Rawlins, incorporated in 1886 and designated the county seat of Carbon County, (a name derived from the extensive coal deposits which underlay the area) is located virtually on top of the Continental Divide. Rawlins was named after General John A. Rawlins, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, who after taking a drink from a spring at the base of a nearby hill declared, "If anything is ever named after me, I hope it will be a spring of water." Rawlins and the surrounding area is an archive of living history.