South Pass Stories

    Clouds reflected in the windows of the Smith Sherlock Company Store during a brief period of sun. Connie and I got up this morning and took quick showers, had breakfast, and then were off to the shop. Gator had the Ranger all ready to go, so we jumped in and headed to the Miner's Exchange Saloon with some root beer, birch beer, and cream soda. He sold out of sarsaparilla yesterday. On our way to the saloon, we saw a cow down the road (in town). After unloading the sodas, we went to investigate the cow situation. There was one, no wait, its four. What? Four more? It turns out there were 12-14 cattle in town, we tried to herd them out, but they just ran off. Eventually, they worked their way up the hill behind the school building and then into a small draw. A lone mule deer ran out, evidently unhappy with the company. We headed back to the office and let Curtis, the Site Maintenance Supervisor, know about the cows. Gator wandered off to his tasks and I went into the archives...

    Yesterday, while digitizing invoices to the Smith Sherlock Company Store, I came across this beauty. It provides a great look into early 1900s "over the counter" medicines. About half of the items on this invoice are so-called “patent” medicines. Despite the name, most were not actually patented and many were of dubious medicinal value. They were proprietary remedies marketed under protected brand names, often directly to the public. Their ingredients and effectiveness varied widely and their advertising claims were frequently much more impressive than the medicines themselves. In many ways, the industry resembles today’s supplement market.  Among the patent medicines on the invoice were Sanford Liver Invigorator, King’s New Discovery, King’s New Life Pills, DeWitt’s Kidney Pills, Doan’s Kidney Pills, and Dodd’s Kidney Pills. These were offered as remedies for coughs, colds, constipation, “biliousness,” sluggish livers, troublesome kidneys, and pretty m...

      Looking out the window of the Smith Sherlock Company Store. It was cool and rainy last night, but the rain let up a bit in the morning. Gator and I met in the shop to load up sarsaparilla and other sodas (birch beer, root beer, cream soda) for the Miner's Exchange Saloon. Gator wanted a full complement of sodas, which I suggested was ambitious. I don't expect ice cold drinks to sell too well today. We'll see. After our Saloon run, I went into the archives and digitized Smith Sherlock Company Store invoices and found a couple that are worth a story, not here unfortunately. The rain resumed in the mid-morning and was still coming down at noon as I walked to the store to open it. For the first 45 minutes. No one was in town, so I pulled out the computer and did a little work. I have learned that the surest way to attract people into the store is to open my computer. I saw group heading into town from the direction of the English tunnel. The tunnel tour starts...

     Eagle Tailoring Company Catalog used by the Smith Sherlock Company Store to store invoices. Another Friday, another two-minute commute (on foot) to the shop. There, I meet up with Gator who is already loading up sodas. We have only a few sarsaparillas left, so we also took some birch beer and root beer. A lucky thing we took all of this because, at day’s end Gator had sold a whopping two bottles. Our weekly staff meeting was cancelled, so I was off to the archives. I digitized invoices, as I usually do on Friday and Saturday mornings. The store saved most of its invoices in outdated vendor catalogs. Many of them were from the Eagle Tailoring Company of Chicago. I started a new volume of invoices today. The catalog has 50 pages, about ¼ inch thick pressed cardboard and the catalog itself is about 21.5” tall and 17’ wide- it is quite hefty. The find of the day was an invoice for two barrels of cranberries. Each barrel held about 100 pounds of berries. The invoice...

  The Copper Queen Mine sate beneath the gravel in the foreground. Apparently the old opening was closed earlier this year. The concrete structure in the mid-ground is the foundation for a stamp mill that stood here. We go up early, had breakfast and coffee, and went to Safeway for groceries. Then, back to South Pass City. Along the way we saw two mule deer in a pasture, just as you leave the Lander valley. We got in around 8:30 AM- early enough to put things away from the trip, relax a minute, and then get to out 9:00 training for school tours. The training was mostly discussion and lasted about an hour. So, ... Back to the trailer. We have hamburgers to smoke for our weekend/workweek lunches, then we made frittatas (the smoker is our oven) for breakfasts, and then I smoked a few chicken thighs for dinner. I worked on the computer- four slides for my Lovejoy presentation!, and read while things were on the smoker. However, by the time we got the chicken thighs off, it was time to ...

        Indian Scare Spreading. Salt Lake Tribune, July 31, 1895. On July 30, 1895 Walter Lovejoy sent a telegraph to the Governor of Wyoming asking for guns to allow the residents of South Pass City to defend themselves against a possible Indian attack. Walter Lovejoy served as a Justice of the Peace in South Pass City at this time, so it is likely that this is why he was asked to make the request. Also on July 30, 1895, a similar request was made by E. A. Gustin of nearby Lewiston. There is no record of the requests being honored.  However, the letters evidently fascinated people in the East and a Cheyenne, Wyoming news release describing the letters was picked up and published around the country.  An article published in the Jefferson, Iowa, Souvenir on August 3, 1895 reported the number of Indians as being 300 and that it was composed of men only, which suggested to some that it might be a war party, but their intentions were unclear. Although there was...

