Wyoming’s Beautiful But Most Forgotten Town Of Daniel

Where the heck is Daniel, Wyoming? The people of Daniel might or might not want everybody to know.

Daniel is located in Sublette County, Wyoming, with a population of about 148 people. The town lies on U.S. Route 189, in the Green River valley as the water flows out of the Gros Ventre Range to Daniel's north and the Wind River Range to the town's east.

Long before the town, roaming tribes of Plains Indians hunted and made war in the area, including Shoshonis, Crows, Cheyennes, Arapahos, Blackfeet, and Sioux. They were summer residents, leaving for warmer climates in the fall.

Trappers, prospectors, pioneers, and adventurers came through starting in the early 1800s. The first documented white in the to-be-Daniel area was Wilson Price Hunt, who led a party of trappers through the mountains in 1811. earlier by Lewis and Clark members.

The Daniel area was a popular site for the rendezvous with the Indians, trappers, and fur traders. Mountain men in attendance at these rendezvous were well-known mountain men closely associated with the early history of the area.

An early landmark in Daniel was Ft Bonneville, named for Captain Benjamin L.E. Bonneville of the U.S. Army. Nothing is left there today. Trappers called it "Bonneville’s Folly" and "Fort Nonsense." There was no real protection there from the Indians or the weather. Fear of being snowbound, Capt. Bonneville evacuated it just when finished! It was the first fur fort in what is now Wyoming. 

Daniel, the town, was established as a town by Thomas Pixley Daniel in 1900, when he was appointed its first postmaster. The community is located in the high country of the Upper Green River Valley at an elevation of 7,192 feet.

Pat Walker described its location as follows:

Daniel is still a small village. It nestles among cottonwoods, poplars, and a variety of willows. While the Wind River Range fills the eastern horizon, the Wyoming Range is on display to the west, and the more distant Gros Ventre Range reveals its jagged skyline to the north. The Green River passes north of Daniel as it weaves its way down the valley from its headwaters in the Wind River Mountains. Prairie Creek runs along the north edge of this little town, with Horse Creek a short distance to the south; these creeks flow from the Wyoming Range. Ranch land surrounds the community.