Atlantic City, Wyoming today, Kathy Weiser, July, 2008.

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The camp boomed to a population of some 2000 people and boasted a church, a general store with a dance hall on its second story, a brewery, an opera house, a school, a drug store, and several saloons. Atlantic City’s first boom lasted about a decade before the gold ore began to play out.

However, in 1884, in came a French engineer named Emil Granier, with investment capital to begin a hydraulic mining project. Hiring some 300 men, he began to build a 25 sluiceway to provide water to his claims east of Atlantic City down from Christina Lake, high in the Wind River Range. The ditch, that passed through miles of hard rock before snaking its way to Atlantic City, was finally completed in 1888. But Granier’s dream would be foiled when it was found that the ditch had been built with too much slope and when the water rushed through it, many of the sluices were destroyed, spilling water and gold along the way. Small miners then rushed in and used the water for panning in the numerous gullies, many of whom were successful.

By 1893, Granier’s company was bankrupt, and the defeated man returned to France to explain the project’s failure and request additional financing. Instead, he was jailed, tried, and sentenced to life in prison, where he died a few years later.

Though its boom days were over, Atlantic City survived and new businesses were created over the next several years including the Giessler Store in 1893, which continues to stand today. Constructed by Lawrence Giessler with adobe brick and covered with metal siding, the building first served as the Giessler Store. In addition to running the store, Giessler also operated a freighting business and a ranch on Willow Creek. After his death, his wife, Emma, operated a cafe and boarding house in the building. The building finally closed in the late 1930s and sat abandoned for the next three decades. Today, the building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, operates as a saloon and steakhouse, called the Atlantic City Mercantile.

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