Historical Edition 2011

2 011 HIST O RI CA L E D IT I O N

School Days School Days March 26 & 30, 2011

A Special Supplement to The Green River Star/Sweetwater County Guide

Dear ol' Golden Rule days, Readin' and writin' and 'rithmatic Taught to the tune of a hickory stick...

"School Days" written in 1907 by Will Cobb and Gus Edwards.

Sweetwater County schools rich in history

By KATHY GILBERT Editor Welcome to the 2011 issue of The Green River Star's Historical Edition. This year, the staff at The Green River Star decided to focus on the history of schools and education in the county.

Like the rest of the places and things our historic edition has looked at, schools hold an important piece of the history about the area.

These halls of education grew from small one or two room buildings to multi-classroom structures where thousands of students have learned over the years.

Many of the buildings are gone now, or soon will be, like the old Lincoln High School in Green River and what is now East Junior High in Rock Springs, due to be demolished this summer.

Because the old schools are slowly disappearing, a look back at the buildings, the teachers and some of the students seems to be in order.

The mining camps in the area all had rudimentary

schools at one time, sometimes in a house or even in a saloon.

They are gone now, with the exception of the Superior school.

Many of the buildings have been remodeled for other uses, such as Roosevelt School in Green River which is now the Golden Hour Senior Center.

The elementary school I attended has become Independence High School in Rock Springs. It was Lowell Elementary and started out as a four-room building in the early 1900s.

Before it was built, my grandmother attended a tworoom school across the street from where Lowell was built.

My mother and her brother attended the new four-room school, and when I started kindergarten, it was still four rooms and went through the fourth grade.

Two more rooms and a gym were added in the late 1950s, allowing students to go through the sixth grade in the same school. By the time my younger brother started school, Lowell was an imposing brick building of two levels.

Years later, my son attended Lowell School and after more years, my granddaughter also went there for a short time.

The teachers were dedicated to teaching the three R’s, as well as giving instruction in life’s lessons.

Some who come to mind are Joan Rogers, a first grade teacher; Mrs. Floretta in second grade; Betty June Richardson, whose sense of humor made fourth grade so much fun; and Vi Hillerman, the principal and disciplinarian who loved her students and taught them a sense of selfpride.

Memories of the schools we attend stay with us for our entire life. Many of the friends we make in our school years remain close to us forever, and those who don’t still live in our memories.

Unfortunately, we didn't have room for all the many stories we heard or received, but we hope you enjoy this look back at school days in Sweetwater County, and that those who attended these schools will look down the corridor of the past and remember how things were.

LOWELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL first grade class circa 1956.

, Gener cousin rst day e h D N r the fi CTEE A ALICE M es are ready fool. m o a vieve J l at Lowell Sch of schoo

Thanks to Ruth Lauritzen and her staff at the Sweetwater County Museum for their help. Most of the photos in this edition are courtesy of the museum. Thanks also to Bob Nelson and his staff at the Rock Springs Historical Museum for their help.

CHILDREN WHO LIVED at Bryan west of Green River rode in a bus to town.

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March 26 & 30, 2011

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The Old Stateline schoolhouse located at Linwood

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The school in 2 states

By KATE STEVENS WILDE BRYANT

Many ingenious arrangements were made for the education of pioneer children, but none was stranger than that of the Old Stateline Schoolhouse.

A unique situation existed in the northeastern section of Utah and in the southwestern section of Wyoming in 1904.

The settlers of Lucerne Valley, for the most part having migrated from southern Utah in 1896-1898, were isolated from the remainder of the state by the Uintah Mountains, highest in the state.

The settlers from Henry’s Fork Valley in Wyoming, most of who were ranchers, were just as isolated from their parent state by the vast and desolate badlands to the north.

It was not feasible for these two districts to construct and operate separate facilities for the education of as few children as were living on each side of the state line.

Neither was it reasonable to allow the students from Wyoming to attend a school in Utah or vice versa.

The question of jurisdiction would arise. What was to be done? The answer was obvious. They would construct a school exactly on the state line, one half being in Utah the other in Wyoming.

That way both states could share in the cost of the building and its supervision.

Construction began in the fall of 1904 with materials and labor being donated by residents of both states.

The ridgepole of the school was laid exactly along the state line, the north half of the building then being in Wyoming, the south half in Utah.

The school itself was one large room, 35 by 23 feet, of frame construction with an outside covering of metal

sheeting, painted red as were most schools of the period.

The interior of the school was done nicely in wallboard and with a pine floor, all previous schools having been dirt roof and dirt floor. The structure was heated by a large wood stove, and lighted by coal oil lamps placed upon shelves.

On the west wall was a blackboard, one half in each state, and slates were used instead of paper.

In 1905, 20 students were enrolled; in 1907, 40. Among those who taught at the old school were Dr. F.W. Tinker, Mary E. Tinker, his wife; Mr. Pickney and Gerald Thorn.

The school was composed of a certain number of rowdies, husky, ranch-bred youths who created no end of problems. Gerald Thorn, who taught at the school in 1912-1913, was forced to resort to a long rubber hose as a defense when the students threatened to drag him through the nearby creek.

Punishment of the unruly was another problem confronting teachers at this school. Utah enforced strict rules forbidding a teacher to strike a student, while Wyoming was much more liberal concerning this.

Therefore, it was not longer until wise teachers discovered that they merely had to drag an obstreperous student from the Utah side into Wyoming across the room and there reprimand him by physical means, and return him to his seat in Utah.

The school also caused problems for law enforcement. In 1908 one of the Wade boys ran away from home, and Deputy Tom Welch was called upon to return the lad to his father’s ranch in Wyoming.

