August 31, 2016 Cheyenne Wyoming Governors Mansion

       Wednesday August 31,  We picked up a brochure on the "Historic Governors Mansion" and we all decided it would be a very interesting place to tour through.  It has 3 very large stories and a basement. All the rooms are totally furnished.
       Fourteen year after achieving statehood in 1890, the state of Wyoming built is first governor's  mansion in 1904. Paid for with public funds from a 1/8 mill tax levy, the state purchased the vacant corner lot 21st and House Avenue in an established, middle class neighborhood, 5 blocks from the State Capital. The lot was surrounded by beautiful Queen Anne houses that were built in the mid 1880s.

       The mansion was intended to be to be a home of the people, and was never enclosed by a fence or had on site security.  From 1905 to 1976, the mansion was the residence of 19 Wyoming first families.

       Governor Bryant B. Brooks and his family were the first occupants.

Brooks a Natrona County rancher. He and his wife, Mary Naomi Brooks, had five children, 4 girls and 1 son. The children brought their pet pony from the ranch with them and was quartered in the carriage house. The Brooks were the largest and youngest family ever to occupy the mansion.

       The mansion was also home to the first female governor in the United States, Nellie Taylor Ross. Mrs. Ross was elected in a special election to fulfill the remainder of her husband's term, Governor William B. Ross.  During her election, the Carriage House was a polling place for the neighborhood. Mrs. Ross noted that during that fateful day, she would look out the window and wonder if any constituents were voting for her. Both her and her son cast their ballots in the Carriage House. Two years later, she lost her bid for re-election to Governor Frank Emerson.
       The last family to occupy the mansion was also Wyoming's first  three- term  governor,  Ed Herschel and his wife Casey. The Herschelers have the distinction to be the first family to live in the mansion and the first to live in the new Governor's Residence located near Frontier Park. The Herschlers lived here for almost two years, from January 1975 until October of 1976.
       In July 1977, the Historic Governor's Mansion opened to the public as a historic house museum. After an extensive restoration in 2004  the Mansion continues its second century as a valuable symbol of the state and its history. There is so much to see with 3 full stories and servants stairways and quarters and the beautiful furnishings. They did some floors in different periods of time which was interesting to see.

August 29, 2016 Guernsey, Wyoming

       Monday, August 29, 2016     Between 1840 and 1869 over 500,000 pioneers went west to fulfill their dreams, these emigrants started their journeys in Kansas and Missouri, walking more than 2000 miles for months in pursuit of a better life. When they reached the big rocks they had

seen for days on the trail, they carved their names  and the date in the rocks, We spent a lot of time reading all the names and the years they were there. We found the name MOSHER, carved in the rocks. (see picture) The National Park service has had to put up a tall wire fence to keep the tourists from carving their names and ruining the history of those weary pioneers. They looked at these rocks to try and find a name of theirs to see if they made it that far..Wagon wheels cut solid rock, carving a trail  that is seen decades later in our National Parks that have all the history for us to see. We learned from the guide at the "Golden Spike" railroad that all wheels are 56 and one half inches across. This means all wheels, train,  covered wagon wheels,  the carts wheels that the Mormon''s pulled by hand over the roads and mountains. so this is why the tracks are cut so deeply. At this site where the trail was forced away from the river and crossed a ridge of soft sandstone, the track is worn to a depth of five feet, creating some of the most specular ruts remaining along the entire length of the Oregon-California

Trail. The geography of the area dictated that practically every wagon that went west crossed the ridge in exactly the same place, with impressive results. This is about three miles south of Guernsey, Wyoming.  There were so many mud swallows nests on the rocks. (Picture)

Mud Swallows

The wagon wheel ruts in the soil

See the Mosher name on the rock

August 29, 2016 Fort Laramie , Wyoming

The Barracks

Fort Laramie

       In 1834 Robert Campbell and William  built the first "Fort Laramie" near the Laramie and North Platte rivers. It was  small post measuring 100 by 80 feet Lodges measuring 15 feet high. They enjoyed having a monopoly on the buffalo trade here until 1841 when a competing trading post,  Fort Platte was built one mile away. With such close competition, the owners were forced to replace their aging fort with a larger adobe-walled structure named Fort John.  In 1849 The US Army bought Fort John as part of a plan to establish it for as a military post a military presence  along the emigrant trails.  Officially renamed Fort Laramie it served as a military post for the next four decades.  It grew as a post and with soldiers quarters, stables a bakery, guardhouse and more. As its size and importance grew, Fort Laramie became the principle military outpost of of the Northern Plains. The fort was also the transportation and communication hub for the central Rocky Mountains Not only the emigrant trails but the stage lines, the Pony Express and the transcontinental telegraph all passed through the post.

