Ten Sleep

History

Ten Sleep was an American Indian rest stop, so called because it was 10 days' travel, or “10 sleeps,” from Fort Laramie (southeast), Yellowstone National Park (west-northwest), and the Indian Agency on the Stillwater River in Montana (northwest). The archeological sites in the area feature artifacts such as arrowheads, pictographs and petroglyphs. Ten Sleep was also the site of the Spring Creek Raid, one of the last feuds of the West's Sheep and Cattlemen's War. It was there in March 1909 that cattlemen attacked sheep herders and their flock, killing three men and shooting hundreds of the sheep. The region contains fossil specimens of dinosaurs, plants and sea-life. One such local area, Big Cedar Ridge, is open to the public for exploration and collection for personal use. The Tensleep Formation is the yellowish-gray to white sandstone which features in much of Ten Sleep Canyon. Formed during the Pennsylvanian geological period, it features in the western slope of the Bighorn Mountains. Red sandstone such as Signal Cliff west of Ten Sleep, as well as the dirt hills of Bighorn's western slope compose the Chugwater Formation from the Triassic period. Above Chugwater is the marine Jurassic Sundance Formation and the terrestrial Late Jurassic Morrison Formation with dinosaurs. Called the "Painted Desert" or "Colored Hills" by locals, the Cloverly Formation is finely granulated sandstone and clay. The multicolor Cloverly formations are closely associated with strata containing dinosaur fossils. Numerous signs along U.S. 16 from Buffalo, through Ten Sleep and west to Worland identify the various geologic formations and their millennia.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Ten Sleep has a hot-summer humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dfa" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Ten Sleep was on July 13, 2005, while the coldest temperature recorded was on December 22, 1990. |source 2 = National Weather Service }}

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Ten Sleep K-12
  Other · Ten Sleep · 105 students · 7.5:1 ratio