Culture Not to Be Lost

Writing for the Saratoga Sun the past three years has increased my knowledge on history and culture of Carbon County and its effect on Wyoming, if the not the U.S., in a manner I never appreciated prior.

I have always liked history and, when living in other countries, I embraced learning the culture of the place I resided. It worked to my advantage when locals saw I cared enough to learn about their history and show respect to their achievements.

I thought I did the same thing when I moved to Wyoming about 20 years ago. I learned some cool things about Wyoming and Carbon County, but, in retrospect, I would not say I got a true handle on the area’s history or what it offers.

A little crazy I was so imperceptive, given I grew up around the history mecca of our country.

Washington D.C.’s museums were constant field trips for my class starting in 4th grade and continued until my senior year. Plus, I was born in Virginia and learned about Roanoke and Jamestown colonies about the same time my class went to museums in the nation’s capital. I even considered being a history major in college because I loved learning about the past.

I am a huge fan of the Chesapeake Bay area and besides having amazing crabs and recreational enjoyment, the area is steeped in the U.S.’s early history. There are towns you can visit on the “Bay” that are old, old, old. A good example is Kent Island, a town established in 1631. It is the third oldest English settlement and I have stopped there many times to marvel at how the colonists picked its site. You can still see ships sailing by.

Until about three years ago, although I loved living in Carbon County I delved very little into the history around me other than taking friends who were visiting to the Grand Encampment Museum and the Virginian Hotel. Both places are great, but this diverse county has so much more to offer that I didn’t bother to find out.

This all changed as I got assignments to cover historic walks for the Saratoga Sun. I remember the first one I did around Saratoga with Dick Perue and Chris (Chilly) Rollinson that made me realize how woefully unaware I was of how the land was back when pioneers started to settle.

My walking tour of Ft. Steele was also enlightening on many facets of history about Carbon County. Walking the grounds gave me new appreciation of what it was like for soldiers to make their home here while on assignment of protecting the interests of that administration.

Then came a talk with Nancy Anderson when she was still living in Coyote Canyon with her husband, Victor. I can’t remember exactly what story I was interviewing her for, but she is the person who introduced me to coal and railroad culture. She imparted on me how important coal mining and railroads were not only in opening up the West, but how coal mining was changing the country.

She told me of her fears that this culture would be forgotten as time went by without museums. Nancy was the first person to explain Old Carbon’s significance to the country. This town of over a 1000 souls back in the 1890s was crucially important to opening the West. She reveled me with several stories on the town’s rough and tumble past.

She also explained the place I call home’s history. It was fascinating to learn how buildings were literally moved from Carbon to Hanna as the railroad established the latter as a company town.

A story I am working on currently is contacting one founding member of the different museums in Carbon County and learning how each place started. It has been a compelling assignment and, although far from complete, I have learned tons.

Sue Tylstos from Hanna Basin Museum was the first I interviewed and she was meticulous with giving me info about the museum in my hometown. It was very interesting. I knew after that talk with her, I was on track of a good story.

Then, in a week of each other, I interviewed two remarkable people that have lived in Carbon County for decades. They enthralled me with stories of not only the museums of their town, but gave me insight to how interrelated the towns of Carbon County are to each other.

Jeannette Fischer, of Medicine Bow, and Bill Jones, of Elk Mountain, both explained what Carbon County was like as it started to establish towns back in the late 19th century, whether it was due to the railroad or the Overland Trail.

Bill told me that Elk Mountain was first referred as “The Crossing” because of a toll bridge that pioneers crossed as they headed west. The Crossing was actually before the town of Elk Mountain and the two more or less merged.

He explained how lumber used to go down the Medicine Bow River. A dam was essentially built above the town and during the spring thaw it would be busted, and logs cut for railroad ties would float down the river to the town of Medicine Bow to be used by Union Pacific.

Damn ingenious.

He told me how the Elk Mountain church originally came from Carbon. It turns out that Hanna, Elk Mountain and Medicine Bow all took parts from now ghost town to build their own towns.

Bill asked me if I had ever heard of “Blood Lake” off WY 72 between Elk Mountain and Hanna. I had not.

He told me when a convoy of tie hackers from Elk Mountain were taking a load of railroad ties to Hanna, they were ambushed by Indians near a small lake. After the deaths of all in the party the water in the lake turned red, thus the name. All I could say was wow when he told me the story. I drive near this lake almost weekly and never knew it existed, much less its tragic history.

Jeannette focused on Old Carbon, with its stories of a town that went from a few wooden huts in 1868 to a town with stone buildings that grew and busted. Like Bill, she impressed on me how the area shared history amongst all the towns, including Walcott.

An aside, Jeannette’s husband Richard is the person who donated the boots made of Big Nose George Parrot’s skin to the Carbon County Museum. He had found them in a trunk owned by his family. I found that very intriguing, although somewhat morbid.

I still have more people to talk to as I do this story.

Baggs, Saratoga and Encampment still have founders to be interviewed and I am excited to do it.

The one thing that has come across loud and clear to me as I pursue this story is that this remarkable county has amazing history that different towns share with each other. Sure, all Carbon County towns are unique and the museum in each one should have their own identity,.

Saying that, after listening to so many great stories by these historians and founders, I believe the different towns museums should work together to present the shared history and culture in a manner that compliments the county as a whole. In my opinion, the heritage of Carbon County is too important not to.

 

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