“High Iron” Exhibit Honors Wyoming’s Railroad Labor Legacy

The legacy of Wyoming’s railroads, built by immigrant laborers and sustained by generations of workers, is a significant part of the state’s heritage, Oil City News reports.

However, this story has often gone under-recognized, says Wyoming artist Conor Mullen.

“The story of railroad labor in Wyoming is certainly one of those stories I think hasn’t really been told — at least not enough and in public view,” Mullen shared.

To highlight this heritage, Mullen joined a team from the Laramie Public Art Coalition to transform an old boxcar into an interactive art exhibit and oral history project, titled High Iron. The installation, located at the corner of 4th Street and Canby Street in Laramie, features work by six local artists. Their art captures Wyoming’s railroad history and the landscape it continues to shape, incorporating unique materials like fabrics from railworker families and paint made from Wyoming soils collected along the rail line.

A central feature of High Iron is the collection of oral histories, led by Laramie-based visual artist and public anthropologist Aubrey Edwards. These personal stories will travel with the exhibit, as the boxcar is set to visit towns along the southern rail corridor. At each stop, the exhibit will evolve to include the local community’s rail heritage.

“High Iron is a living monument to rail labor… Through the lens of art and personal histories, we reframe the narrative of Wyoming. The rich diversity of people who labored on the railroad has been hidden. High Iron uplifts their stories,” said Laura McDermit, Executive Director of the Laramie Public Art Coalition.

The exhibit is part of the Monument Lab’s “Re:Generation 2024” project, supported by the Mellon Foundation, Wyoming Humanities, and the City of Laramie. Open to the public every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. through October, High Iron offers a unique opportunity to explore Wyoming’s railroad history through art and storytelling.