Summer fun guide 2014

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Summer Fun Guide

May 23 - 30, 2014

Opening Day

Saturday, May 25th Welcome families to our FREE admission children’s park!

Open daily from 9 am to 7 pm through Labor Day Check out our website for more information.

www.storybookisland.org 605.342.6357 1301 Sheridan Lake Rd. Rapid City, South Dakota Like us on Facebook

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Campbell County Observer

Summer Fun Guide

Campbell County Observer

May 23 - 30, 2014

Snowed in at the Occidental

By Glenn Woods

ure I’ll take a trip out to Buffalo for the newspaper. Why would I say no? But I better hurry. Here in Wyoming, it seems, it snows more in the spring than it does in the winter. A storm is coming. If I’m going to be snowed in, I can’t think of a better place than the Occidental Hotel in Buffalo.

Why more people don’t get away to places like this, in the middle of winter, I don’t know. Towns like this tend to shut down at the first sign of a snowflake. Are folks afraid of getting stuck? Well, here is what it’s like to be “STUCK” at the Occidental Hotel through a weekend snow storm: Walking through the front door there is the sound of live music. That would be the husband and wife that will be staying down the hall in the Clear Creek Suite.

I’ll be one room down on the other side in the Teddy Roosevelt room. Yes, Teddy slept there.

The man on the Piano is Mr. Mark R. Stratmoen. Currently he is Chief Deputy for the Fremont County Coroner’s Office, and working as a medical-legal death investigator. He is also a sculptor, musician, and now the author of a new book called Murder, Mayhem and Mystery. Coroner Inquests in Fremont County Wyoming.

1885-1900. His new book is selling quite well on Amazon. I now have a copy. Its VERY interesting reading.

As Mr. Stratmoen rolls out a tune on the piano his wife stands by his side singing in perfect pitch. She is a radio host and news reporter on a Fremont County radio station. Her background in music and theater taught her to sing like that.

I did not know at the time that I would be having dinner with those two later that night.

The folks unloading equipment and car-

was the sensation of a campfire fable as the only thing half illuminating her face is a dimly lit computer screen. A camera with night vision scanned the room.

Later, I asked if I could join up with a group given the task of moving from room to room. As I was about to leave with them I was stopped by a delightful young teenage lady with dark rimmed glasses, wearing a stocking cap with a Batman logo on it with tassels that hung from the cap down past her shoulders. Her name is Brooklyn. She gave me a small crystal for my pocket and told me it would enhance energy. I asked if she meant my energy or the spirits. She was not sure.

If there was anything “ODD” that really happened, from my point of view, it was when they place four dollar bills on one of the beds in the bordello, and asked the lady of the evening, in spirit, if she was interested. Before we could get an answer we were suddenly were called back to THE MURDER ROOM because of some apparent disturbing activity. Several freaked and creeped out investigators had to step outside for a cigarette or two to calm the nerves.

I had a wonderful time ghost hunting with some delightful people, but I did not stay up all night. I found Brooklyn, thanked her for the crystal and handed it back to her. I went to sleep. They continued their investigation on through the

rying it into the hotel are members of the Sheridan-based Paranormal Researchers of Wyoming. They will set up cameras around the hotel in the empty rooms with a command post in one of those rooms.

While the guests snooze they will search for those things that go BUMP in the night. But of course I asked if I can tag along for part of the ghost hunt and of course they said yes. I’d join them later.

Now it seems that the Deputy Coroner and his wife have found the piano in the bar. I follow their music and introduce myself when their song is done. We chat under the watchful gaze of old dusty hunting trophies that were lucky enough to not be hit by a second bullet. Those wild cowboys and their guns. Plus one wife who went looking for her husband at the bar and fired up into the ceiling to get his attention, the bullet stopping in the room above, just short of the cowboy up there who was trying to nap. The bullet logged just shy of his back.

The old floors creek underfoot down the hallway as I carry my bags to the Roosevelt room is at the end. The old and slightly out of tune saloon piano echoes even to this side of the building and I can hear her voice rising through the stairwell.

There is something very interesting about having dinners with a deputy coroner and his news-radio wife, then, after dessert, slipping off down a dark hallway with ghost hunters who love to play with their ghost hunting gadgets and call out to the spirits in the night, hopping to record and answer.

“And then he came through that door, and was shot dead on that spot. It was a lover’s triangle.”

The sweet lady telling the story was the chief investigator. We were in what they are calling THE MURDER ROOM. There

night.

Five in the morning I was up writing all of this down. Later, when then sun had risen and it was apparent that the snow was nowhere near done falling; I met everyone downstairs in The Busy Bee Restaurant for breakfast. The ghost hunters would brave the weather and head for home. The coroner and his wife would stay an extra day. They agreed with me.

What a wonderful place to be stuck.

Later that morning I confessed to the owner that I had shut the door to THE VAULT so I could video opening it, and almost could not open it. The Vault is the old bank vault that is now part of the dining room. Care to have a romantic dinner inside an Old West bank vault? Well, now you can. Just don’t shut the door while you are in there. She told me that a woman once closed that door while having dinner in there and they almost could not get her out. It seems the vault will vacuum seal if the door is closed.

It’s still snowing. Weather advisories recommend not traveling if it is not necessary. I’m stuck inside, writing, with old 1920’s music on the radio. Every room has an old radio and the hotel broadcasts old radio shows on a signal that covers just inside the hotel. I’m not going anywhere, and I’m as happy as I could possibly be.

What a wonderful place to be stuck.

The Black and Yellow Trail

By Jeff Morrison

Automobiles and tourism, like peanut butter and jelly, were meant to go together.

It wouldn’t be surprising if, ten minutes after the first car rolled off the assembly line at the Ford plant, Henry turned to his wife and said something like: ÏHey Ma, load up the kids and let’s go to Yellowstone!

There was just one problem with that. Of the roads that existed, none of them were designed with Mr. Ford’s new contraption in mind. Wagon roads were typically rough and rutted when dry and bottomless pits of mud when wet.

A long journey over one of these roads in the early automobile was a bone-jarring experience to say the least.

It didn’t take long for the nation to make up for that oversight and begin restructuring roads and bridges to accommodate the horseless carriage, making travel between communities faster and more comfortable than ever before, short of buying a train ticket. The Automobile Age was taking the nation by storm. By the early 1900s motor vehicles were even making their way out west. Journeys exceeding 50 miles from home, for something other than business, were becoming commonplace. Before long folks were thinking about taking vacations to places they had only read about in books, like Yellowstone, our nation’s first national park, and Devils Tower, our nation’s first national monument.