Some of he original Fort

       Relations between  Indian tribes and the army deteriorated  as the number of emigrants on the overland trails swelled. As conflicts grew, therapy launched major campaigns  from Fort Laramie against the Northern Plains tribes who fiercely defended their homeland against further immigrants  moving west. In 1890 Fort Laramies importance diminished. The US Army abandoned the post and sold it at public auction.
       Fort Laramie's  riverside setting looks much like it did when the post was active.  Buildings from its military period, some dating back to 1849 survived intact because homesteaders bought and lived in  and public agencies later worked to preserve them. Eleven structures are now restored and refurnished to their historic appearances.

Alliance, Nebraska August 26, 2016 Carhenge

Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska

       Friday August 26, 2016   Another neat place we heard about that we checked out and thought it was a neat, most unusual piece of art. A family reunion in the summer of 1987 produced what has become America's best-known quirky Stonehenge: It was built in a farm field north of Alliance, Nebraska under the supervision of farmer and (engineer) Jim Reinders, who meant it as a memorial to his dad.
  America Carhenge is a replica of England's Stonehenge located near the city of Alliance, Nebraska on the High Plains region of the United States. Instead of being built with stones as in the case of England's Stonehenge. What makes Carhenge special is that it is made from cars, 38 of them, rescued from nearby farms  and dumps.  Jim Reinders noticed that the dimensions of cars from the 1950's and 60's nearly equaled the stones at Stonehenge, and he built his monument with a 96- foot diameter to match the proportions of the original.
       Three foreign cars were originally part of Carhenge, but were dragged away, ritually buried, and replaced by models from Detroit ( The 'foreigners' grave at the site is marked by another junk- car). The "heel stone" is  a 1962 Caddy. After a couple of summers the Reinders family spray painted  the cars a flat gray to make the monument look more like a Stonehenge.
       Carhenge very nearly didn't survive. The residents of Alliance wanted to tear down Carhenge.
Then the Nebraska Department of Highways wanted to label it a ( junkyard) and erect a big fence around it. The animosity passed, and now signs on the outskirts of Alliance proudly call it "Home of Carhenge."
       In 2006 a visitors center was built at the site.  In 2013 Alliance voted to become Carthage's owner, officially giving its blessing to the monument and guaranteeing its preservation for many years to come. Carhenge remains a remote wonder, far from the nearest interstate. It's a place that you really have to dedicate time to drive to, and appreciate your vehicle when you get there. There were quite a few people stopping in to look at the Carhenge and take pictures of it. I also took a picture of a bench made from two tail gates and painted quite colorful.
   

Alliance, Nebraska August 27, 2016 Dooby's Frontier Town

Original Log Cabin

One of the first Texico stations

Plows and machinery

Hay Seeder

From here we headed to another place someone had told us about that was supposed to be very interesting and full of antiques and it is free. (donation box)  There were so many different buildings, it wasn't something we were going to see all of it in 20 minutes. Step back in time at Dobby's Frontier town. Bobby wanted to recreate a town like his boyhood to give others the chance to see and feel what life was like in early Nebraska. Dobby started his adventure by transforming a former milk house building into into a  replica of the first Alliance/Grand Lake Post Office for the Alliance Centennial. Some buildings were restored on site, such as the original Bootleggers Shack. Others  were brought in and given a new resting place like the Texaco Gas Station that was one of the first filling stations in the area and the 1912 German Evangelical Luthern Church. One by one over the next 28 years, new buildings came to be built or created.

Oil Wagon

      Dobby's Frontier Town is the home to the cabin of the region's first black Homesteader, Robert Ball Anderson. It is the real log cabin , and all around the cabin are more buildings full of antiques and the cabin has a bed of the period  and hand made furniture.
       There is a general store filled with everything a pioneer would need to buy in the 1800's. I took so many pictures, I wish I had room to post them all. There is a dental chair and all the equipment and a complete mortuary and barber shop. I was told that back then the barber was also the dentist and Mortition. there were also caskets of the period too.

Barbershop

       Last but not least, is what every frontier town had: a saloon fully stocked with a Bordello above,  a jailhouse with real steel cells, beds, commode and sheriffs desk and office. Also a beautiful little German Luthern church with and antique pump organ.  Outside there is a piece of every antique machinery there was. the yard is full of it.
     Other stores and things to see are: 1880's post office, Blacksmith shop' one room school, Bank,  Baled Hay House, Cobblers Shop, There is 26 buildings in all. I highly recommend it to anyone in Nebraska and to you travelers, get off the interstate and go see the history of our Pioneers.

