Streamliner Features Green River

     Streamliner is the official publication of the Union Pacific Historical Society. The recently released fall edition contains an article highlighting Green River in the 1950s written by Michael Borkon.

      Over twenty pages in length, the article also features many photos, some of which come from the Sweetwater County Museum collection. The author focuses on theme of transition on the railroad. He features October 1958 as an interesting time of overlap between the eras of steam, gas turbine electric and diesel power.

      Borkon uses as a primary source the “Dispatchers' Record of Movement of Trains” for October 1956. The records were recently donated to the Union Pacific Historical Collection by Richard Prince. The article includes a fold-out page containing the reproduction of a page from the records and a map of the Union Pacific yards in Green River.

      Borkon's article gives a detailed view of Green River's major industry during its golden era. Borkon feels that Green River of the 1950s is a microcosm of the Union Pacific line as a whole. His article also includes a brief history of the railroad in Green River.

      Railroad history is Borkon's avocation. In  “real life” he is a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon in Kansas City Missouri. In preparing this article he made several visits to the museum and talked to retired railroad workers in town. In September of 1999 he presented a slide show containing many of the photographs he gathered during his research.

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New Look For Museum Store
Kari Jensen

     The museum store is set up and ready for business this Christmas season!  New titles have been added to the book selection on topics ranging from cowgirls to the Pony Express to outlaws, with even a couple of recipe books thrown in. Another exceptional new title is Frontier Spirit: The History of Wyoming by Craig Sadaro and Randy Adams. It has been revised and updated and is an excellent source for prehistory through the Indian Wars; from the wild years of territorial Wyoming up to the conflicts and coming of age in the twentieth century. And, of course, for our local history buffs, we still carry the old favorites, Sweetwater Views, Echoes From The Bluffs, History of the Union Pacific Coal Company, and Booms and Busts on Bitter Creek.

     We're also pleased to have in our selection of new titles, Union Pacific Steam Big Boy Portraits and Challenger Portraits to enhance our railroad gift items. We have great stocking stuffers featuring U.P. Beanie Bears, wooden whistles that sound just like an old time UPRR train engine, and Junior Engineer caps. And for Mom and Dad, we have the beautiful Green River Challenger afghan. It's a big, soft cotton blanket stitched with a colorful image of a Green River winter from yesteryear.  Great for nestling under or adding to your wall décor.

     And, you'll find it hard to resist keeping your eye on the clock...especially one as cute as what we have in the museum store this Christmas. This small-scale “Little Engine That Could” clock is big on charm, cast in solid gunmetal with real working wheels and presented in its own collectible tin box graced with the UP shield.

     Items are limited, so be sure to stop by and see them soon! If you have any questions, feel free to come in or call at 872-6435 or 352-6715. Museum Store hours are 9 to 5 Monday through Friday.  

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Board Message
Kevin Holdsworth

     After the year's first big windstorm blew through, we lost the large black willow tree in our front yard.  It didn't blow away-not a chance of that.  I mean we had to cut it down.  We counted 107 rings, although we might have missed a few. We guess the tree was planted around 1890, the year Robert Morris built the house. 

     1890 is an important year.  It's the year Wyoming became a state, as well as the year before Green River was incorporated.  Sitting Bull was killed in 1890, and in that year in Wisconsin a man called Turner delivered a famous thesis that claimed that the frontier was now closed.  I'm not sure Turner had it right. In some ways, the frontier hasn't really closed, at least not in southwest Wyoming.

     Robert Morris planted a lot of trees.  Sweetwater County has honored Mr. Morris, who was the twin son of Esther Hobart Morris, (Robert's brother built the house next door), with a plaque in the southwest corner of the courthouse grounds.  The plaque can be found along with a chunk of petrified wood.  The black willow outlived Mr. Morris by about eighty years.  The petrified wood predates him about one-hundred fifty million. 

     Planting and tending trees is one way to insure that something will outlive us.  Still, the life expectancy of a tree isn't all that long, nor are trees legitimate objects for a museum. Or are they?  Well, scarce as trees are in these parts, they do make quite a nice living museum in our towns.

     In addition to planting trees, Robert Morris helped bring the Carnegie Library to town.  Just east of that library is a splendidly renovated post office building, now home to the Sweetwater County Historical Museum.  I think Mr. Morris would be pleased.

     Cutting down the tree was a sad task.  We wanted to save it but it was impossible.  A museum makes it possible to preserve other artifacts, human artifacts, and in this way a museum comprises a vital and essential part of our community.  Be sure to stop by the “new” museum and take time to revive the past.

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Curator's Corner       
Mark Nelson

    The dust is still settling (literally) in the world of collections management here at the new museum. My office is now somewhat organized and contains all of the records associated with the collection. A portion of the material that was formerly stored in the main storage room in the old museum is currently housed in my office as well.

     The majority of our stored artifacts are located in an offsite facility. Plans are currently under way to improve the environmental conditions at this storage building in order to meet museum standards. With the onset of winter, this project will address the need for increased insulation and the placement of space heating units.

     The main storage room at the new museum should be ready to accept artifacts in the middle of December. Many of the objects currently stored at the offsite facility will be relocated to the new museum during the next few months. There are also a number of items still being stored in the courthouse that will need to be moved in the months ahead.

