This is one of only two such structures left in the state. The tipple was used to sort and grade coal and load it on to rail cars. The tipple is open during daylight hours. Interpretive signs are present for a self guided walking tour. The tipple is handicapped accessible.

It was in 1910 that coal mine operations began at Reliance. These mines were opened by the coal mining company of the Union Pacific Railroad. Here, where the tipple now stands, the first coal loading facility was constructed in 1912. The stone foundations for the earlier wooden tipple are still evident east of the metal tipple. The tipple you see today was completed in 1936 and still contains machinery from when it was in operation. Few tipples remain from the era when coal was king. Modern mining methods and a shift to gasoline and diesel powered locomotives made underground coal mining too expensive to compete in the energy market while using the technology of the early twentieth century. Tipples such as this one were torn down and the equipment sold as salvage. In Wyoming, only the Reliance tipple remains as an example of a large industrial coal handling facility. It is a silent marker of a by-gone age and serves as a tribute to the miners and their families who worked to establish homes in southwest Wyoming and to the men who lost their lives in the coal mines of Sweetwater County.