Lonetree, Wyoming, is situated just north of the high Uinta Mountains and twenty miles south of Fort Bridger. Henrys Fork River, a tributary of the Green River, first brought fur-trading Europeans to the area. Those who stayed were the descendants of LDS pioneer Captain Isaac Bullock. Bullock was sent to the area by Brigham Young in the early 1850s. The Bullocks were joined by many other families. These homesteaders eventually turned to ranching. In 1897, an immigrant from Manchester, England, named Herbert Joshua Gregory came to Lonetree. Since the old post office run by R. Handley had burned down, Gregory built his own. Gregory’s store provided necessary supplies and correspondence to the ranchers and townspeople in the area. A visitor to the store could expect news of deaths, births, stolen livestock, grazing permits, events, and even outlaws. Dances, turkey hunts, games, and gatherings of all kinds took place around the Gregory store. It is said that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were among the outlaws who stopped by Gregory’s store and interacted with members of the community. Gregory was the postmaster until his death in 1952, and the title of postmaster would remain in his family until 1982 when the post office closed.
Thanksgiving in Lonetree, 1890, made for a popular story. It is said that a Pinkerton agent came to the Gregory store and formed a posse to catch two outlaws who were riding towards Lonetree. One of the outlaws was Harry Alonzo Longabaugh or the Sundance Kid. H. J. Gregory, the town fiddler, and several others rode out to apprehend them. With no fiddler, the Thanksgiving dance could not begin. While people milled around the schoolhouse, Harry Longabaugh and his partner walked into the Gregory store. The story says that the townspeople captured Longabaugh and made him play the fiddle for their dance where he stayed long enough to dance with a woman and escape before the return of the Pinkerton agent. Lonetree remains a ranching community with a small population that has not forgotten its origins in the Wild West.]]>