     The old coalbunker at the post office has been transformed into a storage room for the museum's archival collection. In order to accomplish this feat, the floor, walls and ceiling had to be cleaned, sealed and painted. Storage shelves were then installed and shortly thereafter, the room was filled to capacity with paper items from the collection. This same process will be repeated for the main storage room located next to the coalbunker.

     The move has been rather challenging and although the museum will be open to the public soon, we will be working for some time into the future wrestling with storage and collections management issues.

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Exhibits Roundup  
Gary Perkins

     It's exciting to see a plan come together, especially a plan that many times I have to admit I doubted would ever come to fruition: the new museum gallery is finally a reality! It was difficult and sometimes literally backbreaking, getting everything moved and put back together. My heartfelt thanks to Mark, Kari and Ruth who spent many hours helping me pack showcase items and wrap text panels. Thanks also to Richard Tolman's maintenance staff who loaded most of the boxes onto the truck and then unloaded them at the new location. The incredible energy and leadership of Head Janitor Ted Oswald was invaluable. For those items that even Ted couldn't manage, we turned to the professionals of Reinhart Moving Company of Rock Springs. It was inspiring to watch them move the 2,000 pound coal car and the large showcases without a scratch.

     Once everything was in the new building the fun, as far as I was concerned, began. Mark and I spent days fitting together divider panels and setting the showcases in their new locations. My wife, Criss, volunteered numerous hours to help me load showcases and hang text panels and track lights. Then Mark and I spent an afternoon checking the light levels on each object to make sure that delicate textiles, such as the Chinese banner, uniforms and dresses, and organic items, such as the Chinese feather fan and Native American leather-work, would not be damaged by being on display. It is always a challenge to find a balance between protecting an object and showing it dramatically. I expect that some of our visitors will be disappointed that we had to limit the amount of outside light into the gallery but it was necessary to prevent damage to the objects.

     I think our exhibits look better in the new building than they did in the courthouse. The courthouse is a modern office building, and no matter how hard we tried to hide it, that's what it always looked like. Our cherished artifacts from the past belong in an old building; the renovated post office fills the bill nicely. Unfortunately, while the gallery area of the new museum is beautiful, it is smaller than the area we had in the courthouse. When we set up in the new building we had to reduce the area allotted to several exhibits and delete the ranching exhibit entirely. I hope that our storage situation improves in the future as I would like to remove the bedroom and the home entertainment exhibits (the bedroom exhibit, while attractive has been on display for many years) and replace them with something new. I had hoped to use the basement for exhibits but that area had to be used for collection storage. However, I am working on some ideas for text and photo exhibits to hang on the walls of the downstairs corridor.

     One of the ideas we are actively exploring is the recreation of one of the boats used by John Wesley Powell. Powell is one of the most famous American explorers and, since he started his epic journey down the Green River about a mile from the museum, I think it is important to enlarge our exhibit on his adventure if we can. He had three twenty-one foot boats made out of oak and one 16 footer made of pine. A 21-foot boat is a pretty big boat (that's two feet longer than my beloved 1967 Buick Electra!). We are in the process of trying to find the plans to build Powell's boat. I have enlisted the aid of master boat maker and television personality Fred Pickett to help me on this project.

     Although we are pressed for space, I still have not given up the idea of building an “N” scale replica of the Green River railroad yards in the 1940s at the height of steam age. Construction of dioramas showing underground coal mining in the county is another idea we'd like to pursue. Dioramas are effective for explaining things, especially to younger visitors.

     Additionally, I have been talking to Fred Pickett about enlisting his help in making short documentaries to accompany the exhibits. Ideally these would be about five or ten minutes long on DVD disks rather than VCR tapes. We have many visitors who are interested in the subjects of our exhibits but find reading text difficult for various reasons.

     I am glad to be in the new museum. Not only do the current exhibits look great in the new gallery, but now I can begin concentrating on some of the fun, new projects which have been on hold pending completion of the move.

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Director's Report
Ruth Lauritzen

            It's been a good move. Not necessarily a fun move, but a good one. There are many wonderful things about our new building, including the hardwood floors, high ceilings and large windows. But the thing I like about it best is its sense of place in the community.

            Though we actually moved only half a block, our new location feels much more connected to Green River's downtown. The museum is in the flow of everyday business now, where before we seemed to have little relationship with the world outside the courthouse.

            While I do miss interaction with long-time friends and associates in the courthouse, I also have found a new set of friends and supporters in the business community.  I have been amazed how many people have been, first, watching the progress on our renovation, and second, the labors of our move. It is heartening to find out that so many people care about the museum in our community.

            We owe a special thanks to Julie Kendall at Don Pedros and Lisa Reynolds at Sage Creek Bagels for the special treats they gave us to keep us going. Also, to Misty Zimmerman for her expertise in book sales and marketing. And finally, thanks to all of you who have kept asking, “How's the work on the new museum?” even when it seemed like we were getting nowhere fast.

            We are happy to be stepping out into the bigger world of our community and have so far, been made to feel very welcome. Thanks to everyone for your continuing support!

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Volunteer Opportunities

     If you have an interest in volunteering at the museum please call Ruth at 872-6435 or 352-6715. Volunteers may choose to work as much as they wish, coming in on a regular schedule or just helping out for special events. If you have special talents and time to give we would love to hear from you.

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