82801 January/February 2019

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019

Born to

RIDE

20-year-old Local Turns Passion for Sleds into Profit page 9

Base Camp page 13

When Passion Meets Purpose page 5

Women Gone Rogue page 17

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82801 FEATURES Community: Base Camp Trails we love in Sheridan County include more than 6 miles of Red Grade Trails at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains. Kevin and the fine folks at Sheridan Community Land Trust, who manage and maintain the trail system, invite you to explore. page 13

Life: Born to Ride Twenty-year-old Sheridan resident Jeffrey Shanor was born to ride, and he’s transformed his love of mountain sleds into a thriving local business showboating the beauty of the Bighorns. page 9

Culture: Women Gone Rogue The history of the West is peppered with stories and lore of brave men— soldiers and settlers. But, in the back pages of history are the women who pioneered a new way of living in their own right. These are their stories. page 17

Editor’s Note: When Passion Meets Purpose Our Ag Editor Candice rings in the new year with thanks and well-wishes for the people who make this little magazine so great – you! – our readers. page 5 Photo courtesy of Sheridan Community Land Trust

When

Passion

Meets Purpose

H

ello, friends and readers, and happy 2019! This month’s edition is the 15th issue of 82801 Life Magazine since Outliers Creative (publishers of this magazine and the County 3 digital news stream) left Homes & More behind for something, well, more (no pun intended).

With the start of a new year, we often find ourselves taking stock of our personal lives in terms of accomplishments, goals, and a vision for the future. I feel it’s important for us here at 82801 to do the same.

By recognizing our place in the community, we strive to tell the stories you may not know by delivering a publication that focuses on the unique people, families, and local happenings relevant to you, our readers — the residents of Sheridan and Johnson counties. We take pride in sharing the myriad positives going on around us at all times and shining the spotlight on the amazing people that make northeast Wyoming such a special place.

In 2018, our small but mighty team brought more than 60 of these stories to life, highlighting

incredible places like the Kendrick Mansion, local heroes like Gavin Maxwell, a young boy battling Alpha-1 Antitrypsin deficiency and the liver transplant that saved him, the deep roots of Sheridan County and the oft-forgotten Coal Camps that quintupled the population in less than 30 years, as well as culturally relevant stories showcasing the many artistic talents of our residents like Adam Jahiel, Joel Ostlind, and Taylor Crosby.

This year, we look forward to doing it all again with high-quality content and fresh voices, as we expand our team, and with a little help from you, our readers. If you have an idea for a great story or know of a spectacular event that we should cover, please reach out to our staff. You can call our office at (307) 461-4319 or connect at facebook.com/82801life.

Our purpose is telling the story, but our passion is you, our readers, and our love for the oneof-a-kind community we call home. Thank you for making our corner of the state the best place to live and for giving us the passion to fulfill our purpose.

By: Candice E. Schlautmann

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Born to Ride: 20-year-old Local Turns Passion for Sleds into Profit

J

effrey Shanor loves the Bighorns. His summers are filled with fly fishing, hiking, and ATV riding. But nothing feeds his wanderlust quite like winter’s deep, bottomless powder.

Luckily, few places are as accommodating to snowmobiles as Wyoming.

Since winter is the longest season in our state, snowmobiling and other winter activities play an important role in people’s lives. For Shanor, however, sledding is more than just a hobby. It’s a way of life.

In fact, life’s hard for him to imagine without snowmobiles.

He tried it once and packed his bags to play baseball at a college in Montana. He only lasted a year before he realized how much the mountain sport meant to him.

“I guess you have to be away from the thing you love to realize that’s what you’re passionate about,” Shanor said.

When he came home, he decided to turn his hobby into a business. He worked as a backcountry guide before and decided to take it a step further.

“I figured, I’m going to be out there every weekend anyway,” Shanor said. “I might as well bring other people along.”

In September, Shanor started SledWyo, which provides snowmobiling tours. He now spends his days guiding people through the mountains and teaching them to do tricks on the sled.

Shanor enlisted one of his friends, Sean Williams, to be his co-guide. Williams has been riding with Shanor for two years in a variety of locations throughout the Bighorns. To Williams, the prospect of helping to build Shanor’s new company was exciting.

“I think it’s pretty cool that he’s able to do it at his age,” Williams said. “Most guides are mid-thirties, mid-forties. We’re over here doing it at 20, 25 years old.”

Williams said that Shanor has something that he often describes as “flow.”