Welch overtook the youth just about dark entering the Stateline School. When the deputy came into the building, young Wade was just building up a fire in the heat-

ing stove. However, he was now in Utah where Welch had no jurisdiction.

Deputy Welch pulled up a chair and began to chat with the young man until the night grew long. Near morning, young Wade, with his feet propped against the stove, began to succumb to the effects of the heat, and soon fell asleep.

Seeing his opportunity, Welch stepped across the room, grabbed the youth by the ear and dragged him back into Wyoming where he was duly arrested and returned home.

In later years the old school was used as a dance hall, and baseball games were common on its grounds. Many fights occurred between rival teams.

One big expense of the two school boards was the replacement of coal oil lamps shot out by drunken cowboys. The interior of the old school became a veritable sieve of bullet holes.

On one occasion, a man armed with a .30-30 rifle walked up to the door of the school on a dance night and emptied the rifle into the back wall.

Fortunately, a dance set had just ended and the dancers had stopped moving, and the bullets entered the wall above their heads.

The Old Stateline Schoolhouse was in operation until about 1918 when movement of its students at other and new schools caused its closing. It not longer stands at its original site on the state line, but has been moved to a new location in nearby Wyoming.

There it is used as a seminary, but in its day it appeared in the “Believe It Or Not” column of Ripley as the only schoolhouse in the United States constructed exactly upon the state line of two states, with students from two states in attendance and run cooperatively by two school boards.

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Early Green River schools still in use

By STEPHANIE THOMPSON Staff Writer Prior to construction of Green River schools residents would either teach their children at home or not at all.

This was all about to change in 1873 when Green River’s first school was constructed.

According to Sweetwater County Museum Director Ruth Lauritzen, the building was located on North First West near the Sweetwater County Courthouse where Mathey’s Law Office is now located. The original building is gone, but its location has not been forgotten.

The second school was located where the juvenile probation building is now, on the corner of East Flaming Gorge Way and North First ast., Lauritzen said. But the old school building was moved to East Second North where it remains as a home.

The first official school constructed was a kindergarten through ninthgrade school. The two-story building was located at 129 East Flaming Gorge Way and was constructed in 1890. The building was finished in 1891 and opened.

In 1905, 10th grade was added in the school and in 1912, 11th and 12th-grade classes were added. The first

class graduated in 1912.

Subjects taught in this school, included reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling, hygiene, geography, physiology, Latin and book keeping.

The building continued to serve as Green River’s school until an increase in students moved Sweetwater County School District No. 2 to construct its first true high school -- Lincoln High School in 1922 and its first true elementary school -Washington School in 1925.

According to museum documents, the building was sold in 1926 to the Masonic Lodge and acted as its Mount Moriah Masonic Temple. The Masonic Lodge still owns the building today and it is still in the same location.

Although the building has changed ownership, it is still recognizable.

Washington School The old Washington School was dedicated in 1925 and is located at 400 North First East.

One of the schools unique features, which was removed a long time ago, was a plastic slide on the side of the building. Lauritzen said the slide acted as a fire escape, but the children always talked about going down it.

The red brick building

still sits on the same hill, overlooking the town.

It was the first elementary school and remained an elementary school until 1979 when the new Washington elementary was built.

This building’s life span was not over yet. It was converted into a Central Administration Building office until 1998.

Old Washington is now privately owned and houses a dentist office, a scrap booking store, athletic arts center, zumba studio and beauty salon.

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Jefferson School Jefferson School, which was constructed of red brick and right next to the old Lincoln High School, opened in 1940.

The first through sixthgrade school was an answer to the growth of Green River.

Prior to this school opening, some of the elementary school students were located in the basement of the old Lincoln High School.

It later changed into a middle school.

Rumors have it that after Lincoln High School and Jefferson closed and after the city took over ownership of the property, Jefferson seemed to be demolished (continued next page)

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March 26 & 30, 2011

Historical Edition

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A TIGER is inlaid in the floor in front of the library at East Junior High in Rock Springs.

The school is scheduled for demolition later this year.

Memories of an old school

By KATHY GILBERT Editor When the old Rock Springs high school closed on B Street in 1933, the first high school students excitedly opened the doors to a brand new building on Gobel Street.

The building was huge compared to the old school.

It took almost an entire block and had three floors with a football field behind it. Around the field was an outdoor track.

The field was surrounded by a rock wall, built by WPA workers. The top of the wall had barbed wire across it, making the entire block resemble a prison.

In the summertime, the Shrine Circus set up its three rings in the field.

The new school boasted glass doors for each classroom and wonderful library on the second floor.

Inlaid in the floor in front of the library was a mosaic tiger -- the school mascot.

Every freshman was told that if he or she was so unfortunate as to step on the tiger, the clumsy student had to scrub the mascot with a toothbrush until it was gleaming.

Lynne Tynsky Demshar remembers the library as her favorite part of the school.

Her class in 1970 was the last to graduate from the high school.

“My favorite place in the entire building was the library. It was such a great place to do homework, work on assignments or do research. Of course, we didn’t dare step on the tiger.

I don’t know what happened if you stepped on it, but no one I knew had the nerve to try it,” Demshar said.

The glass doors were popular with students, as Linda Peasley Fabiny

remembers.

“Kids would stand outside of the doors while the teacher wasn’t looking and make gestures or act silly so the class inside would crack up, and then they’d run so they didn’t get caught,” Fabiny said.

The school also had a big auditorium where plays, musicals and assemblies were scheduled.

The swimming pool was popular for the entire community. Students had swim classes as part of the required physical education and swimming lessons were taught on Saturdays.

Tom Confer was the swimming teacher and a stickler for making sure each student did every stroke correctly.

“Mr. Confer and the pool is something else I’ll always remember,” Demshar said.

“When I was a freshman, I had the misfortune to have swimming first hour.

