Cleanup Of Historic Medicine Bow Wyoming Airport

A little over a year ago, we reported to you about the effort to restore the Medicine Bow Airport. It was started by a pilot from Colorado who fell in love with the place. Much of the effort has stalled, but some progress has recently been made.

At the June 8 Medicine Bow Town Council meeting, the Airport Advisory Board spoke with the Recreational Aviation Foundation and arranged for 12 volunteers to remove a large amount of trash and scrap metal from the area.

That cleanup was the first important step in this long process.

YouTuber fell in love with Wyoming's Medicine Bow Airport.

It is the story of a pilot and YouTuber who has fallen in love with one of Wyoming's least-known yet most historically important airstrips.

As some of you know, I've been working diligently on saving a historical airmail airport in the heart of Wyoming.

This place is very special to me.

We recently met with the city council and have been approved to start forming a plan to save this nearly 100-year-old airport.

Stay tuned as we dive into restoring this amazing airport. (Sir Drifto).

Now he wants to restore this crumbling landmark, light tower and all.

So who is this guy from Colorado who wants to save this tiny, historical Wyoming airport?

His name is Nathan James, and you'll enjoy his many adventures on YouTube. He is an aviator, among other things, from Colorado.

I met James in Wheatland, Wyoming, when he flew his custom-made plane into a local air show. In his latest video, he was flying back to Wyoming on a historic mission. He and six other pilots were exploring the original air-mail route across the west. That meant a stop in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, at a little grass airstrip that was once one of the most important hubs in America.

Watch the video below as he flies from Colorado to Laramie, Wyoming, then to Medicine Bow, where he joins his friends.

Wyoming's Medicine Bow Airport was important to early aviation.

The little dirt and grass airstrip in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, was once one of the most important crossing and landing points in early aviation.

It has a lighted tower and an arrow on the ground, which was used as a ground navigation point for pilots.

There were two little cottages on site to take care of pilots who needed to spend the night during their long cross-country trips in open biplanes.

Just like the town itself, you might go there and think there is nothing to the place. But a lot of important history happened in this "blah" looking town out in the middle of nowhere, Wyoming.

Medicine Bow Airport played a part in history and literature.

Medicine Bow Airport impacted more than early aviation. The airport was a stop for the first intercontinental railroad, the Lincoln Highway. Its grass strip airport was an important stop for America's first airmail. And it's the setting in the famous novel "The Virginian" by Owen Wister.

Today, what is left at the little airstrip is fading away to the elements, along with much of the rest of the town.