“When you watch him ride, he just looks like a natural on the sled,” Williams said. “He doesn’t ever fight it.”

Finding Shanor in the mountains is like finding a fish in water. It’s hard to imagine him living without them, and almost every vacation he takes involves craggy peaks and steep slopes. Earlier this year, he was on vacation in Arizona, staring at yet another set of mountains.

Despite their beauty he couldn’t help feeling a bit unfulfilled. The mountains were amazing, but JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2019

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without snow, they still left a small portion of him wanting.

“If only they had snow on them,” he’d thought. “That would make for some good sledding.”

When Williams and Shanor ride in the Bighorns together, they do so in the same way that most people walk or breathe. The ride is smooth—effortless, even.

“When you’re working with other riders that are at a higher caliber, you have a different sense of fun with them because they’re riders that can do things that others can’t,” Williams said.

Shanor’s talents have earned him the attention of Ski-Doo, as well. He was one of 17 sponsored riders in the country and given the title of “local influencer.”

His skill level has been built over many years. He’s been riding snowmobiles for so long that, if he had been riding any earlier in life, he probably would have driven one home from the hospital the day he was born.

“There’s a picture of me on a sled when I’m less than a year old,” Shanor said. “My dad bought me a sled, and I went out with him and

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my grandfather when I was a kid, and, by the time I was 10, I was out in the backcountry sledding on my own.”

Watching Shanor ride the Bighorns is much like watching Michael Phelps in his hometown swimming pool. Beyond his skill level, however, Shanor is also a good teacher, Williams said.

“Every time we go out, he’s got tips for somebody, so, it’s pretty cool to watch,” Williams said. “He’s definitely not a secretive guy; he’ll let you know what he’s doing and how he’s doing it.”

Shanor said that he enjoys seeing other people explore the Bighorns and loves teaching novices tricks to improve their riding. When he’s not sledding, he’s sharing the secrets of the Bighorns through other means.

He currently serves as an intern for Sheridan Travel and Tourism, where he teaches people about the mountains every day.

“He’s energetic; he’s got an entrepreneurial spirit,” Shawn Parker, the executive director of Sheridan Travel and Tourism, said. “He’s just a gentleman, and that’s one of the things that we always value because we’re so community-facing; we always want people that accentuate core values of Sheridan as a community.”

Parker said that, in addition to being a valuable intern, Shanor’s business helps the department’s goals for tourism.

“We’re always excited about anybody who’s willing to take up a guiding or outfitting service here,” Parker said. “It’s a real opportunity

We’ve got an incredible mix of scenery and really wide open trails.

We’ve got a couple hundred miles of trails, and it’s not crowded. for people to be really successful. We’re trying to push winter season and shoulder season recreation, so that fills that need, and I think Jeff ’s going to find some real success if he keeps his nose down and really works to push this and make it happen.”

Parker said that Sheridan has numerous perks that make it a great snowmobile destination.

“It’s one of the best mountains in the entire country for snowmobiling, full stop.” Parker said. “We’ve got an incredible mix of scenery and really wide open trails. We’ve got a couple hundred miles of trails, and it’s not crowded like

you’re going to get in a lot of other really famous snowmobile regions. So, it’s kind of a perfect storm for people interested in snowmobiling.”

Snowmobiling as a tourist attraction is a relatively new phenomenon. Shanor’s great-grandfather was one of the pioneers of snowmobiling in Wyoming.

“My grandpa talks about the time that my great-grandfather got a sled,” Shanor said. “Back then, sleds were utility vehicles. They were used by ranchers. Nobody had taken them up a mountain before.”

Shanor’s great-grandfather was among a handful of individuals across the country, who saw its potential as a sport.

“They used to modify the sleds, so they could go up the mountains better,” Shanor said.

“Now you can buy snowmobiles made for the mountains. It’s amazing the technology they have now.”

Today, companies like BPR, which manufacture Ski-Doo snowmobiles, are making extreme performance models trimmer and more powerful than ever, allowing them to reach more places. Each new development makes the hobby even more enjoyable for Shanor, who happens to have a pioneer spirit of his own.

The wonder of undiscovered places is part of what pulls him (and his Ski-Doos) to the mountains after temperatures drop below freezing.

“There’s always a chance you’ll get to see something new, be somewhere that no one’s ever been before,” Shanor said. “And to conquer mountains—to literally get to the top of these mountains, some of which you can’t hike up because they’re too steep.”

Now that he’s operating Sled Wyoming, Shanor has more mountains to climb—both literal and figurative—but he doesn’t seem to mind. Being to places he’s never been before is part of the fun.