It was dreadful. No blow dryers or curling irons -just stringy straight hair all day. To this day whenever I go swimming, I think of Mr. Confer and the proper way to do each stroke,” she said.

For those who were seniors, there was a student lounge.

Linda Fabiny said she couldn’t wait to be senior so she could go to the lounge.

“The big deal was that there was a pop machine in there,” she said.

Many memories revolve around sports activities of the mighty Rock Springs Tigers. Whether it was football, basketball, track or swimming, the teams brought the community out in force.

“My friend Karen Neiderer and I would spend hours figuring out ways to put orange scarfs in our hair and what black outfit

to wear every Friday, which was game day,” Nancy Smith Slaughter said.

Tom Dorigatti graduated with the class of 1965. He remembered several pranks students pulled on opposing teams, especially if it was Green River High School.

“I got booted out of some games against Green River, for hollering as loudly as I could, ‘Watch him miss it’ every time Stan Dodds would shoot a basket, and especially while he was shooting freethrows,” Dorigatti said.

Then there is the infamous cow horn used by Mike Menghini at basketball games.

“Mike got into more trouble with that thing. When RSHS would score a basket or free-throw, Mike would toot on that horn. When the other team had the ball, Mike would continuously toot on it, trying to throw the other team off,” Dorigatti said.

Just as with the junior high, it was the teachers who were best remembered by the students.

Jim Capen taught world history in a “storybook fashion,” according to Dorigatti.

“He was playing the role of the ‘Black Hand’ assassins, telling this embellished but factual account of the assassination of Franz Josef.

He goes along and at the moment of the shooting, pulls out a squirt gun and squirts Ben Taucher, who was in the front row. Ben pulled out a squirt gun of his own and shot Mr. Capen square in the face with several bursts of water. Soaked him but good, too. Mr. Capen was so shocked. Of course, we were all rolling on the floor from laughter. Ben got kicked out of class, but after Ben left, Capen quickly recomposed

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The first school was a small building with few students in it. It was located across from where the courthouse is now. The building is gone, but the memory remains.

Early schools................ from previous page overnight, which led to a public outcry to save Lincoln High School.

Jefferson student Jean Archuleta Hanfelt recalls her days at the school.

“In the fall of 1946, my brother Ron and I started first grade at Jefferson Elementary School in Green River. Since we lived 13 miles from town, we rode the school bus. We were the second stop on the route which included Granger farther west from us, then the section town of Peru, next came the Covered Wagon (not a section town), next came Jamestown, and then came the last stop which was Palisades nestled beneath the Toll Gate Rock.

There we picked up the Crouches who were of high

school age. Because hot lunches were not available, we took sack lunches. We ate our lunch in the gym, which had a Coke machine sitting in the corner. About once a month, dad gave us a dime so that we could buy a bottle of pop. That was a real treat for us.

Waiting for the bus by the side of the Lincoln Highway during the cold winter months was not for sissies.

When the wind blew, and when didn’t it, it would whip the snow around my legs and I could feel the bite through my long socks. I’m proud to admit that when the school year ended, I was presented with a Certificate of Award for being neither absent, nor tardy.

I was also promoted to second grade. My brother Ron was held back another year since the teacher said he didn’t have the maturity to go on to the next level. It was a blessing in disguise because Ron went on to excel the remainder his school years.

‘Uncle Sam’ was pushing everyone to buy U.S. Savings Bonds so our grade school made them available.

Every Monday before leaving for the school bus, dad gave Ron and me each $1 with which to buy the stamps. It took $18.75 worth of stamps to fill up a coupon book, which Dad then took to the post office to be redeemed for a $25 U.S. Savings Bond.”

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The IAFF is one of the oldest public employee unions in America and was formed in February 1918, at a time when many firefighters were required to live in a firehouse and be on duty 24 hours a day every day, with only the occasional day off.

The Rock Springs Firefighters IAFF Local 1499 was chartered in 1964 and supports numerous charitable activities like the IAFF Burn Foundation, local scholarships, the United Way, American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, etc. with its annual demolition derby.

Fire fighting is still one of the most dangerous occupations in North America, and as a result the Rock Springs Firefighters Local 1499 will continue to be extremely active in promoting occupational health and safety, and supporting national standards for safe apparatus, equipment, and practices.

The Rock Springs Firefighters and the City of Rock Springs Fire Department have worked hand-in-hand serving the community with pride and professionalism for over 40 years.

Local 1499 Dedicated Professionals that Serve our Community.

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March 26 &30, 2011

THE BAND FROM The South Superior Junior High.

Mighty Superior Dragons

By KATHY GILBERT Editor While most of the mining camps in Sweetwater County had schools, those at Superior were arguably the largest outside Rock Springs and Green River.

Information in a book compiled by former Superior residents for the centennial reunion of Superior in 2000 has much information about the schools and their influence on the little community.

School District 18 was formed in 1908 with a single school made up of four rooms. Students attended classes there through the eighth grade.

Two more rooms were added in 1914 and again in 1918 making it possible for students to go through the 12th grade.

This district was located in the main town of Superior and 1911, another district was formed in South Superior as the population grew. District 23 had an elementary school that went from first through sixth grades. After that, if a student wanted to continue, their books and fees were paid by District 23 and they attended the District 18 school.

Eventually, it became too expensive to operate two districts and after much negotiating, District 8 became a reality in 1932. The members of the school board for the new district included two from North Superior, two from South Superior, two at-large members and one representing Point of Rocks.

The need grew for a high school in Superior and a drive began for a bond issue to raise the money. However, when the issue went to the ballot, only four people could vote on it because only those four were property owners.

One of those voters was ill on election day and another was snowed in at his ranch, so the issue passed unanimously with two votes.