Established in 1872, Yellowstone had already seen its share of tourists. Chief Joseph and his band of Nez Pierce ran into a few while evading the U.S. Cavalry in 1877. It wasn’t until the arrival of the automobile, however, that the Park became a “must-see” for every-day Americans. But before millions of children could annoy millions of parents with the question: “Are we there yet?”, a major hurdle had to be overcome. There weren’t any major roads to take them there.

In 1912, some enterprising business people teamed up with motoring clubs and proposed making a “high-

way” between Chicago and Yellowstone National Park, via the Black Hills.

The name of the road was derived from combining the names of the two main tourist destinations and thus the Black and Yellow Trail was born. At least on paper.

Since the U.S. Highway Department didn’t actually exist, nor was there any road contractors vying to bid on the project, actually building the road proved to be challenging. Utilizing existing roads where available and building a new roadbed where none existed, the Trail began to take shape. Volunteers from communities along its path, understanding the impact tourism could have on the local economy, used everything from picks and shovels to horse-drawn graders to blaze the path to Yellowstone. But even then it would take a decade to finish.

“Trail” was actually a pretty fair description of the new route, since none of it was paved and it was barely 20 feet wide. Gravel was a luxury that quite a bit of the road did without until the mid 1920s. The route was marked with posts painted with alternating black and gold stripes so that tourists wouldn’t inadvertently wander off the path and get hopelessly lost. Still, the tourists came. Every community along the route benefitted from the money tourist spent on gasoline, food and lodging.

But the biggest benefactor of tourism to Yellowstone via the new Trail was the Black Hills. Huge sums of money were spent upgrading Custer State Park at the time in anticipation of the influx of visitors. In the years following Gutzon Borglum carved the presidential faces on Mount Rushmore, beginning in 1927. And in more recent years Reptile Gardens, Bear Country, USA and Flintstone Village were added to capitalize on the thriving tourism industry.

In Wyoming, the Trail ran from Newcastle to Yellowstone along the same route US Highway 16 does today.

Originally, the route from Gillette to Buffalo ran south, down the Highway 50 to the

vicinity of what is now the county road called “Black and Yellow.” From there it ran southwest, crossing the Powder River near the site of old Fort Reno to Sussex.

It then proceeded north to Buffalo. By the early 1920s a shorter route to Buffalo was established through Clearmont and Ucross and the southern route was abandoned.

At the time tourists first began making their happy way to Yellowstone over the Black and Yellow trail, Campbell County was only two years old. Gillette itself was barely over 20 years old and had only recently installed a telephone exchange. In 1915 the town boasted around 500 residents, finally got electricity and opened its first movie theater. It, too, benefitted from the arrival of the tourism industry, but never to the extent of other communities along the Trail.

By 1930 the population doubled but it would take another 30 years and an oil boom for the population to take off.

In 1926, Wyoming adopted the US Highway numbering system and the named highways were given numbered designations.

Most of the Trail became US Highway16. Interstate 90 was built between Buffalo and Gillette in the 1960s, greatly reducing the use of the two lane highway. In the early 1970s the interstate was finished to the South Dakota state line, eliminating a great deal of the tourist traffic through Newcastle and Upton. Tourism itself along the route is a shadow of what it once was. Most of the gasoline stations and motels along its path have disappeared as a result.

The Black and Yellow Trail never really went away, however. Parts of the original road can be seen today.

Old abandoned bridges and raised road grades mark its progress through the Powder River basin. A few of the black and yellow posts remained into the 1960s and 70s before the paint faded away and the posts were removed for road widening.

Participate In Quarrying Your Own Fossil Fish!

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Phone: (307) 877-6466 Fax: (307) 877-3289 E-Mail: csulrich@onewest.net

Summer Fun Guide

Campbell County Observer

The Fastest Gun in the Dakotas

By Jeff Morrison he Black Hills gold rush of the 1870s attracted more than its share of gunfighters and violent men. The most notorious was, of course, Wild Bill Hickok who had settled in Deadwood for a mere 20 days before being shot in the back during a poker game. The recent HBO series “Deadwood” brought back to life a few other toughs from the gold camps including Sheriff Seth Bullock, Al Swearingen and Dan Dority. But the man who struck fear in the hearts of bandits all along the Deadwood-Cheyenne stage road (and more than a few law-abiding citizens as well) was Boone May. Daniel Boone May was born in 1852 in Missouri and moved west with his two brothers, Bill and Jim in 1876 to haul freight from Cheyenne to the newly discovered gold fields around Deadwood. Boone and Jim soon established road ranches along the stage route and managed two adjoining stage stations; Robbers Roost and May’s Ranch. According to the diary of Rolf Johnson, an acquaintance, May had eyes that were a “hue between yellow, green and grey, and had a curious restless look about them.”

Johnson added that “he was a man I would have instinctively feared without knowing who he was.”

In 1877 the Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage and Express Company hired the May brothers to serve as shotgun messengers who guarded the gold coaches that ran from Deadwood to Cheyenne.

The stage line had been victimized by road agents so often that an open war had been declared against the robbers. In just a few short years Boone May became the most notorious messenger rider who ever guarded a stage. During his career he participated in the capture of several stage robbers and is known to have killed at least eight, but is reputed to have killed even more that he buried and kept quiet about.

One of his first confrontations with stage robbers occurred near his own station at Robber’s Roost. The plan had been for May to ride inside the coach so as not to tip off any would-be thieves. Usually the coaches carrying gold did not allow normal passengers, but on this occasion a woman and her young child insisted on passage and, in spite of objections by May, were allowed to travel in the coach. As expected, the coach was held up and the passengers were told to get out of the stage. But as May was preparing to surprise the bandits as planned, the woman, fearing for the safety of her and her child, threw such a fit that May was forced to toss out his rifle and surrender as the element of surprise was ruined.

Not long afterward, while May was in Deadwood on business, he spotted one of the bandits from the robbery, Prescott Webb, walking toward him on the street.

Webb also spotted May at about the same time and both men went for their pistols.

May was struck in the forearm but had managed to put a bullet into Webb’s shoulder. Webb jumped on a nearby horse and attempted to flee, firing his pistol wildly at May. By this time, Deputy Johnny Cochrane had joined May, and the two proceeded to shoot Webb’s horse out from under the fleeing outlaw. His horse dead, Webb tried to run for it on foot but soon came face to face with Sheriff Seth Bullock and another deputy, who promptly arrested him. While in jail, Webb confessed to the robbery and named his two accomplices who were also arrested and sent to trial in Cheyenne. But the robbers were acquitted for lack of evidence, much to the disgust of the lawmen in Deadwood. Boone May soon formed another plan for dispensing justice along the Cheyenne-Deadwood Road.