By: T.J. Parks

Photos courtesy of Jeffrey Shanor JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2019

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“We’re always excited about anybody who’s willing to take up a guiding or outfitting service here,” Parker said. “It’s a real opportunity for people to be really successful.”

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BASE CAMP

of the Bighorns

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he Red Grade Trail System is a work in progress, but you don’t have to wait to enjoy them. Currently, there are almost six miles of trail, laid out in intersecting loops, that offer cyclists and hikers yearround access to the Bighorn Mountains. Additional trails will eventually be open to equestrians.

The trail system is on public land located at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains. It was conceived, and continues to be maintained by, the Sheridan Community Land Trust (SCLT).

The lower trails lead you through aspen groves that bathe you in green light in the spring and shower the path in red and golden leaves in the fall.

In the spring, the patches of trail that wind through meadows are dotted with the scent of wildflowers.

The upper trails tread through tall conifer trees, offering a cooling shade during the hot months. These trails are more of an adventure than the gently rolling lower trails. Well built, with consideration for slope and proper drainage, they

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Trails to Love

Photos courtesy of Sheridan Community Land Trust

gain elevation quickly and provide some beautiful scenic overlooks along the way.

Even in winter, those 5.7 miles will get you from the trailhead at the base out into the wild.

“The trailhead base is available year-round,” Chris Vrba, SCLT director of marketing and development, said. “Whereas Red Grade is closed.

I’m somebody who doesn’t have a snowmobile, I’m an Iowa native…It’s going to be hard for me to get into the wilderness.”

Historically, the area where the trails are now located was used to move livestock up the steep slopes to summer pasture. Over the decades, the Red Grade Road became locals’ backdoor to the Bighorns. Although the road is closed to vehicles during the winter, snowmobilers make frequent use of the convenient access.

Seeing the need for non-motorized mountain access, Sheridan Community Land Trust began the process of applying to the BLM to construct a trail system in June 2014, after more than one year of research and planning. Later that month, SCLT contracted with world-renowned professional trail designer Joey Klein of Trail Solutions to create a master plan for the Red Grade Trails system.

On August 14, 2014, SCLT was granted a 25-year special use lease for the 160-acre state land parcel bisected by Red Grade Road and completed the first 1.8 miles (the lease allows for a total of 5.3 miles) of trails.

These trails were opened to the public in fall 2015. In the summer of 2016, SCLT improved the safety and function of two existing parking areas along lower sections of Red Grade Road.

By December, after more than 26 months of environmental analysis, community

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Q&A, two formal public comment periods, and resubmittal of the proposal, Sheridan Community Land Trust was granted permission by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to move forward with construction of 3.84 miles of non-motorized trail on BLM-administered lands north of Red Grade Road, as well as a new parking area to serve 12 vehicles.

In a reflection of the careful thought that went into the project, an old telegraph pole was preserved near where it was found and used as a sign post.

The trail system is funded entirely by grants and annual membership donations to Sheridan Community Land Trust.

The Forest Service will do an environmental assessment on the final phase of construction to complete the trail system in January. There will be a 30-day public comment period and a final decision will be made by April.

In the meantime, SCLT staff encourage trail users to take advantage of what winter has to offer. Vrba said that there are open downhill areas that are a perfect place to go sledding on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

“When you are on public land in the winter, you can get off the trail more so than you can when there’s no snow on the ground,” Vrba said. “You don’t do damage to the plants and the landscape…it’s a great opportunity to get off the trail.”

SCLT will host a family-friendly sled and ski event on the Red Grade Trail System Feb. 24.

By: Kevin M. Knapp

Travel south on Highway 335 for approximately 10 miles from the intersection of Brundage Lane and Coffeen Avenue. The last half mile is a well-maintained gravel road. High clearance is not necessary, although during winter months four-wheel drive is often required to reach the Base parking area.

____________________________________

Two parking areas (Base and Springs) and a restroom facility are available. A dog station is also located on the trail, although visitors are encouraged to pack out all refuse, including pet waste. Camping and fires are not allowed on state land.

Dispersed camping is allowed on Forest Service land further up Red Grade Road.

SHERIDAN COLLEGE Begin Your Journey!

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3 REASONS

TO CHOOSE SHERIDAN COLLEGE

#1 LOCATION #2 CAREER OPPORTUNITIES #3 AFFORDABILITY

Visit Sheridan College Today!

