School Tours: 100+ Fourth-graders in the Smith Sherlock Company Store

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Smith Sherlock Company Store, South Pass City State Historic Site, Wyoming 
 
Smith Sherlock Company Store.

Connie and I walked down to the office this morning and chatted a bit with Gator. Connie then went off with Joe to open the town. I worked for a bit in the archives and realized I had left my building key back at the trailer. I went and retrieved it and then went down to the Smith Sherlock Company Store to set up a few things for the tour(s).

We will host around 110 fourth-graders. They arrived close to on time, in two buses, and then the fun began. One bus load went up to the Carissa mine and mill for a quick tour. The others were divided into four groups which then were sent to different areas of the town- the Store being one of them. I walked down to the store with the first group and gave a short history presentation/tour of the store. It went well, considering I really hadn't done this in two years. 

Afterwards, that group went on to their next station, gold panning, and I got another group. Eight groups in all. It is a bit tiring- keeping to the time limit (15 minutes, which includes the time walking between stations) and telling the same story eight times, back to back, without a break. The kids were, for the most part, great!

After the tour(s) ended, I ate lunch and worked in the archives until 4:00 and then Connie and I went to the trailer and had dinner.

I decided to run into Lander for a couple of items and then came back to South Pass City. I saw eight pronghorn antelope and eight mule deer on my way into Lander and around 20 pronghorn antelope on the return trip. As I was just getting into South Pass City, a mule deer jumped out of the brush and into the road in front of me. I was only doing 5 mph and was able to hit the brakes in time. Then I noticed two young deer running along the side of the road, looking for their chance to get in front of me. Ha! They failed. Back to the trailer to relax and read.



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