Shoshoni and Powder River, two dying towns in central Wyoming, share one lifeline: Highway 20. Powder River, population 44, has an elementary school and post office. The main attraction is the neon sign at the closed Tumble Inn. The cartoonish cowboy is still cracking a smile. Sixty miles away, Shoshoni, a former oil and uranium boom town, is the driest town in the Mountain Time Zone, sometimes receiving less than 4 inches of rain annually. Prosperity has dried up as well. A crumbling row of vacant buildings on main street includes a faded mural of Apache chief Geronimo. It
was painted on the storefront below by Shoshoni's Bart Vroman in 1979.