The contract for the new building was given to Kellogg Lumber Company of Rock Springs, with the plumbing and heating contract going to Superior Lumber Company, also of Rock Springs.

The schools and school activities were most of the social life of Superior.

The PTA was organized in 1929. The group organized monthly entertainment events such as plays and musical presentations by the children. Some of these

included Christmas plays and talent shows.

High school sports were possibly the biggest activity and the most popular.

The Employees Magazine of November, 1926, tells of an excruciating defeat of the Superior Dragons by Rawlins, 18-0. But it also goes on to tell of a win over the Green River Wolves, 186, and over Lander by 13-6.

The Dragons also had a fearsome basketball team. A headline in the school paper, called the Kabibonokka, tells how “Superior swamped the Green River team” in 1932 by a score of 27-23.

Then in 1940, the Dragons defeated the Rock Springs Tigers for the first time in 15 years. A “wildly hysterical crowd” watched the Tigers go down 39-29.

After the mines closed in Superior, the population began to dwindle. Most of the schools closed and District 8 was combined with District 1 in Rock Springs. Students in seventh through 12th grades are bussed to Rock Springs.

The last class to graduate from Superior High School was the class of 1962 and although the high school is no more, it remains in the memories of those who walked the hallowed halls.

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Green River Basin Federal Credit Union is a community chartered credit union offering financial services and credit union membership to individuals, families, and family members living, working, worshiping, or attending school in Sweetwater, Uinta, Sublette, or Lincoln Counties in Southwest Wyoming.

On March 21, 1967 six Union Pacific Railroaders borrowed $5,000.00 from Green River First National Bank and Green River Union Pacific Employees Federal Credit Union was born. There wasn’t an actual office until October, 1969 when Babe Stone was appointed manager and the credit union office was located in the enclosed front porch of the Stone home for 20 years.

We have come a long way from a front porch with the purchase in 1997 of the Green River building, once owned by the bank that loaned us the money to start the credit union, as well as opening an office in Rock Springs. What started out as one employee has evolved to 7 employees.

On January 31, 2002 NCUA approved the merger of Mansface Federal Credit Union with Green River U.P. Employees Federal Credit Union. On June 24, 2004 we changed our name to Green River Basin Federal Credit Union.

Today, Green River Basin Federal Credit Union is as strong and durable as the railroad that started it.

Memories.................. from previous page himself and admitted that he had that one coming,” Dorigatti said.

The dean of students was Chuck Blazek, nicknamed “Zeke” by the students.

Dorigatti said he was the “enforcer.”

“You know, shirt tails out, hair touching collar, girls’ skirts above the knee, more than the top button on a blouse undone, gum chewing and especially hand-holding and arms around the girls -- I can just hear him: ‘(Last name here) quit holding

hands. She knows the way to her next class!”

Other teachers were Mr. Graceffo, who taught Spanish and was color blind; Mrs. Gentilini who made sure everyone sat up straight as they typed.

The building served the teen students of Rock Springs until 1970 when it became too crowded.

The new school on James Drive was opened to the first classes in the fall of 1970 and the old high school became East Junior High.

The rock wall around the football field was taken down a few years ago as it became dangerous, and now, the building has outlived its usefulness and is set to be torn down this fall.

For those who attended a first prom, met a best friend, got a first kiss or simply learned how to be the best adult possible at the old school, it will be a sad and tearful event.

But the memories will live long after the walls -- and the tiger in the floor -- are gone.

THE 1902 GRADUATING class of Green River High School included four students.

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March 26 & 30, 2011

Historical Edition

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The supreme purpose of history is a better world.

–Herbert Hoover

Rock Springs Historical Museum Located in Historic Downtown Rock Springs Art patron Stephanie Rose admires the large oil paintings by legendary University of Illinois football coach Robert Zuppke. RSHS teacher Elmer Halseth was not shy when it came to adding work to the collection and wrote Zuppke asking for a donation.

Halseth's love of art benefits schools

By DAVID MARTIN Regional Editor A Rock Springs man’s passion for art led to the creation of an art collection owned by Sweetwater County School District No.1 that now encompasses more than 600 individual pieces of artwork featuring famous artists such as Grandma Moses and Norman Rockwell.

In 1926, Elmer Halseth moved to Rock Springs after graduating from Eastern State Normal School in Madison, S.D., with a Bachelor of Science degree in science, music and English.

He started teaching history and science at Rock Springs High School soon after moving to the area.

The first painting purchased in the collection was “Shack Alley” by Chicago artist Henrietta Wood. The painting, purchased in 1939 with the help of students, cost $50. According to Jennifer Messer, Community Fine Arts Center assistant director, Halseth was working with Vincent Campanella, an artist working in Rock Springs for the Works Progress Administration, to find and purchase a painting for the school. Campanella was an avid supporter of the arts and formed the Rock Springs Art Guild while he worked in the area. A number of works

by Campanella are also in the collection.

After that, each successive class at Rock Springs High School added to the collection. During World War II, when scrap iron was needed for the war effort, students at the high school sold 300 tons of scrap iron and used the proceeds to purchase paintings by Grandma Moses, Frances Chaplin and others. The work by Moses, “Staunton, Virginia,” cost $400 at the time.

Moses, whose name was Anna Mary Robertson Moses, was a well-known artist whose work was sought by collectors throughout the world. She began painting in her 70s after arthritis caused her to stop her work in embroidery. Her work, which made its debut in the Galerie

St. Etienne in New York, was eventually exhibited in Europe and Japan, where it was well received. The Galerie St. Etienne’s Web site proclaims her to be one of the best known American artists in Europe. Living to be 101 years old, she died Dec. 13, 1961.

Messer said the school district “was very disappointed in Elmer for spending the entire $400 he received from the school district on the painting.”