In mid-September 1878, May, riding a couple miles behind a “treasure” coach headed south with another messenger rider named Zimmerman, came across the stage in the process of being robbed near Old Woman Creek in what is now Weston County Wyoming. May and Zimmerman opened fired on the bandits causing all but one of them to flee. Frank Towle, wanted for murder of at least one lawman and also for his participation in the murder of stage driver, Johnny Slaughter, fell to the ground severely wounded. May and Zimmerman rode in hot pursuit of the other robbers, leaving Towle to his fate. Towle somehow escaped capture but later died of his wounds. A few months later a reward was being offered in Cheyenne for those responsible for the death of Slaughter. By this time May knew where Towle was buried and, reasoning that it was likely he was the one who killed the bandit dug up his corpse and removed its head. May then took his grisly proof to Cheyenne to claim his reward. The officials, shocked at the sight of

Towle’s decomposing head, refused to pay the reward, claiming that the offer had expired, and a positive identification couldn’t be made on the head in any case. Having no more use for his trophy, May is said to have disposed of Towle’s head by tossing it onto the town garbage heap on his way back home.

That same fall, Cornelius “Lame Johnny” Donahue, accused of robbing the Sydney – Deadwood stage, was being returned for trial in Deadwood. Riding as messengers were Jesse Brown and Boone May. As the stage neared Buffalo Gap, May and Brown parted company with the stage for reasons that were never fully explained, and left the prisoner in the care of fellow messenger rider, “Whispering” Smith. A few miles down the road, the stage was held up by masked gunmen, the number of which now varies between two and eight, depending on the source.

Lame Johnny was removed from the stage and hung from a nearby elm tree on the banks of the creek that now bears his name.

A similar fate befell Archie McLaughlin and Willie Mansfield, who had participated in the famous robbery of the Monitor – the supposedly “impregnable” ironclad treasure coach of the Deadwood-Cheyenne road. The duo were captured by Boone May and sent on a stage for trial in Cheyenne, escorted by messenger riders Jesse Brown and May’s brother, Jim. In Cheyenne they were told the trial would be postponed and the prisoners must be returned to Deadwood in the meantime. North of Fort Laramie the stage was stopped by masked vigilantes who hung the two suspected outlaws.

Because the stage line tried to keep shipments secret to avoid robbery, the stage robbers often employed spies to alert them of pending gold shipments leaving town.

One such spy, Joe Minuse, was apprehended one night by two masked men. The men were two messenger riders, Boone May and Billy Sample. They attempted to extract information from Minuse regarding his employers by hoisting the outlaw up and down with a rope around his neck.

Minuse proved to be stubborn and the two messengers had decided to let him go when Sample’s mask slipped and Minuse sealed his fate by crying out,“I know who you are now you Sons of Bitches!” May shot him dead.

In 1880, May, in the company of H. H. Llewellyn, was escorting accused stage robber, Curley Grimes, to Fort Meade in a raging blizzard. Grimes pleaded with his captors to remove the iron hand-cuffs for fear of losing his hands to frost-bite, and the two reluctantly complied. But as they neared the fort, Grimes tried to make a break for it and was promptly shot dead.

May and Llewellyn were formally charged with “use of excessive force in preventing an escape,” but released on their own recognizance pending trial.

While awaiting trial, May was employed by an eccentric mine manager, Ambrose Bierce. While in his employ, Bierce claimed that he and May were held up while transporting some ore in Bierce’s wagon. According to Bierce, both he and May drew weapons and killed the would-be bandit, burying the body and agreeing not to mention the incident to officials. Whether or not this story is in fact true, Bierce tongue-incheek listed May on his payroll records as “Boone May – murderer.”

Although May and Llewellyn were found not guilty by a jury that never bothered to leave the juror’s box to deliberate, Grimes had many friends who vowed to avenge the death of their comrade. May eluded these “criminal vigilantes” as he continued to ride messenger on the stage route, but soon he decided to leave the area, travelling to Utah, New Mexico and eventually South America.

How May achieved the notoriety of being the “Fastest Gun in the Dakotas” is something of a mystery, since in all but one of his documented gunfights he used a rifle or shotgun. The one time he used a pistol, (in his shoot-out with Prescott Webb) May drew his pistol after he was already shot in the arm. Regardless, Boone May ranks as one of the deadliest gunfighters in the wild history of the Black Hills.

According to Bierce and several of his former messenger rider friends, May died in Brazil of Yellow Fever sometime before 1910. Besides his known victims, nearly every robber and rustler from the Deadwood area whose ultimate fate has been “lost” in the fog of history is listed as possibly being killed by Boone May. And for good reason – May was most likely responsible for a few of them. Just how many bandits came to an end at the hands of Boone May will never be known.

Chris Campground & RV Park

(605) 642-2239

www.blackhills.com/chriscampground email: chriscamp@blackhills.com

We offer a family owned and operated campground in the beautiful black hills of South Dakota. We are approximately 2 miles from downtown Spearfish and only one mile from the scenic byway of Spearfish Canyon.

Our campground sits on 22 acres with mostly all paved roads, matured trees, Three bath houses with hot private showers, two coin-op laundry rooms, Three heated swimming pools and two small general stores. Plus we live directly on the campground property so we are here for your needs.

Our sites are nice and level and give you plenty of room to sit out and enjoy a nice campfire if you desire or simply use our campground as your home base while touring the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota.

Chris’ your home in the Northern Black Hills!

Bryce and Lanna Christensen & Family Chris Campground & RV Park 701 Christensen Drive Spearfish, South Dakota 57783

(605) 642-2239

www.blackhills.com/chriscampground • email: chriscamp@blackhills.com

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Campbell County Observer

Summer Fun Guide

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May 23 - 30, 2014

Summer Fun Guide

Campbell County Observer

Little Bighorn BattleďŹ eld National Monument, Big Horn, MT

Sheridan, WY

Buffalo, WY

Ten Sleep, WY

Gillette, Campbell, WY

Keyhole Reservoir, Crook, WY

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Campbell County Observer

Summer Fun Guide

May 23 - 30, 2014

Driving directions to Spearfish Canyon, Spearfish, SD 19.9 mi - about 24 mins Driving directions to Spearfish, SD 0.7 mi - about 3 mins

Devils Tower National Monument, Devils Tower, WY

Sundance, WY

Sturgis, SD

Deadwood, SD

Crazy Horse, SD

Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota 244, Keystone, SD

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May 23 - 30, 2014

Summer Fun Guide

Campbell County Observer

A Publicity Stunt Gone Wrong encouraging developments before the day was over: Goodyear offered the services of its blimp, Reliance, to attempt a rescue using a special basket that would be lowered to Hopkins; and Jack Durrance, who had pioneered the now-famous Durrance Route to the top of the Tower just two years earlier, telegrammed from Dartmouth, where he was a medical student, to say he was on his way to help.

