Wyoming's "Moving Waters"

     From December 2001 through July 2002, the seven states that share the waters of the Green and Colorado river system (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) are collaborating on Moving Waters, a project to generate regional consciousness of the river. The program will take place in 22 communities, some along the river, some far from its banks, but all dependent on it. 

      Major project components include: On the Move, a traveling exhibit; In the Air, a six-part radio documentary; Water Wars, an introduction to the law of the river; Reading the River, book discussion programs; and The River WE Know, community self-portraits.

      Upcoming events in Wyoming include the following:

      Thursday, June 20 - A roundtable discussion on "The Law of the River" will take place at the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale, Wyoming.  Led by legal scholar Anne MacKinnon, and including area ranchers and water resource managers, as well as the former state water engineer for Wyoming. Participants and the public will discuss upper Green River water law history. For further information contact Anne MacKinnon, 307-265-6752.

      Wednesday, June 26 through noon on Friday, June 28: "Headwaters Close-Up," a field course on the ecology and law of the Upper Green River, sponsored by the University of Wyoming, and taking place in  Pinedale, Wyoming (college credit will be offered). The course will explore the geology, ecology, and water quality issues on two to three stretches of the upper Green River. For further information contact: Anne MacKinnon (307) 265-6752.

      Friday, June 28 - Saturday, June 29.  A public conference at Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, Wyoming, on the historical, legal and philosophical issues facing the Colorado River watershed: "Thinking Like a River: From Knapsack Col to the Sea of Cortez."   The conference will, through a series of speakers and roundtable discussions, examine the Colorado River, especially its headwaters stream, the Green River, to explore the pivotal role it has played in the history of the West and its critical importance to the future of region. The program will use a blend of history and jurisprudence as well as science, to help a public audience understand the history and the current issues facing a river they know and love. For further information contact: Katharine Collins (307) 382-4979. 

      Wednesday, July 17: Roundtable Discussion: Water Law Issues on the Lower Green River and Water Law and Economic Development sponsored by the Wyoming Council for the Humanities and the Sweetwater County Historical Museum. Kayaks, power plans, dams, municipal water systems, mines and aquatic wildlife-How do they all come together in Green River? It is an interesting story. Come Listen and talk about history, policy and the future on the river. The free public program will be held at the Sweetwater County Library in Green River.        

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"Can We See...?" Most Asked About Artifacts

      There are some artifacts in the museum collection which seem to hold the fascination of visitors.  Exhibits Coordinator Gary Perkins reports on the recent placement of some such artifacts on exhibit and the story behind them. 

      “While I was helping Mark Nelson move some items from our courthouse storage area, I was able to study the ventriloquist dummies of Port Ward and Thomas Smith. It has been many years since they were on display. I think that more visitors ask to see them than anything else in our collection so I decided to include them in our exhibit on home entertainment.  To do this, I built Plexiglas 'chairs' to support the dummies. Because of their 'creepiness' they have quickly become the favorite exhibit for our school tours even though (from their questions and much to my surprise) evidently few young people have ever seen a ventriloquist perform.  We are very lucky to have these dummies as they are undoubtedly excellent examples of a vanishing art form.”

      “Three of the dummies on display were owned by Port Jackson Ward (1882-1959) who began studying ventriloquism when he was a child in England.  By the time he was 16 years old he was a professional ventriloquist, mimic and magician. Three years later his act, 'Talking Dolls With Five Different Voices,' won him the accolade 'Founder of Mimicry.” He performed for the royal family of Great Britain in 1909.

      “Ward, his wife Elizabeth and their daughter, came to Rock Springs in 1909 where he worked for the Union Pacific Coal Company until 1947. In his free time Ward entertained regularly at the old Grand Theater and Opera House in Superior and at many union parties and other local events. Ward declined several opportunities to return to the entertainment profession full time. According to his 1959 Rock Springs Rocket-Miner obituary, Ward 'had the foresight to know that the art was in its vanishing era and preferred to cast his lot with the coal mining industry.”

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Board Message
Kevin Holdsworth

     With the opening of the new whitewater park in Green River and its apparent early success at bringing in visitors, we have heard the persistent grumbles that, “We don't want to become another Jackson.”  On the other hand, some people have even gone so far as to suggest that the whitewater park might help Green River become “the next Moab.”  My friends, we have nothing to worry about in either regard.