After making his annual presentation to the school board to introduce pieces he added to the collection, a special meeting was conducted to allow residents of Rock Springs to tell Halseth how horrible they felt the painting was.

An article that appeared in Time Magazine Nov. 24, 1952 proclaimed the collection “one of the liveliest collections of contemporary American art in the Rockies.”

The article mentioned Halseth learned the board chairman of IBM, Thomas J. Watson, commissioned some paintings for his collection. Halseth wrote a letter to Watson requesting a donation and Watson complied by sending Halseth a still life by Francis Chapin.

Students continued to host dances, bake sales and other fundraisers to allow Halseth and the school district to add to the collection. In 1953, Halseth and Al Keeney, an art teacher at RSHS, purchased an original cover Norman Rockwell had painted for the Saturday Evening Post.

Keeney bought the painting, “Willie Gillis: New Years Eve,” at an estate sale in Denver. Messer said that years later when the school district sent the painting to California to be cleaned, it was discovered the painting had the Post lettering painted over. An unknown artist had covered the lettering with foil then painted the background on the foil. The painting was restored and returned to the collection.

Messer said one of the major problems with knowing the history of the collection was that Halseth and Keeney did not keep complete records of their

A beloved school

By STEPHANIE THOMPSON Staff Writer The old Lincoln High School was originally constructed in 1920 by Evers Brothers for $95,000.

According to Sweetwater County Museum documents, the red-brick building was built in phases, starting with the main structure. Two additions and an auditorium were opened in 1922.

In 1925, another addition was added to the west wing and in 1930 a gymnasium with a balcony was also added.

The school just kept growing. In 1937, two more additions to the east and west were constructed and the school remained this way until 1940 when a fire claimed most of the school.

First Fire With the exception of the gymnasium, the building burned down on Oct. 16,

1940. The huge blaze was seen all over the city and the Green River Volunteer Fire Department, Green River CCC Camp Fire Department, Union Pacific Fire Department and Rock Springs Fire Department battled the blaze.

Their efforts paid off and although the entire school was burned, they managed to save the gym, which was located at the back of the structure.

It was later determined that the fire was caused by either faulty wiring or an overheated boiler. Damages were estimated at $150,000, according to Sweetwater County Museum documents.

Plans were made to reconstruct the school, which was estimated to cost $220,000. The new structure was added on to the old gym.

The new building was constructed of tan brick with artificial stone accents, (continued next page)

purchases or how the purchases were made.

“I don’t think they realized how big this collection would get,” Messer said.

Some of the works on display have notes written

by Halseth placed on the back of the frames that give some information as to when the work was purchased, however detailed records were not kept.

Halseth and Keeney would become instrumental in the creation of the CFAC in Rock Springs, with the two serving as director and assistant director of the center when it first opened in 1966.

Although Halseth retired as the center’s director a few years later, his impact on the town through the collection would be remembered when the gallery where the artwork is housed was named after him.

Halseth became a state senator and continued to support the center until his death in 1991.

Keeney replaced Halseth as director and continued to hold that position until he retired.

That same year, the center, which had been supported by the City of Rock Springs, School District No. 1 and Sweetwater County, was integrated into the Sweetwater County Library System.

The center still receives funding though a collaboration between Sweetwater County, the city and school district.

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FrEE ADMIssIoN

The Green River Fire Department has helped with education through Fire Prevention presentations at the local schools starting in the late 1950’s to early 1960’s. The department has participated in Health Fairs, Station Tours for various groups, and adult education (for example: how to use a portable fire extinguisher).

The firefighters start their education in the fire service by acquiring certification as a Firefighter 1, and then continue their education for the next level of certification by attending classes at fire schools and in-house training at our Department.

2010 School District #2 Health Fair

2010 Sweetwater County Resource Rendezvous

2010 Washington School Fire Prevention visit

2010 Green River Co-op Station Tour

2010 Truman School Fire Prevention

2010 Firefighter Training

A6

Historical Edition

March 26 & 30, 2011

It’s time to think about enrolling your child in a preschool!

One way you can prepare your child for preschool is by having him/her participate in a FREE Developmental Screening at the Sweetwater County Child Developmental Center!

Rock Springs and Green River Screenings May 6th

The first high school in Rock Springs was located on B Street. It later became the junior high school and was torn down a few years ago. Rock Springs National Bank is now located where the old school was.

1st Rock Springs high school an imposing building

By KATHY GILBERT Editor The original high school in Rock Springs was located on B Street near the houses of Union Pacific railroad and mining officials.

The school began as a stone structure, but in 1916, a $15,000-brick kiln was built and construction began on the new high school at 316 B Street.

It was a three-story structure with hardwood floors throughout. The classrooms were large and easily accommodated all of the highschool-age student body.

The school also had a gymnasium with a wooden track that was suspended from the walls, below the ceiling. According to an article written

by O.C. Schweiring in 1921

the "Sweetwater Industrial Review," the school also boasted night classes and an Americanization School.

"More than 150 aliens sought to learn English and American government," Schwiering wrote.

Courses taught at the high school were aimed at giving students a strong vocational background. For example, commercial vocational study taught students typing, bookkeeping, salesmanship, business arithmetic and office practices.

Other fields of study were machine shop and electrical shop, metal work, drafting and mining electricity.

The night school taught cooking, sewing, millinery and auto mechanics, among other things.

Genevieve James recalled

her days at the Rock Springs High School, especially one of the teachers, Miss Douglas.

"If she caught anyone chewing gum in class, she would place the gum on the blackboard just about an inch above the guilty one's nose. Then that student had to stand on their tiptoes to place their nose on the gum.

It could be a very long class, standing on your toes," she said.