Sheridan College Northern Wyoming Community College District

www.sheridan.edu

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Women Gone Rogue Frontier Women Make Their Own History

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he history of the West is peppered with stories and lore of brave men and soldiers who were dispatched to forts and outposts at the wild edges of Wyoming’s rugged terrain as they fought courageously to fend off encroachments and settle the untamed West.

In the back pages of this history are the

women, who lived on the military outposts among these soldiers and men. Often accompanying their officer husbands, or often commissioned to provide the services that fueled life on the posts, these women were largely left on their own to rely on their own wits and resources for survival.

As military wives, they held no status within the U.S. Army. Consequently, upon the

death of their spouse, which was common, they were evicted from the officer’s quarters with all resources cut off. Their choice was to re-marry or find a life of their own.

What follows are some of their stories, courtesy the Frontier Military Gallery at the Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum in Buffalo, where the collection is currently on display.

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[Image 115721] Frances and Henry Carrington in 1908 at the dedication of the monument at the Fetterman Fight site.

FRANCES GRUMMOND CARRINGTON Perhaps most famously among military spouses is Frances Grummond Carrington, who arrived in Johnson County in the fall of 1866 when her husband was transferred to join the Eighteenth Infantry at Fort Phil Kearny.

Her husband, Lt. George Grummond, was sent to Wyoming as punishment for being court marshalled in 1864 for a series of offenses, including pistol-whipping a sergeant, brutally beating a private, threatening to shoot a junior officer, and shooting an unarmed civilian. In lieu of losing his position, the hothead was publicly reprimanded and sent to the far reaches of Wyoming.

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By the time Grummond was ultimately JULIET WATSON HART killed in the Fetterman Fight, Frances was five months pregnant.

There are holes in Juliet’s biography and little is Like other military wives of fallen known about her early life prior to moving to soldiers, Frances was asked to leave the officer’s northeastern Wyoming. Other than her birthdate quarters with no means by which to begin her and hometown – 1848, Indiana – she arrived to new civilian life. Feeling sorry for Frances’ Fort Laramie in 1880 with her military husband and predicament, Colonel Carrington and his wife three children, all of whom were born in different took her into their home until they left together states - Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. for Fort Caspar.

Such was the nomadic life of an Army Frances ultimately headed back home to spouse. After traversing the country with Tennessee to bury her husband. She was met by her brother William at Bridger’s Ferry, who accompanied her the rest of the way.

Upon her arrival in Tennessee, she received another surprise. A woman named Delia Elizabeth Grummond was waiting to claim the body and the pension of Lt. Grummond.

It was then that Frances discovered that her late husband was a liar and bigamist, who not only had a second wife but two children from this marriage.

As it turned out, his first wife had sued for divorce in 1865 on the grounds of neglect and abandonment, resulting in the court ordering payment of $2,000 in alimony. Although his divorce was not final until three weeks after his marriage to Frances, the government determined his second wife to be his legal spouse at the time of his death. Therefore, Frances was able to draw his pension and bury his body. Her son William was born in [Image 117952] Juliet and Fort McKinney post commander April 1867.

Colonel Hart were prominent, if not controversial influences, In 1870, when Frances learned on the founding of modern-day Buffalo. of Margaret Carrington’s death, she sent her condolences to Colonel Carrington her military husband and post commander, and a correspondence courtship ensued. The Major Verling K. Hart, the two arrived at Fort pair eventually married in 1871, and shortly McKinney in the late 1800s. thereafter, her new officer husband adopted her In spite of her earlier apparently uneventful son and together they had three more children. life, Juliet had an enormous impact on the early Margaret compiled her memoirs “My years of the city of Buffalo after her husband’s death.

Army Life and the Fort Kearny Massacre” when While serving as post commander, the she was in her early 60s. Less than five years Major had been granted ownership of 629 acres later, she died at the age of 66. A year later, her of land adjacent to the Fort, which she inherited husband died at the age of 88. upon his death.

She would soon learn that the land was home to approximately 800 inadvertent squatters, including residents and businesses forming a small community. Informing them that they were illegally occupying her land caused bad blood between her and her occupants, though eventually an agreement was reached.

Or so they thought.

For $10 a lot, Juliet tentatively agreed the citizens could purchase the land, though in the end, she apparently went back on her promise. Records show about 250 land sales to early Buffalo settlers, but controversy as to who actually owned the land continued through the second half of the 1880s.

Like other controversial figures, Juliet did not stick around town. In 1900, she moved to Washington, D.C. with her son-in-law, Charles W. Taylor, and the date of her death remains unknown.

