 visitors a year. The center is open from mid-April to mid-September, but the spectacular grounds are open year-round. The Story Fish Hatchery, a most-productive Wonder of Wyoming.