Eventually, the town outgrew the high school on B Street, and in 1931, the site for a new one was selected on Gobel Street.

The huge sandstones from the original pre-1916 school were hauled to the new site and used to build a wall and (Continued next page)

LINCOLN SCHOOL in Green River had two fires in its long history

Beloved..................... from previous page museum documents state.

Curvilinear segments of glass block were also constructed.

The back section contained an office, classrooms and a large corridor. The front section had classrooms and a library. An art room, band room, shop and auditorium were in the east wing.

Lincoln School served as the high school until 1979.

The exchange In 1998, Sweetwater County School District No. 2 brokered a land exchange deal with the City of Green River. The city gave the district the property where the current high school sits and the district gave old Lincoln School to the city with $200,000 for demolition.

Green River city planners divided the 13.9 acre parcel into three equal parts in 2002 as part of a master plan revision. Council indicated in earlier meetings the city would prefer to hang onto the football field.

The Council first voted to demolish the building in February of 1999, but later recanted the decision after hearing opposition to the idea. The school district had already let bids and an Eden Valley contractor was the low bidder to demolish Lincoln at about $160,000.

Finding a Use The City Council weighed three proposals for the land: 1.

Sparrow Group of Missoula, Mont.: 48 moderate income townhouses on tract C .

2.

Lincoln School Associates: Senior citizen independent and assisted living for tracts A and B. Plan would preserve Lincoln building.

3.

PEG of Provo, Utah: Condominiums/ Townhouses on tract A. Tear down Lincoln but preserve tract B. Sparrow Group wants to either proceed or abandon the project. Sparrow first approached Council in December of 2004.

After lengthy debates, the Council approved a proposal from Sparrow Group to purchase Tract C, near the old Lincoln High School.

Even though the project was approved, some residents continued to speak against the project.

Finally, the developer had to back out of the project because it took too long, and he could no long receive tax credits.

Tract A, which contains the old Lincoln School, was also sold to Lincoln LLC. This group wanted to renovate the school, restore it to its natural state and lease out portions to the city.

However, the developer was unable to secure leases and decided not to go through with the project.

As for Tract B, the Council also sold that portion.

However, it too went back to the city. Eventually, all three tracts went back to the city.

School Burns Again In November 2006, flames lit the sky on a Sunday night as the gymnasium at

the old Lincoln High School burned, bringing an end to the controversy over what to do with the building.

The cause of the blaze will likely never be known because the roof collapsed, covering any evidence that may have survived the flames.

The Green River Fire Department worked through the night and into the next day to extinguish the fire, but the fire continued to flare up for hours and was still smoldering days later.

George Nomis, the Green River Fire Department Chief at the time, stopped short of calling the fire arson, saying only that it was “suspicious.”

The irony of the fire is the school burned down in 1939 and that time, the gym was the only portion that survived.

After the gym burned, the Green River City Council determined the structure a hazard and approved a contract with Western Region Construction LLC for more than $1 million to demolish the school. Then the controversy over who can demolish Lincoln started, but that is for another historical section.

On April 3, 2007, a 9,600-pound wrecking ball took to what remained of the school. Shortly after that, the school and its gym were gone, but a little bit of the controversy remained.

Lincoln School was called structurally sound with the exception of the gymnasium and theater, so some still feel the school could have been saved.

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March 26 & 30, 2011

Historical Edition

A7

We can be almost certain of being wrong about the future, if we are wrong about the past.

–C. K. Chesterton

weetwater County Library System MCKINNON SCHOOL: The old red school house, also known as the "Coon Hollow School" served students in McKinnon from 1917-1925 when a larger building was built. The McKinnon district split off from the older Burntfork district in 1900.

Little schools on the big prairie

By Ruth Lauritzen Museum Director The historic phenomenon of the one-room or country school in western United States was a result of sparse population and long distances, but it also was a testament to the value placed on local control of education. As soon as families began to settle in an area, thoughts turned to educating the children.

As in “town”, the first country schools were in homes. Parents would impart what knowledge they had to their children, or even, in the case of early Burntfork settler, Phil Mass, hire a private tutor. Shortly after he settled in the area in 1862, Mass brought in William Pearson to teach his nine children.

According to a local history, Links to the Past, by Norma Gamble and Francie Anderson, “One year he taught the children from the Almanac. He taught them the basic subjects and all of the girls ended up writing just like he did.”

With the establishment of the Territory of Wyoming in 1869 laws were enacted which allowed the develop-

ment of a public school system based at the county level and led by county superintendents of schools. The first formal schools were established in the early ‘70s.

In Burntfork, William Pearson continued his career as educator. Other early teachers there were George Stoll, Sr. and Judge Hereford.

Between 1867 and 1925 classes me in various buildings in the Burntfork area.

Regardless of the location, due to the scattered settlement pattern, children often came a long way either walking or riding horseback.

Lunch was brought from home, frequently packed in a lunch bucket which in a former life contained five pounds of lard.

The earliest schools were often held in rented or donated space. Though it doesn’t list specific school names, the Superintendent of Public Instruction annual report of 1879 shows that the number of schools taught exceeds the number of school buildings owned by two.

The 1891-92 report shows that of the six districts of the time, two of the schools were in non-school buildings. Dis-

trict No. 3 had eight pupils who were taught in a section house and a school was about to open in rented space in Granger.

Based on the location given, “situate 65 miles east of the county seat”, District No. 3 was perhaps Bitter Creek, which in 1884 was a telegraph station as well as home to a small, 10-stall roundhouse with a turntable used to turn snow plows and helper engines.

In addition to Granger (No. 6) and No. 3, there were districts at Point of Rocks (No. 1), Green River (No. 2), Rock Springs (No. 4) and Burntfork (No. 5).