Up on top, George settled in for another night. He now had all the food he could eat, a fur-lined flight suit, and a stove. He also had some unwelcomed guests.

Shortly after the first of the food-laden care packages began raining down from above, George discovered that the top of Devils Tower was populated by chipmunks and rats. And the next morning, it began to snow again…

Jack Durrance, along with class-mate and fellow climber Merrill McLane, was having difficulty even getting to Devils Tower.

Snow storms had cancelled all the flights out of Chicago, so they were forced to ride a train to Denver, and then continue by car. Along the way they were joined by two more climbers, Chappel Cranmer and Henry Coulter. The Goodyear blimp, Reliance, was also grounded due to weather.

Day five began much like the other days of the ordeal- cold, wet and depressing, but George was still determined to rescue himself rather than rely on others. He had an image to maintain after all. Around noon two climbers from the Jackson Hole area arrived on the scene, Paul Petzoldt and Harold Rapp.

Choosing not to wait for the tardy Durrance, theydecided to make a rescue attempt themselves, and proceeded to climb towards Hopkins’ “Desert Island in the Sky”.

Between the wind and the ice buildup it wasn’t long before they were forced to return to the bottom to wait for a break in the weather.

Once on the bottom they were presented a note that Hopkins had thrown down.

“I do not want to be rescued by mountaineers.” It read, “I am not a mountaineer. I got up here by air and I’m going to get down by air.” Apparently George was waiting for a break in the weather as well, since another night

went by without him following through on his promise.

Around midnight Jack Durrance and his companions arrived with a large escort of law-enforcement vehicles. It was decided the next rescue attempt would begin at dawn. This time all eight mountaineers– Durrance, Petzoldt, McClane, Rapp, Coulter, Cranmer, Field and Gorrell- would make the climb. They set out around 7:30 the next morning and reached Hopkins around 4:00 pm.

Just before reaching the top, when they were within speaking distance of Hopkins, Paul Petzoldt called up to him. “Well, George,” he said, “We heard you got up here by air and want to get down by air. You’ve got ten seconds to make up your mind because we want to get off this thing. It’s cold as ice.”

George finally gave in.

“For God’s sake, come and get me!” was his answer.

After a quick lesson on rappelling, the climbers, with George in tow, reached the waiting crowds below around 9:30 at night.

The six day ordeal was over. George had accomplished all that he set out to do that windy morning: he made history by becoming the first (and only) person to reach the top of Devils Tower by parachute, he won his $50 bet (it’s never been reported whether or not he collected), and he managed to drum up enough publicity for himself and the National Monument to steal newspaper headlines all over North America for a week. Not only that but, thanks to all the food that survival food that had been dropped to him, he even gained six pounds in the process.

Unfortunately things didn’t end up quite how George had hoped. His record attempt for the most jumps in a single day ended prematurely after he injured himself when his chute opened incorrectly during the twelfth jump. His altitude record would be beaten before the year was over, as were all his other records in time.

His mark in history faded in the years since. Now, if anyone remembers his name at all, he’s known as: “That fool who jumped onto the Tower and had to be rescued.”

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Why Is It? (a/k/a The Advertising Poem) A man wakes up after sleeping under an advertised blanket, on an advertised mattress, pulls off advertised pajamas, bathes in an advertised shower, shaves with an advertised razor, brushes his teeth with advertised toothpaste, washes with advertised soap, puts on advertised clothes, drinks a cup of advertised coffee, drives to work in an advertised car, and then, refuses to advertise, iot Publ believing it doesn’t pay. atr Later when business is poor, he advertises it for sale.

Why is it?

P

George would pound the sharpened axle into a fissure with the hammer, and then attach the pulley and rope for his descent. But instead of landing nearby, the package containing said equipment skipped off the top and was snagged by some brush growing about 50 feet below the rim.

George’s optimism must have flagged somewhat as he watched Quinn’s plane disappear over the horizon on its way back to Rapid.

It didn’t take but a few probing attempts to reach the gear for George to realize he might be in a bit of a jam. Later that afternoon, another plane approached the stranded daredevil. This plane, flown out of Spearfish and piloted by Clyde Ice, came in low and fast.

As it flashed by George, about six feet above the top of the Tower, another rope was thrown from the plane

by Ice’s assistant.

This rope stayed on the top, but turned out to be a wadded up, tangled nightmare. As George began attempting to untangle the mess, Ice returned to pick up some supplies for the would-be mountaineer, as it was becoming obvious Hopkins would have to spend the night up there.

On his next trip he dropped food, blankets and a tarp for making a crude tent, along with a note promising George they would get him off in the morning.

To George’s delight, the thoughtful pilot had even dropped a medium rare Tbone steak for his dining pleasure. Things were looking up. The worst was over.

Then it began to snow.

By this time, Joyner was arranging for rescue. He sent for two highly experienced mountaineers, Ernest K. Field and Warren Gorrell, to attempt to reach Hopkins by climbing the National Monument. (at this point in history, only a few people had actually climbed the Tower and there were only two known routes to the top). The two rescue climbers wouldn’t be able to reach the vicinity until the next day, however.

Still determined to finish what he started, George tossed a note over the side that stated he intended to parachute over the side.

The response from the National Park Service amounted to: “Don’t even think about it!”

That afternoon, George got all the publicity he could have hoped for when newspaper and radio reporters, along with about a thousand other spectators showed up to watch the rescue effort. More supplies were dropped for him… although most of it went the way of his original climbing gear.

The next day Field and Gorrell arrived and began scouting a way to ascend to the top and return with Hopkins. Both known climbing routes proved to be beyond their technical abilities and they eventually gave up for the day after one of them nearly slipped to his death. But there were two

ing ish

arly in the morning of October 1, 1941, George Hopkins had a three-fold mission: make history, win a $50 bet, and draw some public attention for his up-coming attempt to set a world record.

A Hollywood stunt pilot and accomplished skydiver, at age 30 George already held an impressive list of records. He had made 2.347 jumps to date – the most ever recorded at the time.

He also held the record for the highest altitude jump (26,400 ft.) and the longest delayed jump (20,800 ft.). In just a few days he intended to break the record for the most jumps in a single day which stood at 30. But today, he intended to become the first person to parachute onto the top of Devils Tower, Wyoming.

Of course he’d have to climb down after he landed.

That’s why he was bringing along a sharpened car axle, a sledge hammer, a barn pulley and 1000 feet of 1-inch diameter rope.

George was not only fearless, but he was a resourceful thrill-seeker as well. Too bad he didn’t know much about climbing.

