South Pass Stories

    Is this a safety warning, or just letting you know to expect a race? We ate breakfast and then drove to Kemmerer, in southwest Wyoming, which began as a coal-mining town in the 1890s. Walter Lovejoy, who I have been researching, lived in Kemmerer between 1898 and 1905, with some absences, and I wanted to learn what I could about his time there and his civic activities. We had passed by Kemmerer once before, but the feature (the J. C. Penney Mother Store, I believe) we wanted to see was closed, so we didn't stop, figuring we'd be back through at another time. The city is in a small, but pretty river valley. On the drive in to Kemmerer, we saw 24 pronghorn antelope, but no other wildlife. We did see some interesting signs along the way warning of cattle and wildlife (including the pronghorn antelope sign, above.)  I spent a couple of hours in the Lincoln County Library,in Kemmerer, The staff were really helpful.  Connie read while I did my research, as it was a b...

As is our custom, now, we got up, had breakfast, and then I drove into Lander for a few supplies, while Connie did a little house (= trailer) work and started the laundry. I saw two mule deer and four pronghorn antelope during my travels. I bought a leg of lamb last week and have been looking forward to smoking it today. It took about 3.5 hours to get a nice medium to well done (in parts)- low and slow! I also smoked a couple of ears of corn to go with the lamb and made a cole slaw. A little later, I smoked four hamburger patties to have around for lunches. The lamb was excellent! I used mustard as a binder, seasoned it with kosher salt, 16-mesh black pepper, garlic, and chopped rosemary. After dinner, Connie decided that we should go to Kemmerer, WY, tomorrow so that I could visit the library there and do some research. I rented a room, we discussed plans, and I read and did a little writing in the evening.

  This stove puts out a lot of heat. Gator and I sat in these chairs and avoided the cold outdoors, It was a bit chilly and windy this morning as Gator and I loaded up sarsaparilla for the Miner’s Exchange Saloon.   We have to open the Saloon and the Smith Sherlock store at 10:00 AM for a tour group and Gator decided to fire up the wood-burning stove in the saloon. I worked in archives for a bit and reached a logical stopping point. It was a bit before 10 and the tour had not yet arrived so I headed for the Saloon and that wood fire. It was nice! Once the tour group I arrived, I opened the Smith Sherlock Company Store and waited a few minutes until Glen walked them down. I gave my standard introduction to the store. They wandered around a bit and then moved on. The tour group, a group of retirees from Kentucky, had been on the road for a couple of weeks and came poorly prepared for the weather. I can understand that they didn’t have winter coats, etc., but many of them showe...

    Old rocking chair that is sometimes occupied by a "ghost." I walked down to the SPC office at 8:00 and Gator I took sarsaparilla to the Miner’s Exchange Saloon. I then worked in the archives until noon, at which time I opened the Smith Sherlock Store. The afternoon started off busy, with 56 visitors and one dog by 2:00 PM. Then dark clouds started building and a cold wind picked up and everyone on site left quickly. We only got a light rain but it really cooled things off. Earlier in the afternoon, I had a chance to show a few kids the mysterious, haunted rocking chair. There is an old rocking chair in the store. If I hear children coming, I step on the front of the rocker and get it going. Then I step away from the chair. When the children come in, I tell them in a disappointed voice that they had just missed the ghost. Their eyes get big- it is so cute. I’m a grownup, so it must be true. Most parents gently inform their children that it is just a trick. At 2:50, fou...

    Cariboo brand canned lobster. Getcha some! We started off the morning with our weekly staff meeting, which went a little long because of planning for, and discussion of, the Gold Rush Days event in two weeks. After the meeting, Gator and I loaded up sarsaparilla for the Miner’s Exchange Saloon. I then worked in the archives until noon and left to open the Smith Sherlock Company Store. It was pretty quiet until about 2:00. During this time I set up a small battery-operated lazy Susan and shot a few videos of one of the cans on display in the store- this allows me to smoothly rotate the cans and show the entire label. This worked well, but I need to create a background and sides to minimize the light and reflections coming in from the windows. For my subject, I chose a can I had only noticed recently: Cariboo Brand Fresh Lobster. I had seen canned lobster mentioned in Smith Sherlock Company Store invoices from the early 1900s, so this was a really nice find. i have been ...

A rain and hail storm giving my truck, in the background, a wash. We got up, had breakfast, and headed out early to Louis Lake. The weather prediction was for rain before noon and we wanted to be gone before that happened. A nice zucchini and green onion omelet, a cup of coffee, and we were off.  We arrived at the lake a little after 9 AM and 16 minutes later I had landed a nice spake- by Connie's accounting, the largest fish of the season. I think her fish a couple of weeks ago was longer, but this fish was heavier). We caught three fish in our first hour of fishing. And then the wind picked up. Fishing slowed down, mostly, I think, because it was difficult to cast to the more productive areas. In the next hour, we had a few strikes and Connie landed one fish. Dark clouds were building and building and then the wind stopped. I know what this means. We loaded up, left, and watched in the rear view mirror. Three splake and one rainbow trout. Not bad, really, for two hours of fishing...