MARGARET SULLIVANT CARRINGTON Born in Danville, Kentucky, in 1831 to a prosperous and well-connected family, Margaret grew up a highly educated woman, who married Colonel Henry Carrington in 1851, and eventually accompanied him to Fort Phil Kearny.

Of the couple’s six children, only one survived to adulthood. The rest presumably died of tuberculous, of which the Colonel was thought to have been an unaffected carrier who passed the disease along to his family.

A prolific writer and scholar, Margaret recorded the many details of life on a military outpost and documented the area flora and fauna in her journal. She also wrote about her encounters with the local Indians and had a deep sympathy for their struggle to maintain their traditional way of life. Much of what is known today about Fort Phil Kearny is based upon these early writings.

During her year at the post, Margaret also befriended Jim Bridger and spent many evenings reading Shakespeare and other popular books to him.

She was a frequent chronicler of their lives and

Fort McKinney

Johnson County’s Longeststanding Military Fort As the longest-standing outpost in Johnson County, Fort McKinney functioned mainly to discourage off-reservation travel by Native Americans and protect nearby civilians from the ensuing skirmishes. Originally built in 1876 along the Powder River, Fort McKinney was moved to the base of the Big Horn Mountains two years later for its spectacular views and access to natural resources.

Back then, along with being involved in several engagements with the Native Americans, including Wounded Knee in 1890, post personnel were also unwittingly involved in the arrest of the Johnson County Cattle War invaders in 1892.

During its first 16 years, Fort McKinney was instrumental in the development of modernday Buffalo as it offered jobs and markets. The Fort was eventually taken over by the state in 1895, when it became the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home in 1903, and later, the Veterans Home of Wyoming. ____________________________________

Unearthing History: Scrapbook Exhibit Lee Wilson was rooting around in the archives at Spencer Museum of Art at Kansas State University in Lawrence when he came upon an interesting discovery. The retired veterinarian and avid history buff caught a glimpse of a weathered leather scrapbook.

Most likely taken by a photographer commissioned by the U.S. government, the scrapbook contained dozens of sepia prints of an indeterminate date that captured the daily life of soldiers and personnel at Ft. McKinney with candid shots of drills and weekend outings in the nearby Big Horn Mountains.

Intrigued with his discovery, Wilson contacted Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum Director Sylvia Bruner, who worked with the curator at Kansas State to procure copies, which are currently on display at the museum. ____________________________________

Jim Gatchell Museum Hours & Address

Museum hours are subject to change per season.

Winter Hours: Sept. 4 through late May Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Location: 100 Fort Street, Buffalo, WY 82834

travels. When Colonel Carrington was transferred to Fort Caspar in January of 1867, the temperature was so cold that the mercury congealed in the bulb at -40 degrees, as noted in Margaret’s journal. After Fort Caspar, the couple continued to Fort McPherson in Nebraska where the Colonel was post commander.

Margaret was her husband’s biggest fan and supporter, and openly defended his actions surrounding the controversial Fetterman Fight. After he left military service in 1870, the Colonel took a teaching position at Wabash College in Indiana.

Within that same year, like the couple’s five children, 39-year-old Margaret also died of tuberculosis.

SUSAN FITZGERALD One of the more controversial figures of local military lore is Susan Fitzgerald, who unlike most of the women taking up residence at frontier posts was not an officer’s wife nor married to a troop member. Instead, the African-American woman was brought to Fort McKinney in 1866 as a servant to Captain Tenodor Ten Eyck and his wife.

As one of only two unmarried women and servants at the post, Susan proved to be a controversial figure during her stay.

At a time when existence for any single woman, much less a black one, was incredibly difficult, Susan, a budding entrepreneur, decided to open up her own operation, filling a niche that wasn’t entirely legal.

In addition to her duties as a servant and laundress, Susan opened the door for new opportunities, providing some of the sought-over commodities not typically found on the frontier – whiskey, fruit pies, and sausages – all made from government rations.

It wouldn’t take long for her questionable use of government property to catch the eye of authorities. She was officially reprimanded for her activities in fall of 1866, her citation stating in part, “This woman, profane, abusive, and of bad repute before her arrival must observe better behavior or she will not be tolerated in the garrison.”

Less than a year later, she headed to Fort Fetterman with the Ten Eycks, and ultimately followed them to Chicago where she would forever disappear into the back pages of history.

By: Jen C. Kocher with research provided by museun

Photos Courtesy the Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum.

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