George departed for his date with destiny from the Rapid City airfield in a 2 passenger airplane piloted

by Joe Quinn. The weather was cold with a 35 mile-perhour ground wind. It would no doubt be colder and quite a bit windier when he attempted his landing 1,200 plus feet above the Belle Fourche River, but that was all in a day’s work for George.

As the plane approached the jump point, George readied himself to hit a target about the size of a football field. The plan called for Quinn to make another pass after George landed to drop the package containing the “climbing” gear he would need to get down.

At the critical moment, George vaulted out of the small plane into the history books -and that’s about when things started to go wrong…

The wind must have a bit brisker than anticipated, because George, fearing he would over-shoot the top of the Tower, decided to partially collapse his chute to check the drift. This made him come down even faster than expected and when he attempted to plant his feet he bounced into a nearby protrusion of rock.

Fortunately he didn’t break any bones, and even maintained enough presence of mind to give a cheerful wave to Quinn, who captured the moment with a camera.

Down below, one of the small crowd of spectators, who had gathered to watch the stunt, asked the National Monument custodian, Newell Joyner, how long it would take Hopkins to climb down from the top. Joyner thought for a moment and replied, “About five hours,” then added as an afterthought, “unless he slips.”

Just as planned, Quinn dropped the climbing gear on the next pass over.

Summer Fun Guide

Campbell County Observer

May 23 - 30, 2014

The Black Hills Mt. Rushmore

The Black Hills

ising above the prairies of western South Dakota and northeast Wyoming, the Black Hills are rich in history, geographic wonders, outdoor recreation, and entertainment for the entire family.

Many Native American tribes have inhabited the Black Hills region over the years, including the Arikara, Kiowa, Pawnee, Crow, Cheyenne, and most recently the Sioux, who arrived in the late 18th century and called the hills, “Paha Sapa”.

Although the U. S. Government officially recognized the land as belonging to the Sioux tribes in both the Fort Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1868, evicting white settlers proved to be futile after gold was discovered in 1874, and by 1876 the treaty was broken by the government and became moot after the Indians were forced onto smaller reservations. In 1980, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Black Hills had been seized by the government illegally and awarded the Sioux Nation of Indians a monetary settlement of $106 million – the government’s initial offering price that was made and refused in 1876, plus interest. To this date, the Lakota have refused to take the settlement, preferring the return of their

Deadwood, South Dakota

The Iron Trail

By Jeff Morrison ortheast Wyoming was forever changed on the morning of October 30, 1889, when John Smith drove the first spike on the first rail of track crossing into Wyoming from Edgemont, South Dakota, at 9:45 a.m., just ahead of Engine No. 191. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (commonly known as the Burlington Line) had arrived.

Over the next five years, the track would slowly grow until exiting the northern border of Wyoming and eventually joining the Northern Pacific Railroad at Huntley, Montana. Just as the Union Pacific in the mid1860s and the Central Wyoming Railroad in the 1880s, the Burlington Line would be instrumental in the development and settling of the northeast corner of the state.

Moving ahead of the rail crew was a locating party, headed up by survey engineer Edward Gillette. The job of a locating party was to survey ahead of the track builders along the proposed route and then locate and plan the best actual route for the construction crew to follow. After the actual route was established, the railroad agents would secure the right-of-ways and the construction continued. The locaters often had quick deadlines to meet to insure competing railroad interests would not beat them to prime real-estate, as had been the case earlier in the year while the line was making its way through Nebraska.

Wyoming proved to be less of a race against competitors and more of a logistical challenge. “The method we employed in locating a railroad,” Gillette later wrote, “was to run careful preliminary [survey] lines over every possible route, and then by comparison select the best route.”

Not far into Wyoming, Gillette and his party found an oil spring along the main line that could provide oil for axle grease with an accessible coal vein not far away.

A spur line was located off the main line and the land secured for a town-site at the junction. Thus the town of Newcastle and the mining community of Cambria were established when the tracks arrived in midNovember.

The line continued to Merino (later renamed Upton), arriving on August 4, 1890.

By spring of 1891, the rails had reached the Belle Fourche River and the small cluster of three buildings known as LaBelle became the town of Moorcroft. The track laying continued up Donkey Creek to the vicinity of Donkey Town, where Edward Gillette’s locating crew, using their comparison technique had discovered that by routing the line through Stone Pile Draw to Hay Creek, it shaved five miles off the proposed route, eliminated the need for thirty bridges and quite a bit of grading.

The company was so happy it dispensed with the name Donkey Town and renamed it Gillette. The company politely declined Gillette’s suggestion that his crew be paid a commission on the money saved.

Construction moved ahead in 1892 to Suggs where a bridge had already been built to cross Powder River. The company established Arvada on the opposite shore and Suggs was promptly abandoned. Although a spur line to Buffalo had already been located and let out for bids, thanks

to the Johnson County War, those plans were scrapped and never revisited. Eventually a narrow-gauge line was constructed from Buffalo to Clearmont and operated for more than 40 years before being abandoned.

For the struggling cow town of Sheridan, the arrival of the railroad in November, 1892, was a godsend. Many residents were facing loan foreclosures due to an ailing economy. With the coming of the railroad, and the jobs created, plus contracts with local companies for a wide variety of goods and services, most of those loans were paid in full within thirty days of its arrival. The ready availability of coal, timber and other natural resources convinced railroad officials to make Sheridan their western headquarters, and it served as the end-of-the-line terminus for another year and a half while the company waited out a national economic crisis and a permit to cross through the Crow reservation. In 1894 the rails finally crossed into Montana and were joined to the Northern Pacific.

All along its path through northeastern Wyoming, the railroad birthed a many “lesser” communities wherever there was a need for water and fuel – roughly every 15 miles. Some, such as Rozet, Osage, Oriva, Echeta, Arvada and Leiter, still exist, if only in name. Others, such as Thornton, Minturn, and Felix, have long since disappeared.

The Burlington Line, whether parented

by CB&Q, B&M, or Burlington Northern, remained the dominate influence of industry in northeast Wyoming for more than half a century. Towns thrived or withered based on decisions made by the company. Sheridan quickly became the largest town in the area due to the railroad facilities located there. Newcastle also fared well with the railroad and remained an important supply point with its coal, timber and oil.

Buffalo, which had been a ranching and agricultural center for a decade before the coming of the railroad, lost prominence when the railroad decided not to build a line there. Sundance was also passed over for a spur line and community growth slowed as a result. Moorcroft became a victim of the railroad’s decision making when it was decided to place a major livestock yard for shipping in the fledgling community of Gillette rather than expanding an existing stockyard in Moorcroft.

