Entry Points:
About Lyman
Lyman is a western style town situated on the edge of a bluff overlooking the Black's Fork River in Bridger Valley. The edge of the bluff drops about one hundred feet, and the ground above and below are very flat, and covered with grassland. The Black's Fork River flows past about two miles north of the edge of the Bluff, and Interstate 80 is just north of that. The town comes right up to the edge of the bluff and a nice view of the country to the north can be seen from there. Beyond the freeway, the terrain becomes less flat and the vegetation more sparse with more sagebrush. South from Lyman the land is very flat for several miles at which point a series of hills of barren, gray dirt protrude out out of the grassland. Above these can be seen the peaks of the beautiful Uintah Mountains.
Lyman was first settled in 1891 by John Henry Bluemel and his brother William Oswald Bluemel who homesteaded on what was called "The Bench," meaning the bluff that was above Fort Bridger. As of 2010, the population was 2,115, which was an increase of nearly 200 people in the previous ten years.
The old Lincoln Highway passes through Lyman, approaching from the east on Clark Street, then turning southward onto Main Street and leaving town with a big bend westward. Later on, this highway was designated U.S. Highway 30 South. When the freeway was built, it was designated Interstate 80 Business Route, which is the only posted designation on it today. It leaves I-80 several miles northeast of Lyman, passes through Urie and Fort Bridger, and then returns to the freeway. Wyoming Highway 413 begins at the intersection of Main Street and Clark Street, descends the edge of the bluff, and connects north to the freeway.
The elevation of Lyman, on the bluff, is 6,700 feet with a slight rise (thirty feet) from east to west. A number of houses lie below the Bluff which may not technically be part of Lyman and lay at about 6,550 feet. The Uintah Mountains reach above 14,000 feet.