The Lovejoy Journals, four bound folios, were discussed in an article published in the Dubois Frontier, on March 29, 2007, that announced the acquisition of four volumes written by Wyoming pioneer Fred Lovejoy. The article also briefly describes the potential importance of these volumes in understanding life in South Pass City, Wyoming in the 1880s and 1890s.  The journals had suffered some damage in storage and portions were lost or are illegible. However, most of these journals have since been transcribed. Following transcription, it became clear that Fred Lovejoy had authored only one of these volumes. Nevertheless, the promise of the journals in providing insight into life in South Pass City is undiminished. The dates spanned by each journal and its authors are: journal 1: September 1, 1886 to October 26-27, 1887-- Walter Lovejoy journal 2: May 15, 1889 to June 8, 1890-- Walter Lovejoy  journal 3: January 1, 1895 to June 30, 1895-- Fred Lovejoy journal 4: April 12, 19...

       We had a quick breakfast and then headed for Lander for our weekly "big" shopping trip. We picked up enough groceries to get us through Monday, including a semi-boneless (whatever that means) leg of lamb that I plan to smoke on Monday. We stopped at Ace Hardware for a couple of items and then hit a couple of other stores looking for foam board- no luck- but I found something that will suffice.  On the way into Lander, we saw only top pronghorn antelope and only for on the way back home.  As soon as we returned to SPC, we put out groceries away, packed a quick lunch, and then walked into town for the "Trek." These are guided field trips sponsored by the Friends of South Pass. The subject of today's trek was ethnobotany, and was led by John Mionczynski (sitting against a tree in the picture above) who is extremely knowledgeable about local plants and the various uses the local tribes had for these plants.   We started off at 11:00 AM and ende...

There is a SPC activity, a trek, tomorrow that we want to attend, so we decided to catch up on personal business and writing today. Connie shelled pecans most of the day. I spent the morning on a research project I am working on and in the afternoon I caught up on some writing. Finally! The weather today was variable. Cool, then warm. Then strong winds. Threats of rain. And then rain.  Dinner and more pecans and writing.  I was asked about Connie and the pecans earlier today. She is shelling pecans so that we (she) can make pecan pies for the Gold Rush Days bake sale. "So, fresh pecans?" I was asked. I don't know about fresh: I collected them last fall, but they are still moist and flavorful. It wasn't a good year, the crop was small, but I would go out every other evening with Scruffy to pick up fallen nuts. He had really slowed down a lot, we thought it was age, but this picking up pecans was a slow walk, about a mile all in, with plenty of time for him to sniff, pe...

 Connie got off to a late start with laundry today. The washing machine and drier she planned to use were locked up and she had to wait for the other machines to become available. This meant I was on my own for a planned trip to Lander. I picked up a few groceries items at Safeway and fueled up the truck. Then I stopped at Mr. D's, another grocery store, looking for coarsely ground black pepper. Score! Then on to Ace Hardware for a couple of items. I saw four pronghorn antelope on the way to Lander and twice that number on the way back. Back at the trailer, I chopped green and red cabbage, and red bell peppers for cole slaw, had lunch, then worked on a chronology for Walter Lovejoy 1880s South Pass City doctor, teacher, miner, justice of the peace, and market hunter- all of this just to make ends meet. Around 2:30, I fired up the pellet smoker and then smoked a pork loin (for which I needed the black pepper) and later threw in a couple of ears of corn. At this point, I de...

 Back to the normal routine. Gator and I carried sarsaparilla over to the Miner's Exchange. I worked in the archives until noon and then manned the saloon until 4PM.  It was another slow day. Usually Sunday afternoons pick up a bit, but the weather was a bit unsettled, threatening to rain on and off. In fact, earlier, shortly after the English Tunnel Tour group had hiked off, it rained and hailed pretty good for a bit. Luckily, they were moving slowly and were still in town where they found shelter. At noon, I opened the saloon and had a fair bit of time to work on the Lovejoy chronology. All in all, there were 23 visitors, but 11 came in really late- geology students on a field trip that included the Carissa Tour. One dog visited today and I sold nine sarsaparillas. Tonight, dinner, a bit of reading, and a couple of podcasts. And its our Friday! 

  Gator operating the model stamp mill used to show how ore was crushed to allow extraction of gold. Today, Gator was going to operate the model stamp mill on the Flood and Hindle trail, so we didn't take sarsaparilla over to the Exchange. I worked in the Archives until a little after 10 AM and the hiked over to the stamp mill and watched Gator's demonstration. By the time I got back to the archives, it was close to noon, so I opened the Smith Sherlock General Store (the site prefers this to open as opposed to the Miner's Exchange). Saturday was busy- 67 visitors and four dogs. Despite number of people coming through, I had several fun discussions about the cans and brands represented in the store. One person pointed out an item I had never noticed and, in fact, was regretting that we did not have on display- the store used to stock canned lobster. And there it was. I will have fun with this. I closed the store at 4:00 and headed home to the trailer. On the long (3 minute) ...