But the biggest benefactor of the Burlington Line in northeast Wyoming was the rowdy tent-town named after Edward Gillette. Although the existence of coal and oil were known at the time of its establishment, not much emphasis was placed on it at the time. But perhaps due to its location, roughly halfway between Sheridan and Newcastle, the railroad not only chose it for a livestock shipping point, but also built a round-house and repair shed. Many of the line’s engineers, firemen and conductors were housed there in companyprovided quarters. The town later became a major shipping point of wool, grain and coal. Today, an unimaginable amount of coal is shipped out of the county every day by rail, much of it over the path of the original Burlington Line.

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stolen land instead.

Gold mining became the number one industry of the Black Hills in 1876. Mining camps grew into towns such as Deadwood, Custer, Lead, and Hill City, while nearly every other town in and around the South Dakota Black Hills region were founded to provide supporting services to the mining districts, while the communities in the Wyoming Black Hills were based on agriculture and cattle ranching.

Tourism in the Black Hills arrived with the automobile and millions of people have visited the area since the early twentieth century. Tourists were drawn to the Hills by natural attractions such as Devils Tower, the Needles, Wind Cave, and Jewel Cave, which were soon joined by a few man-made attractions, such as Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial and Custer State Park. Later additions included family entertainments such as Flintstone Village, the Cosmos, and Bear Country U. S. A., just to name a few.

Fishing, boating and other types of water recreation became another major attraction of the Black Hills area in the mid-twentieth century, with the construction of Keyhole Reservoir, Pactola Lake, and Belle Fourche Reservoir.

May 23 - 30, 2014

Summer Fun Guide

Campbell County Observer

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Be a Part of Western History hether you plan to spend a day, a week or a lifetime, we know you’ll enjoy your stay in this vibrant, historic community – where Old West meets New West! Indian camp Sheridan lies in the valley of the Little and Big Goose Creeks, once the prized hunting grounds of the Plains Indians – the Crow, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Lakota (Sioux) . . . where Indian leaders Red Cloud, and Crazy Horse took a final stand to keep the white man from their last and best hunting grounds, the valley below the Bighorn Mountains.

With its location on the Bozeman Trail, Sheridan was the center of turbulent 1800′s western expansion history.

Known for its many battles, the ÏBloody BozemanÓ Trail traveled north to the rich gold fields of Montana. Eight Indian war and battles sites, most within 35 miles, included Fort Phil Kearny, Fetterman Battle and Wagon Box Fight (National Historic Landmark near Story) and the Little Bighorn Battlefield (90 miles north of Sheridan).

Early Photo Downtown SheridanToday history buffs relive those war days through the forts, battle sites, museums and interpretive walking trails. Remaining rich in western heritage, the town’s frontier spirit is manifested in a variety of cultural events, including 30 rodeos.

Sheridan’s Historic Main Street District, home to over 30 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, comes alive with unique specialty shops, and delightful historic trolley or walking tours.

To Pay with a Credit/Debit Card, please call our office at (307) 670-8980 or visit our website at www.CampbellCountyObserver.com

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Summer Fun Guide

Campbell County Observer

May 23 - 30, 2014

An Unusual Fort

By Jeff Morrison he mule skinners and timber cutters of the Gilmore and Proctor Company could not have guessed how vital their wagon boxes would prove to be as they prepared to remove them from their wagons in the summer of 1867.

Contracted to supply wood for nearby Fort Phil Kearney on the banks of Piney Creek in present day Johnson County Wyoming, the civilian workmen had used the wagons to haul in the supplies and equipment they would need for the upcoming season.

They established a base camp about six miles away from the fort and closer to the timber they would be cutting. The wagon boxes were removed from the running gears and converted into log haulers, similar to the motorized semi-truck versions we see hauling timber today. The fourteen boxes that were removed were then set on the ground and arranged in a large oval to create a corral for their mules. The wagon boxes themselves would also be used for storage of food for the men and fodder for the animals.

During their labors, the contractors were under the close protection of an infantry detachment sent from the fort, and for good reason. Fort Phil Kearney was the focal point of a bitter conflict with Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians known as Red Cloud’s War, in which the U. S. Military was tasked with keeping the Bozeman Trail open and safe for gold seekers travelling from the Oregon Trail to Virginia City Montana via the shortest overland route, while the Indians were equally determined to cause enough havoc and mayhem to force the white men to abandon it.

One of the primary targets for Indian attack was the wood trains that hauled timber from the foot of the Big Horn Mountains to the lumber mill that had been built near the fort. It was one such attack the previous December that culminated in the ambush and annihilation of just over 80 U. S. soldiers, two civilians and its commanding officer, Captain William J. Fetterman. This victory, along with the apparent unwillingness of the U. S. Military commanders to go on the offensive, emboldened the Indian leaders who were eager to strike another devastating blow.

During the annual sun dance, the war leaders of the various bands discussed their next move.

Among them was Red Cloud who, while not the only war leader involved had quickly become the dominant voice and driving force behind the war.

He favored turning up the pressure on Fort Phil Kearney from which the white commander directed the three forts along the trail.

Others argued that Fort C. F. Smith, located just below present day Yellowtail Dam in Montana, was more vulnerable. In the end it was decided that they should split forces and attack both forts.

On the morning of August 2, 1867, Captain James W. Powell, commander of Company C, 26th Infantry, had charge of the woodgathering security on Piney Creek. Powell divided his men into three groups: an NCO and 12 men to guard the wood cutters and their camp near the trees, another NCO and 12 men to escort the wood train back and forth to the fort, and the remaining 26 soldiers along with Powell and his 2nd in command, Lieutenant John C. Jenness to guard the wagon box corral.

About 8:00 a.m. two civilian teamsters who had been hunting deer became alarmed by smoke signals and sought the shelter of the wagon box corral. The lookout above the fort, six miles away signaled a warning about what they could plainly see for themselves. The hills were filling with Indian warriors. Powell directed his 27 men and four civilians at the corral to begin preparations for an attack. They began by emptying the contents of the wagon boxes and using the contents to fill the gaps between them. It had always been a contingency plan to use the corral as a fortification against Indian attacks, and several of the wagon boxes had two inch rifle slots carved into the outward facing sides. The gates were lowered on both ends of the boxes to allow for easier movement between them, and ammunition was placed around the barricade.

While these activities were going on inside the corral, Red Cloud’s warriors had launched a simultaneous attack on the wood cutter’s camp and the mule herd that was grazing in-between the camp and the corral, a couple hundred yards away. The wood cutters and soldiers, attacked by around 500 warriors were able to slip into the timber and make their way to the fort. The mule herders were able to hold off the 200 or so war-

riors attacking the herd for a few minutes but soon the mules had been scattered and herders themselves came under attack.