Mercantile

Inside of the Log Cabin

Alliance, Nebraska August, 27, 2016 Zesto Shop

       Saturday   August 27,  2016,   We got a late start this morning, we are on our way to Alliance, Nebraska to tour a Frontier Town someone told us about. As we drove through we found the  Zesto Ice Cream Shop we had found on the web that was in the town. We asked the lady running the shop if they made peach, carmel ice-cream sundaes that they make in Pierre, SD. She had never heard of them, so we told her how to make them and she said she would if she had the peaches. Kent told her he would go to the store and buy them if she would make them for us. Of course she said yes, so Mosher and I drove to the grocery store and bought the peaches. She asked us if we wanted to come inside the shop and get out of the sprinkles of rain and cold, so in the back door the four of us went and soon Linda and I were cleaning the peaches and dicing them up. The gal was waiting on theist, we headed to e window and making 2 malts for a customer. Kent is the one who eats the peach sundae the most, so we said he had to make the first one for her. He did a real good job for a beginner and he made our friend the first sundae. Linda and I made the other 4 and soon we were all eating our creation in the kitchen of the Zesto Ice-cream Shop. The manager really liked her peach sundae and she said she was going to ask the owner to add it to the menu. se sure had a lot of fun, us four Seniors  working in the kitchen of a Zesto
          The last thing we did today was go to the "Agate Fossil beds"  They had exhibits on fossils and artifacts and a movie on how they find and dig them. the exhibits are very well done.

Lake Minatare State Park. August 26, 2016

       After such a busy day seeing so many different places, we went to bed early last night.This morning we woke up and it was damp and drizzly outside. Linda said she had a surprise for us today and we should follow them when we leave the park. We followed their motor home through the park and we went past a lot of campers  just getting up for the day. We discovered there is a beautiful lake that runs along the campground and we continued to follow them. When they stopped, we saw our surprise, a lighthouse was near the lake out on a  point. Lake Minatare is large, but not so big that it needs a lighthouse. It has one anyway and it offers an impressive 360-degree view. The lighthouse has been a fixture of the area since 1939. It

was built by the Veterans Conservation Corps, a New Deal agency that provided jobs to unemployed veterans. It is located seven miles north of the town Minatare, the recreation area offers camping,  swimming, boating, fishing and picnicking. It has boat ramps, electrical,  and primitive camp sites and rest room and shower facilities. A state park permit is required. We parked our motor homes and we climbed the four stories to the top of the lighthouse. There were small bench like seats at every floor  to rest on if necessary. The view at the top was awesome and out each window as we climbed to the top. It was so nice and cool inside the light house, it was a great place to go and look the countryside, we really enjoyed it. We have three more interesting places to go to today, so off we went down the road of history.

August 25, 2016 Windlass Hill Pioneer Homestead

       August 25, 2016 Thursday   We visited a real neat sod house that stands out in the prairie where  the buffalo grass and the sunflowers grow so pretty.  It was built by Dennis Clary and for years it was a landmark in Ash Hollow and marked the location of Windlass Hill. It was a popular stopping place for settlers traveling from the North Platte Valley area to the railroad at Big Springs, some 20 miles to the South.  There are wagon tracks worn in the prairie from so many covered wagons  using the trail is still visible nearby, The Oregon Trail passed here and the area surrounding the house was used by the pioneers to repair damages to their covered wagons  caused by the hazardous trip down Windlass Hill. (the sod house was reconstructed.   The site was used as a stage setting for the "Ash Hollow Centennial Pageant".The thick prairie grass was good for the sod houses as the grass held the dirt together for the stacking of the blocks of sod. There was a sign by the house saying beware of rattle snakes and stay on the marked trails. We walked around where the wagons came down the hill and saw some of the deep wagon tracks cut into the soil. It was a very warm day and we didn't walk up the hill to see the wagon tracks better like some of the people who came down from the top and visited with us.

