I spent a couple of months in Rock Springs in fall ‘75. Yes, the wind blew constantly. I’d dust everything off in my mobile home in the morning, head to work, and come home to find a new layer of silt all over everything at dinner time. Across from the mobile home park were the main east-west rail lines. Nothing like hearing seven diesel engines pulling a 100 car coal train up a grade at 2 AM — every night of the week. The whole place shook and those engines thundered.
On the plus side, there was a cowboy bar on the north side of town that put charcoal fired mini-hibachi grills on every table and the steak strips kept coming as long as you ordered more beer. The place was so huge you needed binoculars to find the stage when you walked in. Now that was a great steak dinner!
Surprisingly, I did manage to find a girl friend in that boom town.
I know the place. I recall “Cruel Jacks” was still in Rock Springs in 1997. They had good food and were just off I-80. I had flown into SLC to rent a car and flyfish from Green River up the Wind River Mountains and river and then to the north and south fork of the Shoshone as my friend lives in Cody.Then I fished a private area in the Park. My pal had to sue the Gov as they took his other home in Yellowstone. I still recall how damn rude those Mormons were. They made New York City types look like laid back southerners. Also leaving I drove back to the “Greenback” state and then into Salt Lake I saw the moonies and you name the weirdos walking the city streets. I went home early as I was not wasting another hour in Utah.