With statehood in 1890 the Wyoming State Constitution directed the legislature to provide a uniform education system which included free elementary schools. It also provided public school revenues and restrictions on their use. Schools were funded then, just as they are now, by property taxes and an occasional a special tax.

The 1895 Sweetwater County Superintendent’s report states that Granger (Dis-

stadium behind the new building.

This was the middle of the Great Depression, and the wall was built under the W.P.A. program by the Civilian Conservation Corps The building was finished in 1933 and the old high school became a junior high.

Those who attended the school after it became a junior high school have many fond memories.

Nancy Smith Slaughter is the daughter of Jack Smith who was the superintendent of schools for the district when she attended the school.

"Of course, my best memory is my wonderful, perfect father coming through those doors to visit. I truly never got tired of seeing him or ever lost my pride in being his daughter. He truly was a gentle man," she said.

Slaughter also remembered the suspended track in the gym.

"I remember that awful track above the gym. You had to slide down that sloped floor before you could grab

hold of the rail. I always figured someone was going to go over the edge," she said.

She also has memories of some of the teachers, like the history teacher who got very angry if someone sniffled.

"I can hear her yell, 'Blow that nose now!'" Slaughter said.

She also remembered the same Miss Douglas that Genevieve James remembered.

After World War I was over, a tree was planted at the school just outside Miss Douglas' classroom.

The tree was dedicated to those young men who died in the war and it was affectionately known as the "hero tree."

By the time Slaughter's class was attending the school, the tree had grown quite tall. The story was that it was called the hero tree because it caught the students ejected through the window

by Miss Douglas. School dances were called "mixers" and nearly everyone attended. Slaughter remembered the "the little cards given to the girls to write our dance

partners names in."

The dances were in the gym and parents would attend, standing on the track above where they could keep an eagle eye on the dancers.

The student population continued to grow and the school district added two portable buildings to the school.

They were placed in the yard at the south side of the building and housed the science classes.

Eventually, there was no more room to expand and the high school on Gobel Street was also overcrowded. A new high school was planned on James Drive and the junior high moved to Gobel Street and became East Junior High in 1970.

The halls of the old junior high, with grooves worn into the hardwood floors from the thousands of students who had passed through them, grew quiet.

The bell that called everyone to class went silent and the building was torn down, but the memories of the teachers, friends and fun live in the memories of many.

A collection of 273,347 items.

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1st high school.......... from previous page

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A8

Historical Edition

March 26 & 30, 2011

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

–Mark Twain

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BITTER CREEK SCHOOL: Miss Marjorie Shedden and her class have a photo taken at the Bitter Creek School in the 1930s.

Little school.............. from previous page trict No. 6) students were taught in, “a rented building and poor surroundings.”

However, it also notes that a special tax had been passed and there were plans to build a school house. These plans had come to fruition by 1897, when it was reported that Granger had a new frame schoolhouse.

At the turn of the 20th century, education in Sweetwater County was growing by leaps and bounds. By 1901 there were 26 schools in operation and that number grew to 32 by 1906.

Many of these were rural country schools including ranch schools (Rife, Logan, Big Island and many others) and a number located in section towns like Cherokee, River, Creston, Wamsutter, Tipton and Bitter Creek along the Union Pacific Railroad line.

Section towns or camps were small enclaves of railroad employees and their families living in company housing.

The workers living there were charged with maintaining the track, including snow removal on their “section” of track.

Esther Wiggen Grubb taught school at Cherokee in the 1920s, and she recalled her school house as being a log building in which she both lived and taught classes during the week. A piece of paper was placed over the window to preserve privacy.

In order to return to more civilized surroundings, Esther caught a train home to her parents’ house in Rock Springs each weekend.

Providing living accommodations for teachers was generally a part of running a rural school.

Teachers were frequently younger, and almost universally single persons who had no family in the area.

A “teacherage” was either a part of the school building, or a separate building entirely which served as a residence.

If a teacherage was not available, the teacher sometimes boarded with local families.

Generally speaking, the section towns reflected the waves of immigration seen in the employment by the railroad as a whole.

In southwestern Wyoming the section workers were frequently Chinese or Japanese in the earliest days, and then later Irish.

In the 1930s and ‘40s the section workers were often immigrants from Mexico or border areas of the United States with a heavy Mexican influence. Bilingual education was far in the future, and teachers rarely spoke a second language.

According to a history of the section town of Bitter Creek, “For many years the student population consisted of 90 percent Spanish-American families, many of whom spoke no English. The only English spoken was what the student was exposed to in school each day. This in itself presented quite a problem to the teacher.

The school endeavored to provide many of the items that were not available in the homes in the everyday life of the classroom. Teachers had to put in many extra hours of work to get teaching materials ready for these students.”

In the early 1900s a large irrigation and settlement project was developed north of Rock Springs in the Eden Valley with water from the Big and Little Sandy rivers and their tributaries. The development of schools followed the pattern set by those in the Henry’s Fork valley.

First schools were in homes and in borrowed facilities.

According to Our Valley, by early residents Ora and Leora Wright, Farson’s first school was in Farson at a building belonging to Shorty Steward. School had to relocate to another borrowed building for the next term as “Shorty needed his building.”

A one-room school house was completed in 1912 and, like in nearly every area served by a country school, it became a gathering place for community events.

Mrs. Cora Pope, who taught there in 1928-31 recalled, “A box social was given at the Farson school which netted $345, enough to pay for a good piano. A dance followed.”

Though not truly “rural” or “country” schools, the schools developed by the Union Pacific Coal Company and other coal development interests are a distinctive variant in Sweetwater County schools.

The UPCC developed several company coal towns around Rock Springs in the first half of the 20th century.