Captain Powell launched an attack into the rear of this Indian force, which allowed the mule skinners to make their escape into the timber as the wood cutters before them had done. This now left Captain Powell and his small band of defenders surrounded inside their make-shift, five foot tall fortress by somewhere between 1,500 to 3,000 Indians.

The time to deal the white enemy another costly defeat had come. Red Cloud and his fellow warriors knew that the muzzleloading rifles used by the frontier soldiers took a long time to reload. By feinting a charge at the white soldiers they would entice them to fire a volley, and then overwhelm the soldiers in a full-force attack while they reloaded. Such was the tactic used in the Fetterman fight with devastating effect. What the Indians didn’t know was that just a month earlier, the army had replaced their muzzleloaders with the new Model 1866 Springfield trapdoor breach-loading rifle.

The warriors who had gone north to attack the soldiers at Fort C. F. Smith had already been introduced to the Model 1866 the day before, when around 800 Cheyenne and Arapaho attacked a hay cutting party guarded by 19 soldiers armed with the new rifle. Using the same tactics Red Cloud intended to use against the soldiers hiding behind the wagon boxes on Piney Creek, the Indians at the Hay Field Fight discovered to their dismay that the new breach-loaders could be reloaded in a mere fraction of the time it took to reload a muzzle-loading rifle. The result was a continuous lethal hailstorm of bullets.

Unfortunately, word of their defeat hadn’t yet reached Red Cloud, and he would have to learn about the new rifles the hard way.

From a nearby ridge, Red Cloud watched as wave after wave of mounted attacks against the small fort were repulsed by the withering fire of the defenders.

The volume of fire coming from the soldiers wasn’t the only tactical problem facing the Indians. The terrain was fairly flat and treeless for several hundred yards in most directions, giving the soldiers an excellent field of fire. The only protected approaches to the wagon box fort were from

behind some stacked logs that were waiting delivery to the fort, and the valley slope that came within 100 yard of the north side of the barricade. Eventually, the Indians mounted a massive charge on foot from these areas.

Red Cloud’s nephew led this new charge, but was killed at the onset. Some of the Indians closed to within 5 feet of the wagon boxes and killed two of the soldiers before being driven back to shelter. One warrior refused to retreat and found shelter in a depression about thirty feet away from Sergeant Max Littman’s position. From time to time the Indian would jump up into the air and loose an arrow over the wagon box tops into the middle of the defenders. Eventually Littman managed to kill the brave warrior.

All during the battle, Captain Powell positioned himself at one end of the wagon box oval, while Lt. Janness took charge of the other end. Janness encouraged the men around him to be careful not to expose themselves and to make each shot count. At some point a soldier advised Lt. Janness to take cover

Big Horn Mountains The Big Horn Mountains, a sister range of the Rocky Mountains, extend nearly 200 miles north and South, defining the western edge of the Powder River Basin and the eastern boundary of the Big Horn Basin. With 189,000 acres of wilderness area accessible via 1,500 miles of trails, along with a vast amount of lakes, streams and scenic vistas, the Big Horns are an outdoor lover’s paradise.

The mountains are crossed by three main routes. The Cloud Peak Skyway (U.S. Highway 16), ascends from Buffalo to an altitude of 9,666 feet above sea level before descending through Ten sleep Canyon into the Big Horn Basin and the town of Tensleep. Attractions along the way include access to Crazy Woman Canyon and Meadowlark Lake. The Big Horn Scenic Byway (U. S. Highway 14), which connects Dayton and Greybull via Granite Pass (elevation 9,033 ft.) and passes

through breathtaking Shell Canyon on the western descent. An alternate route from U. S. 14 is the Medicine Wheel Passage (U. S. Highway 14A), which runs from Burgess Junction to Lovell, crossing Summit Pass (Elevation 9,430 ft.) and passing near the mystical Native American site from which the passage gets its name, the Medicine Wheel. Outdoor water enthusiasts and anglers alike will enjoy both Lake DeSmet, seven miles north of Buffalo on the east side of the mountains and Big Horn Lake on the west side.

The eastern base of the Big Horn Mountains are rich in history and many museums, interpretive centers, historic sites and points of interest are open to the public. Some provide guided tours, while others offer self-guided tours. The Jim Gatchell Museum, the historic Occidental Hotel, and the Mansion House Inn are located in Buffalo, while

Sheridan is home to the Sheridan Inn, Trail End, the Don King Museum and the Sheridan County Museum.

Other places of interest include the Bradford Brinton Memorial and Museum in Big Horn, and the Wagon Box Inn in Story.

Those interested in the history of the American West will want to tour several sites along the Big Horns, including Fort Phil Kearney, the Fetterman Fight, and the Wagon Box Fight- all located just off of Interstate 90, exit 44; the Connor Battlefield, located in Ranchester; and the Little Big Horn Battlefield near Crow Agency, Montana, off exit 512.

Annual summer events in the area include: the Big Horn Mountain Music Festival, held July 6 – 8, in Buffalo; the North American Basque Organization Festival, August 18, also in Buffalo; and the Sheridan Wyoming PRCA Rodeo, held July 7 – 15.

11

himself, to which Janness is said to have replied, “I know how to fight Indians.”

He was immediately struck in the head with a bullet fired from one of the few rifles in the Indians’ possession and died instantly.

Four and a half hours after the battle for the wagon box fort began, a cannon shot was heard by attackers and defenders alike. It signaled that a relief force of over 100 men from the fort was on its way.

Red Cloud and his warriors were forced to leave the field of battle. The brave defenders of the makeshift fort of wagon boxes emerged victorious to greet the relief party. For their reward, each man was given a drink of whiskey from a keg the post surgeon had thoughtfully brought with him.

Unknown to the defenders at the time, the Wagon Box Fight would be the greatest victory won by the U. S. Army in Red Cloud’s War. The U. S. Army abandoned the forts along the Bozeman Trail in the spring of 1868 and officially closed the road and returned the Powder River country to the Indians. Powell estimated the Indian casualties at

60 dead and 120 wounded while only losing three soldiers in return.

Captain James W. Powell resigned from the military 1869. Some say his nerves were shot after the Wagon Box Fight and that he never recovered. He was awarded a brevet rank of Lieutenant Colonel for his role in the battle. Along with Powell’s cool leadership under fire, two other factors kept Red Cloud from realizing the decisive victory he sought at Piney Creek that day in August: the Model 1866 Springfield, and an improvised fort made from wagon boxes that proved to be un-breachable.

