A Presentation on Death and Dying in South Pass City and Saloon Hopping

-

 

Miner's Exchange Saloon, South Pass City State Historic Site, Wyoming. 
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 and relaxed a few minutes. I then suggested that we go to the Rock Shop Inn. I hadn't seen Texas Dan in a few weeks and he came in a but after us. We traded stories for an hour or so, until 6:00 PM came along. On Saturdays, the Rock Shop usually has a band playing from 6:00 to who knows? I'm fine without the music, so I've never stayed long enough to figure that one out.

Connie and I then headed over to the Miner's Grubstake in Atlantic City for dinner. They were pretty busy so, we had a couple of drinks and talked until the food came out. We saw a few pronghorn antelope on our way from the Rock Shop Inn to the Miner's Grubstake and returning to South Pass City, we saw four mule deer along the road by the Carissa.

That pretty much was the evening. We came home, listened to the rain! The power went out for a couple of hours and I went to bed a early, as I had not slept well last night. 

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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 ...
Read more

Arrival and Week 1

-
Image
I arrived in South Pass City mid-morning on Thursday May 21 after a 1020 mile, four-day drive. I could have made it in three days, but decided to spend the night in Lander to fuel up, buy a few groceries, and relax. I checked in at the office, no one was there, but ran into Ashley, a site employee and caught up for a few minutes. Wonderful spring weather in South Pass City. As I was backing up the trailer, getting in and out of the truck to check placement in my camping pad, checking level, etc., it began to sleet, then snow. The temperature was in the 30s and the wind was blowing pretty hard. I got some assistance with backing up from Jesse, one of the seasonal employees, and Curtis, a site employee. This save a number of extra in and outs from the truck. I unhitched the trailer, hooked up the water hose, power, and sewer line and hunkered down in the trailer and set up the inside from travel mode. A little later, warmed a bit, I set up the Starlink, and eventually put the landing g...
Read more

A Day of Routine Household Activities

-
Image
  Our Clamshell shelter on the bank of Willow Creek It started off cool today, the morning low was 32, but it warmed up nicely. I did a little computer work this morning and then we took advantage of the nice weather to drag the last of our stuff out of the truck and finish setting up "camp." First, I set up our propane (Coleman Roadtrip) grill. Next, Connie and I set up our Quickset Clamshell shelter for use as a workout area. I secured the shelter with ground anchors. We'll see how it stands up to Wyoming winds. Finally, we set up a folding table that we place near our outdoor shower. We use this table and the shower spigot to wash dishes, prepare food, and clean fish. After spending $250 on fishing licenses, I hope there is a fair bit of fish cleaning this summer. We have access to a nearby garage that is owned by SPC, so we stowed a few items there, including our dumbbells. Once we get a tote to store the dumbbells in, we'll move them to the Clamshell, which is wh...
Read more