About

 I volunteered at South Pass City (SPC) in May-October 2023. During that season, I read the journals written by Doctor Walter Lovejoy and his brother Fred, which had been obtained by SPC in 2007. These journals were written between 1886 and 1904, intermittently, were interesting and painted a vivid picture of life in South Pass City and early Wyoming. 

The journals had served as background information for a number of interpretive writings, but I thought they warranted a more thorough presentation. So, I began thinking about publishing the journals in some format.

Much of my volunteer time was spent in the recently opened Smith Sherlock Company Store exhibit- greeting visitors and telling them about the store. When I had time on my hands, I would examine the labels on canned (and other) goods in the exhibit. Later, at home, I would research the labels and learned a lot of interesting history, which I incorporated into my presentations in the store. I had the idea of presenting this information in written or video form, but didn't have the time to do so.

I returned to SPC as a volunteer in May-October 2024, with idea of, among other things, researching Walter Lovejoy, the places he mentions in his diary, and creating a map of this travels. His journal entries document a surprising amount of regular travel. I also continued my explorations of the labels in the Smith Sherlock Company Store exhibit. At some point, I began work on a SPC ghost tour. A ghost town has to have ghosts and stories. I spent much of my spare time working on that tour. I gave it as part of fall event and it could have gone better- in retrospect, I tried to do too much in the tour. Anyway, ...

I left SPC in October 2024 and, for a variety of reasons, let these various projects lapse, did not get as far into this as I had hoped and let the project lapse. By late 2025, we had a busy summer 2026 planned. But life got in the way and we cancelled plans, changed them repeatedly as events unfolded, and eventually contacted SPC about volunteering this summer. Well, we were invited to do so.

I begin dusting off my old files: the Lovejoy journals, ideas about labels and stories, etc., about items in the Smith Sherlock Company Store, and, finally, revisiting my ghost tour notes and developing a series of videos that tell the untold, dark stories of SPC. 

Ambitious? Yes, but we'll see. I don't have to get everything completely done this summer, just far enough along that I do not need access to the site or its archives to finish up once I leave.