      In fact, it's downright amazing that-in a community that has had to close two schools in as many years-anyone is worried about an onslaught of newcomers.  At the same time, while the new whitewater park is certainly a swell place, it is no Slickrock Trail, dudes.  Nor can the Green really compete for thrills with the Snake.  Green River and Rock Springs do not boast the Grand Teton over the next rise and never will.  Our towns are not gateways to the greatest concentration of large ungulates in North America.  We endure a harsh climate, with long winters, plenty of wind, and short summers.  Economic opportunities have historically been limited and are limited still.  But wait: all this is good.  Our sparse population ensures that everyone's favorite spot will remain unspoiled for future use.  People like it here because there's room--elbow room--and a real sense of both adventure and history. 

      The whitewater park is more than simply a few boulders and dams in the Green River.  It takes advantage of Expedition Island's important history, as well as the wonderful circular walk past interpretive signs that celebrate the early river runners.  The river is in many ways a key to exploiting what is unique about our area.  John Wesley Powell, as well as the other early river runners, left from one place only: Green River City, Wyoming.  Why not take advantage of both the ever-flowing mighty Green and its history?

      What the Sweetwater County Historical Museum and other venues that display and interpret our history can offer is some depth to the scenery, some background to the backdrop.  Hundreds of thousands of people drive past our communities every year.  Many hundreds and thousands drive through on the way to Flaming Gorge or the Yellowstone Country.  What's the harm in giving them an excuse to part with a little of their time and money? 

      The fact is that tourism is probably the one dependable growth industry in our region.  This doesn't mean that we ought to stage fake shootouts on Flaming Gorge Way or Dewar Drive every day at noon, or sell rubber tomahawks at the local convenience store.   We have the benefit of time to ensure that what we offer to passers-through is memorable and of high quality.  The Sweetwater County Historical Museum is trying to do just that.  Stop in to see the new facility.  Whenever you have family or friends in the area, tell them about it too.

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Curator's Corner       
Mark Nelson

      The movement of objects from one location to another continues to occupy much of our time and attention. We now have approximately 1,700 artifacts stored in the basement of the new museum. Additionally, most of the items once stored in the alternate storage room at the courthouse have now been removed to an off-site storage facility.

      The records for items placed into the museum's storage room are now being updated and are being placed on the museum's computer database. We are also in the process of placing digital photos of these artifacts onto the computer records.

      We continue to catch up on cataloging the backlog of items donated over the past couple of years. Now that most of the pressure has been taken off of move-related tasks, we are nearly finished with the cataloging of objects accessioned in 2001 and 2002.

      The curatorial office recently purchased a scanner capable of scanning glass plate negatives. This winter we will be setting aside some time to undertake the scanning of selected glass plate negatives. 

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Exhibits Roundup  
Gary Perkins

      I decided to augment several of our exhibits with short digital video disc (DVD) films as a way to present information about the subjects of our exhibits to those who do not have the skills or inclination to read the exhibit's text panels. Our first DVD exhibit is just about ready. A ten-minute movie, “The Instrument of Human Happiness: The Story of the Phonograph: has been made and will shortly be installed in the gallery. We have ordered three standard DVD players adapted with push buttons so that operation of the machines would be simpler for the museum visitor.

      I have finished the second DVD exhibit script: “Moving Waters: the Story of the Green River in Sweetwater County.” The ten-minute movie, assembled using still photos from our museum's collection plus movies by a local filmmaker, tells the story of the importance of the river to our county from the time of the prehistoric people to today. It will be part of the Nation Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) exhibit “Moving Waters” set up at Western Wyoming Community College. After the NEH exhibit is over, the DVD will be shown with the “Exploring the Unknown” exhibit in our museum's gallery. I am just about to start a third script on coal mining in our county for the museum's coal mining exhibit.

      We were recently given three showcases by local businessman Jerry Palmer. This gave me the opportunity to mount some new exhibits. The first case was filled with an exhibit on William Stroud titled, “A Modern Explorer: Rocky Mountain Bill.” Stroud was a man of many talents. He was a movie maker, photographer, poet songwriter, carpenter, taxidermist and a businessman. Most importantly, though, he was renowned as an explorer of the Wind River Mountains. He was probably the first man to take motion pictures of wildlife. He toured the nation as a speaker for the Izaak Walton League of America, an organization dedicated to preserving wildlife, showing his movies and still photographs. His photographs were also published several times in the National Geographic magazine.

      Born in Mountain Ash, Scotland, in 1854, Stroud immigrated to Pennsylvania with his parents. He originally intended to be a minister and studied at the Dwight L. Moody Institute of Chicago. After his wife and child died, he came to Rock Springs in 1888, where he worked first as a coal miner, then opened his own furniture store.