Red Cloud has become a figure of controversy in recent years. Everything from his leadership role in the war, to his participation in the key battles of the Fetterman and Wagon Box Fights has been disputed by historians, depending on their points of view. Regardless, one fact remains: Red Cloud is the only Indian chief in the history of the American west to negotiate at treaty with the United States government as the Victor.

Summer Fun Guide

May 23 - 30, 2014

Campbell County Observer

The Birth of a Recreational Area

By Jeff Morrison hile driving through northeast Wyoming, it’s fairly easy to picture the countryside as it appeared 100 years ago. Aside from the coal mines that line Highway 59, and the urban sprawl of Gillette, the landscape hasn’t changed much. This is especially true of Crook County; the home of Devil’s Tower, the Little Missouri Buttes, Inyan Kara, and most of the Wyoming portion of the Black Hills.

One significant man-made change to the landscape occurred in the early 1950s, however, with the construction of Keyhole Dam. It is unlikely that anyone watching the Belle Fourche slowly flood the valley above the new dam could have envisioned that the resulting reservoir would become a fishing mecca, and one of Wyoming’s major outdoor recreational areas.

The valley that became Keyhole Reservoir was located where the Belle Fourche River entered the Black Hills. Running mostly southwest to northeast, the river was augmented along a six mile stretch by the water from seven tributary creeks. Between two of these – Wind Creek and Mule Creek – the river valley narrowed into a canyon, lined with limestone cliffs on both sides. The natural grass grew green and tall here, and was perfect for grazing. This drew the attention of Stocks and James Millar, who established the AK ranch in 1881, just east of what eventually became the west shore of the lake.

The Millar brothers, who named their ranch headquarters ìMoorcroftî, raised horses, and shared the grazing in the valley with

the cattle of the nearby 101 ranch. The old Montana Road ran through the valley as it made its way from Deadwood to the old Bozeman Trail. In the early 1890s, with the help of Stocks’ wife, Sarah, they purchased three sections of land along the Belle Fourche to the mouth of Wind Creek, under the Desert Land Act. Stocks died in the spring of 1890 and Sarah moved to Nebraska, leaving the ranch to James.

Ten years later, the McKean family began acquiring land along the Belle Fourche, under the Homestead Act, receiving their patents by the early 1900s.

By the time the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 ended the homesteading era, no less than 83 patents had been issued in and around the valley. Ironically, most of these homesteads failed, due in large part, to a lack of water.

One by one, each failed homestead was absorbed by their neighbors, primarily the McKean family. By the 1940s, Paul John McKean owned the AK brand, and although ìMoorcroftî was owned by John Schuricht, the McKean family owned most of the rest of the valley, including the Keyhole Ranch, which would eventually lend its name to the reservoir.

As early as 1917, the United States Reclamation Service saw the need for water storage, to be used for flood control and irrigation, along the Missouri River Basin. Although dry land farming had its die-hard enthusiasts, it was plain to anyone involved in the endeavor that farming worked a lot better with irrigation.

Unfortunately, as the Army

Corps of Engineers concluded in the 1930s, the construction of irrigation dams along the Missouri Basin was cost prohibitive.

In the late 1930s, the Bureau of Reclamation began looking into the possibilities of creating reservoirs in the Cheyenne River Basin. As the Belle Fourche is, geographically speaking, a fork of the Cheyenne River, it was included in the study.

Authorization to build the dam on the Belle Fourche was finally given in 1948, the private property bought, and the dam site was finalized in 1949. The construction contract was given to the Knisely-Moore Company of Douglas, Wyoming. A construction camp, located just below the dam site was quickly established, and construction began in the summer of 1950.

In addition to the construction of the dam, the entire valley had to be deforested, primarily to reduce the buildup of silt. According to one area rancher, the trees were stacked into mounds on the valley floor and burned, however some of the tree stacks could still be seen near Asher’s Store in the early 1970s. Buildings were also dismantled and/or relocated. One of the houses, probably belonging to Paul John McKean, was moved to Gillette, where it still stands today on the corner of 4th Street and 4-J Road.

Two major roads had to be moved as well. The Moorcroft-Sundance road, part of the original Black and Yellow Trail, was rerouted around what would become Mule Creek Bay, while the Hulett Road was moved west about three quarters of a mile.

Construction was com-

pleted in 1953, although it took a few more years for the water level to reach its intended nominal capacity elevation of 4099 feet. As the water rose, what had been most of McKean’s AK Ranch, nearly half of the Keyhole Ranch and all of what had been Stocks Millar’s ìMoorcroftî disappeared under the waves.

What remained was the largest body of water in northeast Wyoming, just waiting for fishermen, boaters and outdoor lovers – except that for the first few years the shoreline was heavily infested with rattlesnakes that had been displaced from their dens in the valley below, making it extremely hazardous to go anywhere near the water.

In 1961, due to a snafu in negotiating a contract with down-stream water users, it was decided to drain the reservoir and maintain the dam as a flood control measure only. The planned drainage ran into problems from ice jams and flooding, causing delays throughout 1962. By the time engineers were ready to resume draining the lake, a 40 year contract with the Belle Fourche Irrigation

12

District was signed and the plan was abandoned. The snake infestation eventually returned to a normal state and by the late 1960s Keyhole Reservoir became the outdoor recreational hot-spot it is today.

The 1970s brought a new type of ìhomesteaderî to the valley. A group of people, including Albert ìCoopî Waters (who had acquired the Keyhole ranch from Sam McKean), Gillette businessman Bob Hays,

and Paul John McKean, envisioned the creation of a resort community on the tip of the divide separating Mule Creek Bay and Wind Creek Bay. Within a few short years Pine Haven became a bedroom community of Gillette, 48 miles away, in another county, with another town in-between. It also has the distinction of being the only town in Wyoming designed around a golf course.

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Campbell County Observer

Summer Fun Guide

May 23 - 30, 2014

May 23 - 30, 2014

Summer Fun Guide

Campbell County Observer

Buffalo, Wyoming

Buffalo, Wyoming is nestled in the foothills of the beautiful Big Horn Mountains and is conveniently located at the intersections of Interstates 25 and 90. Wyoming State Highway 16, on it’s way from Mount Rushmore to Yellowstone National Park, runs through Buffalo.

The Cloud Peak Scenic Byway is a safe and easy drive between two of America’s most popular national treasures.

Buffalo’s main street has more than a dozen historic buildings, including the Occidental Hotel where Owen Wister’s Virginian finally “got his man.” The impressive Jim Gatchell Museum has over 15,000 artifacts from the American Old West. Many other Wyoming historical sites are just a short drive from Buffalo including Fort Phil Kearney, Fetterman’s Massacre Site, Wagon Box Fight and the infamous “Hole in the Wall”- the hideout of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid along with the rest of the “Wild Bunch.”

28-30

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