August 25, 2016 Chimney Rock-- near Bayard, Nebraska

      Thursday August 25, 2016      We started the day driving to "Chimney Rock, (picture)  we saw the rock miles before we were near there. Chimney Rock was visible to the wagon trains for days  before  before they arrived at it. Chimney Rock
was the most noted landmark along the Oregon Trail. With a 120 foot spire and standing 325 feet from tip to base., it was unlike anything the pioneers had ever seen. I am sure they grew impatient wondering how much further it was to reach the rock, when they could see it for days. Some of the pioneers scratched their names and the date on the rock, for their families to read if they came through there.
     We also traveled to "Scotts Bluff " today, it is another very tall Bluff that was seen by the pioneers for days before they reached it. Between 1841 and 1861, more than 250,000 men, women and children passed within sight of these bluffs in the massive trek West.  ( Picture) Along the North Platte River in western Nebraska., Scotts Bluff stood out on the landscape 800 feet.  Gradually the immense sandstone and siltstone formation is disappearing, wind and water, the forces that built the peaks, are dismantling the rock grain by grain. The Bluff now measures 500 feet, the pioneers didn't spend much time enjoying the rock and the shade it provided. Wary of being caught on the road when winter arrived, they moved on, grateful at least that one -third of the trail was behind them.
       The Pony Express has fascinated Americans since its first riders hit leather in April 1860, heading west from St. Joseph, Missouri, and east from San Francisco, California. This plan for mail service lasted only 19 months, but it created an immediate sensation and won a permanent place in the history of the American West. The bold founders and the riders of the pony  express helped spread important news and bind a nation that was being torn apart by the Civil War. The emigrants who moved West in the mid-1800's anxiously awaited mail from home. But mail took months to arrive, and by then the news was old. Three business men established home stations every 75 to 100 miles (to house riders between runs) and smaller relay stations every 10 to 15 miles (to provide riders with fresh horses). The names of some of the pony stations- Kearney, Chimney Rock, Scotts Bluff, Fort Laramie, Fort Bridger - were already famous in western history. The operation expanded from 86 stations to 147 stations by mid-1861.  Newspaper ads were full of ads for riders for the pony Express. Hires ranged from teenagers to about age 40. Weight restrictions  were strict. Riders had to weigh less than 120 pounds and carry 20 pounds of equipment.
        Some riders took an oath to not get drunk, gamble, not to treat animals cruelly, and not to do anything else that is incompatible with the conduct of a gentleman. The company employed between 80 and 100 riders and several hundred station workers. Riders earned wages plus room and board. Horses were selected for swiftness and endurance. The company bought 400 to 500 horses, many thoroughbreds for eastern runs and California mustangs for western stretches. Horses averaged 10 miles per hour, at times galloping at up to 25 miles per hour. During his route of 75 to 100 miles, a rider changed horses eight to ten times. Mail traveled in four locked leather boxes sewn onto the corners of a leather nap sack that fit over the saddle. The design allowed for fast removal and placement on a fresh horse. The exchange of horses and mail was more casual than legend has it. Riders often stopped to eat or drink. and stretch his legs .

       The pony express charged $5 per half oz. for mail, (about $85 in todays money)  later reducing the fee to $1.00  At first the pony ran once a week in each direction starting in July 1860  it ran a second weekly trip, delivering mail in 10 days or fewer between St  Joseph and San Francisco. The pony express ceased operations with the completion of the transcontinental telegraph on Oct, 26, 1861. The pony made its last run on Nov, 20, 1861. It completed some 300 runs each way over

600, 000 miles and carried more than 33, 000 pieces of mail.

     

   

Ogallala, Nebraska Petrified wood carvers August 25, 2016

       Thursday August 25  Our first museum we are stopping at is the Petrified Wood Gallery in Ogallala, , Nebraska. It features the petrified wood art of twin brothers Howard and Harvey Kenfield  who are 92 years of age. We were thrilled to find both of the brothers in the store when we stopped. I really enjoyed my visit with Harvey on how they got started and how they did some of the art work. Howard said they started collecting arrowheads at a young age, which led to collecting petrified wood and the art of cutting and polishing rocks.  In the early 1950's they were both drafted into the army and served together in Korea and they received honorable discharges and went back to their place of employment. Over the years  they began collecting Indian artifacts  and the pictures they made from the arrowheads are gorgeous. Many gem and mineral shows were attended by the

brothers and vacations were spent hunting petrified wood in western Wyoming.
       In 1976 each purchased one acre of land south of Ogallala, built homes for their families and the first Petrified Wood Gallery. After 42 years of employment, the brothers both retired in 1980 and the gallery was opened to the public. In 2000 the Kenfields donated
their collection to the Western
Nebraska Community Foundation with the stipulation that it will stay in Ogallala Over the years the gallery has been added to and in 2011, the gallery moved to a larger facility across the street,
418 East 1st Street. You won't be disappointed if you go there, we highly recommend it.
       From here we went to the Wagon Windlass Hill at Ash Hollow State Park, to this day the park bears the scars from the countless wagons that made the steep decent. The pioneers had so much trouble getting their covered wagons down the steep hills without losing them when they couldn't hold them back. They tied ropes to themselves and some of the oxen to try and hold back the wagons. A lot of people died trying to get through this part of the country. Visitors can follow a paved walking path to the top. An old sod house stands at the bottom of the hill, enclosed with a fence with a wagon wheel gate.
The sod house is really neat and old.