John C. Evans

Built the Hotel

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The gentleman who built the original hotel in 1905, was born in Wales on May 4, 1867. The details of how and when and why he came to Wyoming are not known. At some point he was adopted into the Jones family and found himself working at the Evan’s Bro’s Store in Carbon, Wyoming. He may have known the Evans brothers in Wales before they all immigrated. On April 26, 1890 John Evans married his adoptive sister Mary Ann Jones. Evans worked for a time as a caretaker for the Carbon Coal Company. Before old Carbon faded into memory, he helped build the fence around the Carbon Cemetery. 

He and Mary had 10 children. 7 of whom died very young and some of whom are buried at the Old Carbon Cemetery. When the couple moved from Carbon to Elk Mountain to work for J.S.Jones, they had two living children, Joseph and Aubrey. John was going to run the bar, and Mary was going to cook. To provide some background, Mr. J.S. Jones built his establishment in 1880, it was known as ‘The Crossing’. It was a large peaked building with 3 distinct sections, a parlor, store and a saloon. This establishment served weary travelers making their way along the Overland Trail. John and Mary bought The Crossing from Mr. Jones in 1903. Shortly after their son William was born on June 5, 1905, The Crossing burned down. John and Mary borrowed money from her sister Catherine to build the hotel on the same spot as the now burned down ‘Crossing’. The new structure was known as the Mountain View Hotel. It had 16 bedrooms upstairs, a bar and a dance hall downstairs. When it was built, it had indoor plumbing and the first power plant in Elk Mountain. The coal-fired power plant supplied power to the hotel and to several close neighbors. The dance hall served the community as a large space to hold public gatherings of all kinds, dances, parties, political rallies, town meetings etc.

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In 1926, John and his 3 boys built an open-air dance pavilion known as the Garden Spot Pavilion. Part of the Hotel property also included the rodeo grounds on top of Bar Hill, where the town water towers sit today. Many happy hours were spent by many happy people dancing, picnicking, enjoying the rodeos and other field games and Mr. Evans hosted them all. He was also very active in other aspects of the community. He served as the mayor for several years and as the choir director for the church choir at the People’s Community Church of Elk Mountain. 

John passed away on August 22, 1939 after battling Kidney failure for several years. His widow, Mary, carried on running the hotel for several years, eventually retiring and selling the hotel to Mark Jackson of Hanna in 1947.