Esther Hobart Morris - The Boom Goes Bust

The Boom Goes Bust

Esther Morris, as a working mother, held court over a camp of miners, gamblers, speculators, business owners, prostitutes, and rounders. Men outnumbered women 4 to 1 in her mountain community. The challenges in the court dealing with a rough constituency were compounded by her husband, John, who had a reputation as "a brawler, an idler, and a drunk." Morris had him arrested after her term in office was over for assault and battery, according to the American Heritage Magazine.

Troubles continued to mount for the family. An 1871 fire struck the South Pass City newspaper office owned and operated by Esther Morris' son Archibald Slack, forcing him and his wife Sarah to move to Laramie in Albany County. Perhaps it was case of cabin fever after being cooped up all season during a particularly bad winter of 1871–1872 that spurred Morris to action. She left the camp and her husband. Morris traveled to Laramie where she briefly lived with her son Archibald. The former judge remained unsettled however. She moved to Albany, New York, then to Springfield, Illinois, where she spent her winters, according to Massie. Summers saw her returning to Wyoming where she spent time with her sons. Morris' wandering ended in the 1880s when she returned to Cheyenne to live with her son Robert.

Meanwhile, Morris had been but one of many in a long history of residents who saddled-up and called it quits in South Pass City. Short-lived gold strikes in the 1880s, 1890s, and 1930s once again lured miners back to the mountains seeking their fortunes. But ultimately busts prevailed. South Pass City by the 1940s had deteriorated into a ghost town.