First Person to Motorcycle Across U.S. Remembered in Hanna

JUNE 26, 2025 |

Photo – Wyman sign and plaque – Courtesy Town of Hanna

The town of Hanna plans to honor George A. Wyman, the first person to ride a motorcycle across the United States.

Typically held on the second Tuesday of the month, the June Hanna Town Council meeting was rescheduled to June 24th to accommodate Mayor Charlie George.

During Tuesday’s Hanna Town Council meeting, Mayor George introduced a measure to post a memorial waypoint sign in the town. The Mayor explained that in 1903, George A. Wyman became the first person to ride a motorcycle across the country. During his journey, Wyman visited Hanna, then a bustling coal mining town.

George A. Wyman was born in 1877 in Oakland, California. By the 1890s, he had become a champion bicycle racer and adventurer. In 1902, while testing motorcycles designed by Roy C. Marks, creator of the first production motorcycle in America, Wyman conceived the idea for a transcontinental trip.

The following year, 1903, Wyman set out on his cross-country journey. Riding a 200cc, one-and-a-quarter-horsepower motorcycle designed by Marks, Wyman departed San Francisco on May 16th and arrived in New York City 50 days later, on July 6th.

Despite his achievement, Wyman received little recognition in his lifetime and was largely forgotten until 2015, when a group of dedicated historians and motorcycle enthusiasts founded the George A. Wyman Memorial Project. The group’s stated goal is to, “Promote the Wyman story, mark the points along the way from San Francisco to New York City, educate the motorcycling community and general public of the historic significance of the Wyman accomplishment.”

The organization plans to publish a guide directing motorcycle riders and the general public to the 160 waypoints along Wyman’s 1903 route, including Hanna, Wyoming.

At Tuesday’s Town Council Meeting, Clerk Vivian Gonzales presented a mockup of the proposed sign and a plaque detailing Wyman’s voyage, provided by the George A. Wyman Memorial Project.

Clerk Gonzales said the sign can be placed anywhere within Hanna, highlighting that Wyman visited the town.

Wyman documented his 50-day journey in The Motorcycle Magazine, a short-lived publication. In the August 1903 edition, Wyman recounted his journey from Walcott to Laramie. The rider wrote that he left Walcott on June 2nd at 6:30 a.m. and traveled east. Wyman wrote, “I passed through the mining town of Hanna, peopled mostly by Finns and Negroes, and past the railroad stations of Edson, Dana, Allen and Medicine Bow.”

Wyman’s motorcycle looked more like a bicycle than a contemporary Harley-Davidson. His cross-country trip took 51 days to complete. Wyman completed the trip 20 days before Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson completed the same trip by automobile. He carried only a small amount of gear. His pack included some warm clothes, money, a water bottle and cans for spare oil and gasoline. Like any tourist, he also carried a Vest Pocket Kodak camera, bicycle tools and a 38-Smith & Wesson revolver. The roads were dangerous then, as well as they are today.

At this week’s Hanna Town Council meeting, the governing body unanimously approved the Wyman Waypoint sign. Once the official sign arrives, town staff will choose a location for it, most likely the town hall or the Hanna Basin Museum.