        Fremont County Pioneer Museum in Lander, Wyoming.  I slept in a bit this morning, then Connie and I went for breakfast. Holiday Inn omelettes. Okay, not great, but close to hand. We read a bit and the went to the Fremont County Pioneer Museum. The museum covers the history of the county, with a heavy emphasis on Lander.  One of the first displays is, arguably, the most striking. The skull of Harvey Morgan, who died along with two companions in an 1870 Indian attack. Poor Harvey likely died instantly as a queen pin, which looks like a spike with a hammer head at the opposite end, was beaten through his skull, after being scalped, of course.       Harvey Morgan's skull, with queen pin, on display. I would argue Harvey got off a bit easy. Rufus Barr, one of his companions was found scalped, with his head placed beneath one of the wheels of their wagon. His body was found with finger scratches in the soil about him. He died a slow, agoniz...

      Miners Delight informational sign east of Atlantic City, at Stambaugh Road. We got around slowly today. Connie made coffee and then I made a couple of omelettes. We relaxed and visited until after lunch and then headed for Lander by way of Miners Delight. A mining ghost town founded about the same time as South Pass City and which tapped into the same geological formation. We spent a couple of hours walking around the town. Since we last visited HistoriCorps was contracted by the BLM to do some stabilization work. Parts of the site look better, but they ruined, in my opinion, the old privy. It used to have bench with two holes in it, a true two seater, for close friends and persons on a date, I guess. Anyway, that bench is gone now. The privy was across the path from one of the larger structures in town, which had a kitchen and bedroom towards the back of the building and a saloon, I think, in front with open, covered stable for horses.       Saloon a...

        Old Wagons along Willow Creek. The past few days in the saloon were slow, so I thought a slow Monday would be a good start to our days off. We had coffee and breakfast. I had second cup which is unusual when we are in the trailer and then I started to do organizing notes and writing on my Lovejoy Journals project and my upcoming presentation.  Connie wrote cards and notes for a bit, and then went down to the town to mail them. She started laundry when she returned. After an early lunch, I went down into the archives to spread out and work on my presentation. I worked for a few hours and then came back to the trailer to start organizing supper. There were dark clouds overhead and I caught a few sprinkles on the way back. Then it started to rain. Not real hard, but hard enough with 60's temperatures that I waited for the rain to let up before grilling dinner. It has rained intermittently throughout the evening so that we might actually get enough to be mea...

      Rabbit brush and lupines in bloom outside the Miner's Exchange Saloon.  Gator and I, once again, met at the shop and took sarsaparilla to the Miner's Exchange Saloon. At the start of the weekend, we had 25 bottles of sarsaparilla left to sell at the saloon. (The gift shop has a somewhat larger stock.) A decision was made to sell out our stock and order no more for this year. The saloon will only be open one or two more weeks and excess sodas over winter is a real problem here with the cold, cold winters. Anyway, I have been trying to push sarsaparilla sales. To no great effect. I sold seven bottles today, leaving us, well, Gator, with six or seven bottles for next week. Today was a pretty calm day, but interesting. I had 25 visitors, plus one hiker who stood outside and peeked in, and no dogs. I had a couple fun conversations today plus had time to work on my Lovejoy project.  The first visitor, today, was from California. He is interested in ghost towns, ...

    Miner's Exchange Saloon.  Once again, Gator I and met up at the shop for our regular sarsaparilla run. That was quickly done. Gator dropped me off at the office and into the archives I went. I spent morning researching a few items and then, about 10:45, Connie and I drove up to the Carrisa Mine where Jan was to give a talk on the research she has been conducting- Death and Dying in South Pass City. The talk covered 12-13 of the more unusual deaths that occurred in the area since its early days. I was familiar with most of the stories, but it was interesting to hear them told back to back to back. After the talk, I drove back down into town and then opened the saloon a little after 1:00. It was a quiet day, only 13 people and one dog stopped in, so I had time to read and organize notes for my Lovejoy project and work on a short story that I am developing. I closed the Saloon at 4:00 and sold only five bottles of sarsaparilla.  Connie and walked back to the trailer...

      Invoice for smoked lenses. Now, I like smoked salmon, but... Actually, these are the early 1900's version of sunglasses.   I woke up early today and after breakfast was a bit restless so I went down to the shop and loaded sarsaparilla into the Ranger and brought it out of the shop. Ha! I beat the Gator today. He was on the prowl, though, so I picked him up and off we went to the Miner’s Exchange Saloon. Afterwards, we sat outside and waited for the staff meeting to begin. The meeting came and went. The most notable items were the time of Jan’s talk tomorrow- she has been compiling stories about South Pass City area murders and strange deaths. Also, Joe distributed schedules for after Labor Day, when most of us will shift from working weekends, to working T-W-Th, Then, into the archives for a few hours. I continued digitizing invoices for the Smith Sherlock Company Store and found a couple of interesting ones for 1900’s “sunglasses,” you have to be stylish...