      Stroud was fascinated with photography and the wild terrain of Wyoming. Using a glass plate camera he photographed the Wind River Mountains and lakes, the Fire Hole country south of Rock Springs and the Red and Ladore Canyons of the Green River. He lugged a heavy motion picture camera (on display in the museum) through the mountain wilderness to make a full length move of wildlife. The film was later lost while he was in California seeking a producer to market it. Unfortunately, most of his glass negatives and prints were later destroyed in a Rock Springs flood.

      In 1924, Stroud was able to combine his photography hobby with his religious interests. He photographed many of the sites important to Christianity on a visit to the Holy Land and Italy. (He bought the clock displayed in the exhibit when he was in Europe.) Upon his return to America, he went on a nation-wide tour giving magic lantern slide shows of this travels.

      In addition to his photography, Stroud enjoyed writing poems and articles about his exploring trips. His works were often published in local newspapers. He also made doll furniture (an example is on display) and worked as a Boy Scout leader.

      Stroud died in 1946 at the age of 92. According to the Union Pacific Coal Company's Employee Magazine : “Stroud never reaped any financial benefit from his enterprises, but was defrauded by unscrupulous people. He could not believe that others were dishonest and was often imposed upon by promoters and 'sharks' in different parts of the country.” The magazine cited the example of a man who stole Stroud's photographs and sent them to the National Geographic claiming that he had created them. “After a long controversy, 'Rocky Mountain Bill' was given full credit for the photographs.” The Union Pacific went on to praise Stroud as “a kindly, gentle soul who did much to publicize Wyoming and the West.” According to his newspaper obituary, “'Rock Mountain Bill' was probably the greatest explorer of western Wyoming mountains and desert, as well as its outstanding photographer.” 

      We used the second donated showcase to display more of our outstanding collection of Chinese artifacts that were dug up during excavations of “Chinatown” in Rock Springs several years ago.

      We filled the third case with items relating to the early days of motoring including tire patching materials, old postcards, old road signs, spark plugs, a copper Lincoln Highway logo, photographs of Little America in the early years, removable tire studs for driving in treacherous conditions, a metal sign advertising free ice water at Little America and some advertisements for Model A Fords. This case was placed with the Lincoln Highway and 1908 Great Auto Race exhibits.

      When David Freeman's meteorite exhibit ended in May, we moved our temporary exhibits case into the main gallery and filled it with some of the best of our collection's coal mining safety trophies. When I look at this case and the objects in the Chinese cases, I can't  help but be thankful that the Union Pacific Coal Company donated these rare items to the county.

      For the annual quilt show held in early May at Expedition Island we brought out our 1884 “crazy” quilt and displayed it on the bed in the home exhibit. Because the quilt fades quickly in light, it was only on view for six weeks and then it was returned to storage.

      The problem of fading quilts is a good lead in for my next long-term project. Next budget year, I hope to begin the process of installing fiber optic lighting in the showcases as the first step in realizing my goal of eventually replacing our gallery's incandescent track lighting with fiber optic lighting. The problem with incandescent and florescent lighting is that it emits heat and ultra-violet (UV) and infra-red (IR) light. Artifacts are slowly baked when they are placed inside a showcase with an internal incandescent  or florescent light bulb. This is why we do not internally light any of our cases. Fiber optic lighting does not heat the inside of cases and since it has no IR or UV light waves, it would be possible to illuminate our artifacts without damaging them, thereby significantly increasing the amount of time they could be displayed. 

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Director's Report
Ruth Lauritzen

      So many projects, so little time! Occasionally the sheer number of different things going on at the museum can be overwhelming. There is just so much that we want to do, but boring things like the annual budget keep getting in the way! But, with perseverance, the less exciting, but very necessary, things do get done and we can start on the fun things. 

      One of the fun projects I hope to get working on this summer is the production of a new cookbook. Tentatively titled, Sweetwater Celebrates, the book is going to feature recipes and recollections from different ethnic holidays and celebrations. 

      Research for this project involves doing a number of oral histories with people from different ethnic backgrounds. I am hoping to gather recipes and the stories behind them. I am also interested in decorations and activities associated with different holidays. Of course I hope to put in quite a few photographs as well. My first, (and so far only), interview was with Mollie Yowell who grew up in England. In our hour-long interview we went through the calendar, talking about the holidays she remembered celebrating including familiar ones like Christmas and ones less known on this side of the Atlantic like Guy Fawkes Day. She provided several of her mother's recipes for puddings, including a Christmas pudding, (the “figgy pudding” of Christmas carol fame).

      The Sweetwater County Museum Foundation has agreed to consider funding the printing of the book when complete. But, as you can probably guess, completing the book will be the hard part. I would appreciate input from community members about people to talk to and sources for recipes and photographs. Please contact me at the museum (307) 872-6435 or (307) 352-6715 if you have any information to contribute to this project. 

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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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