The first Superior mine opened in 1906 and shortly afterward the town sprung up around it. Superior was truly a company town in that the entire town was built and owned by the UPCC. According to Dr. Dudley Gardner, this was pretty much company policy in Wyoming. In Forgotten Frontier: A History of Wyoming Coal Mining, he quotes a letter from early UPCC superintendent D.O. Clark regarding the development of the coal town of Grass Creek in Uinta County: “I would strongly recommend that we own the entire town site and control the entire business, building such buildings a necessary....I have estimated for a school house. We would have to pay for this even if built by [a] school district. We own the school house at Hanna [another UPCC development further east], and all the town lots, so have no town organization to support.”

school districts began and most of the small country schools were discontinued.

At the same time, the coal mines began to close and the company towns were abandoned and the schools closed. Twice daily bus rides became the norm for kids on most ranches and in the remaining section towns.

As towns were closed or abandoned, the many small districts began to disappear as well. Also, for funding reasons, many were combined into larger districts.

The last and largest of these reorganizations took place in 1970 when, amid much controversy, the Sweetwater County districts were reduced to the two that are in place today, No. 1 which covers the east end of the county, and No. 2 which includes the west.

However, due to the sheer size of the county, it is necessary for some rural schools to remain.

SD No. 1 maintains two rural schools, the Eden-Farson School and Desert Elementary in Wamsutter.

SD No. 2 has three rural schools, Granger Elementary, McKinnon Elementary and the only true one-room schoolhouse left in Sweetwater County, the Thoman Ranch School. The latter has an enrollment of one student.

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The UPCC eventually built several elementary schools and large high schools at Superior and Reliance and primary schools at Winton.

Karen Spence McLean recalled that her mother Vendla Huhtala Spence signed a contract to teach first and second grades at Megeath (renamed Winton when purchased by UPCC) in 1926.

In exchange for her salary of $125 a month, she not only had to teach, but agreed “... to keep the school house in good repair, to provide the necessary fuel and supplies and to furnish janitor work.”

By the late 1940s and ‘50s, the automobile made transportation of students to centralized schools feasible and economical.

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March 26 & 30, 2011

Historical Edition

Students at Reliance School pose for a photo before boarding the bus.

Glory days of Reliance Schools

By DAVID MARTIN Regional Editor During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, Reliance was the central hub for Sweetwater County School District No. 7, which encompassed schools in Winton and Dines and Reliance.

The school at Reliance was originally constructed in 1926. According to the March 1926 edition of the Union Pacific Employees Magazine, the district paid for the buildings at Reliance and Winton through a bond issue.

The building plans were based on the same plans used in the construction of the school building in Superior with minor modifications.

“The general plan consists of nine classrooms, an assembly hall, a library and teachers’ room or office,” the article stated.

Initially, the high school was planned to be a two-year high school, with students in their junior and senior years bussed to Rock Springs High School.

However, in 1931, the school was converted to become a four-year institution.

Other buildings were added to the site, including a gymnasium in 1930 and the elementary school building in 1952.

Donning the school colors of white and maroon and calling themselves the Pirates, the students at Reliance High School shared a common background -- that of children whose fathers toiled in the coal mines throughout the area.

Coal was the lifeblood of Reliance and the other Union Pacific towns and high demand fueled the local economy. There were 553 students and 31 faculty members throughout the school district in 1951.

However, once the Union Pacific converted their coalfired engines to diesel engines, that lifeblood stopped, and the coal towns withered and died.

“With each passing year -- the changing economic struggle has affected our lives. These trepidations have greatly affected our school lives,” Henry F. Chadey, superintendent of the Reliance school district wrote in the “Reliance 59er,” the final yearbook published by the high school.

“Many of our pupils and former faculty members have moved from our community,” he wrote.

In 1959, the district reported having 138 students and 14 faculty members.

During this time the school boards for both Reliance and Rock Springs High School met to discuss merging and bringing 66 high school and junior high students from Reliance into the Rock Springs school system.

According to the 2006 Coal Camp Reunion Book, the county’s district boundary board unanimously voted to annex the Reliance school district with district No. 4, Rock Springs, and district No. 3, Superior. Under the agreement, the elementary school at Reliance would continue operation.

Chadey said the schools at Reliance couldn’t operate as its own school district unless the boundaries of the district were enlarged to collect more tax revenue or if the district borrowed funding and operated at a loss.

This new school district, Sweetwater County School District No. 1 would encompass land from the northern county border to the Utah

State Line.

In Reliance, the high school continued operating as usual; however, with the knowledge of the school year being its last.

During the final home basketball game, the school’s pep club and drill team performed several routines. At the end, they formed a letter “V” for victory and “R” for Reliance. With the help of the school band, everyone sang “On Reliance,” the school song.

The final dance, the school’s junior prom, was hosted April 24, 1959, and extended an invitation to all school alumni to attend. On April 29, the final school activity, the school’s activities banquet was hosted. School board members, their wives, school faculty and staff sat to a meal of roast beef with “all the trimmings,” according to the 2006 Coal Camp Reunion Book.

On the banquet program,

an anonymous poem was printed, reading: “We’ll take not tearful leaving We’ll say no sad goodbyes, For, though our hearts are heavy, The world before us lies.

To teachers who our youth inspired a word of gratitude we’d say.

Kind fortune smile on you, we pray And bring you all you’ve long desired.

In future days, where ‘ere we be When for our friends we yearn, Back to Reliance High each heart will turn In thoughts of loving memory.”

The final graduating class from Reliance High School, the Class of 1959, totaled five students -- a fraction of the 26 who had graduated eight years prior.

A9

A10

Historical Edition

You don’t have to save the world.

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© 2011 Rocky Mountain Power

If we all make simple changes, we can make a big impact. Turning off lights when you leave a room is a good start.

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March 26 & 30, 2011