  We had our weekly staff meeting, which included a fair bit of discussion about this year's Gold Rush Days. This SPC's big annual fete and serves as a fundraiser for the Friends of South Pass, an NGO that supports restoration and other activities at the site. There was a lot to discuss, so the meeting went a bit long.  After the meeting, get ready for it, Gator and I carried some sarsaparilla over to the Miner's Exchange Saloon. I worked in the archives until noon, and then opened the Exchange. My first visitor was at 1:30. By the end of the day, only 12 persons and two dogs had stopped in. Another two people literally walked through the Exchange without stopping, looking, or anything. One surprising visitor today was Cassie, a waitress at the Miners Grubstake in Atlantic City! I sold seven sarsaparilla, so there is that. It was a slow day and I was able to do a fair bit of work on the Lovejoy chronology I have been assembling.  After "work" we ate dinner and dec...

  We got up at 6:00, our usual time, had a quick breakfast of bacon and eggs, and then we were out the door for our weekly trip to Louis Lake. Along the way we saw a few pronghorn antelope and then two mule deer on the road leading towards the lake. We arrived about 8:20 and I caught my first fish about 29 minutes later. Fishing was slow, but for most of the day, Connie or I would get a hit every so often and, periodically, we would land a fish. No big rush, but no really slow periods either. Well, at least until the last hour. We had several strikes and landed a total of 11 fish: nine rainbow trout and two splake. There is a small inlet at the upper end of the lake where a creek enters. Around 11:00, we saw two small elk, probably yearlings, walk into the water and across the inlet. It is in this same general area that we saw a cow moose and two calves, and then a large bull moose a couple of years ago. We headed home, relaxed a bit and I smoked three rainbow trout and a couple ...

  After a leisurely morning and breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and drove about a mile to the National Bighorn Sheep Center. They have a more formal sign, but it is hidden by trees, so the gift shop sign had to do. The center has a number of displays that discuss various aspects of the biology of Rock Mountain bighorn sheep, but also offers some comparison with other bighorn sheep subspecies. The exhibits were nice and, I think, almost anyone who visits is going to learn a few things about the sheep.     High on the back wall, they had head mounts of a number of different wild sheep. I had heard of some, such as the mouflon, but there were others I hadn't heard of such as the Marco Polo, which had some really large and crazy horns.   We spent about an hour at the center, which was a slow, leisurely pace. While we were there, several other parties came in, some with children, who seemed to be quite excited about the displays. Statue of a bighorn sheep loca...

  We got up a bit early today, loaded up the truck and headed to Dubois, Wyoming, about a 100-mile drive and a little under two hours on the road. On the way up we saw quite a few pronghorn antelope including four does that had recently given birth. The fawns were really small, looking to be only - to 20- inches tall. We also saw three and then two mule deer, which seemed to want to play a game of chicken. Luckily nothing happened there, but I though one was going to make a crazy dash across the highway. We arrived at the National Museum of Military Vehicles at about 9:30 and spent most of the day there. The museum has an incredible collection of vehicles of all times- landing craft, jeeps, tanks, trucks, half tracks, tanks, Howitzers, ambulances, motorcycles, bicycles, tanks, a Huey helicopter, and assorted vehicles that were used to tow and repair trucks and tanks in the field.   They have two tours daily. On that discusses the second World War in the morning (10:00, today) ...

 Another Monday, the workweek (Friday-Saturday-Sunday) is ended, Connie did laundry and I did a few chores around the trailer. Tuesday and Wednesday of this week are supposed to be very windy- as they were last week. So we decided to take an overnight trip to Dubois, Wyoming. We went into Lander in the afternoon, mostly to pickup food to carry with us on the trip. We saw a few pronghorn antelope on the way out and back, including a group of about seven on the hills before you descend down into Lander.  After returning to the trailer, I smoked up a bunch of hamburgers for dinner tonight and for lunches on our trip. Connie has been shelling the pecans I collected last fall and was at work on those. I read a bit in the evening. An uneventful, but restful day.

  Roast mutton. Or is it? Could be goat! There's always something tasty to be had. Gator and I loaded up Sarsaparilla for the Miner's Exchange Saloon. Then, as usual, I worked in the archives until noon and then opened and manned the Smith Sherlock General Store until 4:00.    Forty-six visitors today plus 3 dogs. Looks like the weekends are picking up. I had several good conversations with visitors about the history of SPC, old-time stores and the products they carried, and gold mining. The conversations really helped time pass pretty quickly today. After dinner, we rode up to Atlantic City and had a couple of drinks and an order of onion rings at the Miner's Grubstake. We have decided to try to get to the Grubstake and the Rock Shop once a week. We are glad they’re here and want to help support these businesses. We left the Grubstake abut 8:30 and drove down to SPC. Once there, we decided to run out the old highway and see what wildlife was display. We saw 15-20 prongho...