Newcastle was built in the late 1880's as a town site on the Burlington Railroad, which built a spur up into the Cambria coal mines.  In anticipation of the railroad’s arrival, speculators created a settlement called Tubb Town on its supposed route.  Tubb Town only lasted a few months, but that was long enough to gain a reputation as a rowdy place to live.  Apparently any newcomers faced an expensive initiation rite -- paying for a round of drinks for everyone at a local saloon.  When the railroad announced that it would not go through Tubb Town after all, everyone packed up camp and moved wholesale to Newcastle, which not surprisingly, became a fairly rowdy place itself.

The first mayor, Frank Mondell, proposed shipping a group of twenty of Newcastle's biggest trouble makers out of town.  The owner of the hotel where many of the group apparently resided responded by shooting Mondell.  The mayor survived and went on to serve as Wyoming's representative in Washington for 26 years, carrying the bullet with him.

The Accidental Oil Company located two miles east of Newcastle on Highway 16 is kind of fun.  It boasts what is supposed to be the world's only hand dug oil well, a twenty-foot hole in the ground made by a local rancher.  This may be your only chance to buy gifts from an oil storage tank turned gift shop as well.

Whoopup Canyon just east of Newcastle has some nice petroglyphs.  It was named for the way spring flood waters would whoop their way through it, and was made famous by the frustrated railroad worker who couldn't get the lid off a twenty-five pound can of black powder.  When prying didn't work, he used his pick axe to punch a hole in the lid.  It was his last big flash of temper -- they were able to bury him in little more than a cigar box.

Nearby Jenny Stockade was an important stop on the Cheyenne-Deadwood stage route, and one of its buildings now sits by the Anna Miller Museum in Newcastle.  The museum has many local curiosities including a horse drawn hearse and a six-legged lamb.  Anna Miller was the widow of Sheriff Billy Miller, who was the last white man in Wyoming to die in an Indian battle.

The battle occurred in 1903 on Lightning Creek outside of Douglas.  It was a sad little altercation between some Lakota who thought they had permission to hunt off the reservation and the white posse sent to round them up -- the sort of story that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.