South Pass Stories

  Old Sweetwater County Jail  Ha! I got to the shop before Gator this morning. He was sitting in front of the Dance Hall basking and wandered over when he saw me. We loaded up the sarsaparilla and dropped them off in the Miner’s Exchange Saloon. I worked in the archives, indexing records, and then opened the Saloon at noon. Early on I had several visitors and then it slowed down. A peaceful day, but I really didn’t have much of a chance to do any reading or writing until 2:00 or so. Then, I was able to do a bit of writing. Twenty-six people and three dogs came through the saloon. Shortly after I opened, a family of four came by. Walked up to the door and walked off. One member of the group stopped just long enough to ask what type of animal (mule deer) was mounted on the wall. I had three other groups of two, two, and four just walk though without stopping or asking anything. From comments made by several visitors, even those who looked around a bit, they were interested i...

        Two pages of one of the catalogs into which Smith Sherlock Company Store invoices were pasted. Each page is 17x21" in size. I walked down to the shop this morning and Gator and I drove over to the Miner’s Exchange Saloon to drop off sarsaparilla. Gator then was off to work on a small construction project at the stamp mill and I went into the archives to continue digitizing invoices from the Smith Sherlock Company Store. I am almost through my second book of invoices, covering a bit more than two years; however, I have seen a couple of things that I want to keep track of. First, I am noticing a bit of seasonal pattern in goods ordered as I expected. Also, they ordered a lot of butter- 120-132 pounds at a time. The invoices from the butter vendor are interesting, as they are directed to “Dr. to The Cheyenne Creamery Co.” The “Dr.” is short for Debtor. Seems a bit harsh.   Invoice from the Cheyenne Creamery Co.   At noon, I opened the Miner’s Exch...

     Brunswick Novelty Billiards Table in the Miner's Exchange Saloon. I went down to the shop this morning for the weekly staff meeting. Gator had already set up chairs and loaded sarsaparilla to take to the saloon. He asked if I wanted to take a short ride (to the saloon). Sure! I joked that I think he is looking for a promotion to General Volunteer. Anyway, we dropped off the sarsaparilla and made it back a few minutes before the meeting started. The meeting was a little long, laying out in broad strokes what the next two months would look like. There was some mention of a "trek" for September, which I hoped would be to Kirwin ghost town, south of Cody. I asked about this and Joe asked to meet with me for a bit after the meeting.  Turns out I am the "trek," he wants me to talk about what I have learned about Walter Lovejoy, whom I have been researching. I thought about it for a second and agreed. Then Joe told me it only had to be 45 to 60 minutes. What? I th...

    Wagon ruts along the Oregon Trail. We woke up at 6:00 AM as we generally do, made coffee, went about the morning in a leisurely fashion and then began carrying our belongings out to the truck. After coffee, breakfast, and a quick shower, we were off.  Just before Farson there were a couple of historical markers that we had passed before, but decided to stop. The first (westernmost) was for Pilot Butte, a prominent geographic marker along the Oregon Trail. There were several interpretive plaques there which primarily focused on death along the trail, I guess because of the two grave sites there, just off the trail.    Graves along the Oregon Trail.   The second marker was for Simpson's Hollow. Simpson was in charge of an army supply (wagon) train that was attacked during a series of skirmishes between the US Army and Mormon militia, which seem to have occurred as a result of miscommunication. Anyway, there is a lot of Mormon history along the trail and s...

    Ulrich's Fossil Gallery. We got up, had breakfast and headed for Ulrich's Fossil Gallery for today's dig. Heading out of town we saw several yellow-bellied marmots.  We arrived at Ulrich's a little early. The guides showed up a little later, as did a few other fossil hunting groups. We then drove up to the quarry and saw one pronghorn antelope on the way. At the quarry we given a demonstration on how to split layers of lake sediment/rock and look for fossils. Then we went after it!   Getting ready to pry two layers of rock apart.   The rock is laid down in layers of varying depth. You look for a natural seam between layers, hammer in long, thin blades and pry the layers apart hoping to find fossils. The rock is mostly limestone and breaks pretty easily and creates a lot of dust. By the end of the day, we looked like we had been working in a bakery.   Here, we found a fossil and are working to remove the adjacent upper layer, so we can get this fish. ...

    Entry sign for Fossil Butte National Monument. The butte in the background? That's it! (It's much larger as you get closer, honest.) We ate breakfast and headed off for Kemmerer and then passed on through to head to Fossil Butte National Monument, about 11 miles outside of town. We saw a grand total of four pronghorn antelope along the way from South Pass City to Fossil Butte. Coming on the site, we stopped for a photograph of the entry sign and then a bit later for a sign advertising a greater sagebrush grouse crossing.    Sagebrush Crossing sign, Fossil Butte National Monument. Ok, we've seen those before. But about 200 ft down the road, we saw five or six grouse of two different sizes: a hen and her clutch.   Greater sagebrush grouse along the entry road to Fossil Butte National Monument.  We arrived at the Visitor Center and spent about an hour or so looking at the exhibits. Most of the fish, invertebrate fossils on display are from this area. The b...