Cabin of a Woman Homesteader

            A rather ramshackle log building sits in southern Sweetwater County in the middle of a large tract of agricultural land, far from the nearest road. What makes this cabin so different from the hundreds of other abandoned buildings which sit moldering away in other locations? This building is the Elinore Pruitt Stewart homestead cabin and the museum, museum foundation and several other groups have begun a project to save it from the ravages of time. Working together, they hope to stabilize and preserve this important piece of our history.

            In 1985 the house was added to the National Register for Historic Places. Inclusion on this roster means that the building has met a high standard of significance on both national and local levels. The building is a substantial log structure consisting of an original cabin (circa 1898) and north and south wings/additions (circa 1909). The building is located in the Burntfork Valley in the very southwest corner of Sweetwater County. The homestead's significance revolves around two points: the long overlooked role of women homesteaders in the American West and the literary merits of Mrs. Stewart's book, Letters of a Woman Homesteader, a warm and lively chronicle of her ranch life in the southwest corner of Wyoming.

            Elinore Rupert Pruitt, a widowed laundress from Denver, came to Wyoming in the spring of 1909 to work as a housekeeper for Clyde Stewart. Within six weeks of her arrival Mrs. Pruitt filed a homestead entry on property located very close to Mr. Stewart's homestead. One week after filing her homestead entry Mrs. Pruitt and Mr. Stewart applied for a marriage license. After their marriage, the Stewarts built additions onto Mr. Stewart's existing cabin. The homestead structure, then, was originally constructed by Clyde Stewart and became Mrs. Stewart's as well after her marriage.

            Nila Wilde of McKinnon is the current owner of the property. Mrs. Wilde is very interested in preserving the house, but doesn’t have the financial ability to do so. Mrs. Wilde has agreed to consider some sort on preservation easement of the property. This sort of agreement will allow her to retain ownership of the property, but will ensure the protection of the historic structure.

            The project will unfold in three phases. Phase one is the fencing of the property to prevent further damage by livestock. In the spring of 2006 it is hoped that an Eagle Scout candidate from a local Boy Scout troop will adopt the project. Several troops have been contacted about this service opportunity.

            Phase two is the evaluation of the building by an expert in log structure stabilization and restoration. Mr. Harrison Goodall from Conservation Services in Langley, Washington will be contracted to evaluate the building during the summer of this year. Mr. Goodall is extremely knowledgeable in the area of historic log structures and is currently working with Grand Teton National Park on several of their buildings. His consultation will produce a document stipulating what needs to be done to the structure to stabilize and restore it and an estimate of the costs of that work. Funds for  this phase are coming from the museum, museum foundation and a Certified Local Government Grant from the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service. The Green River Historic Preservation Commission and the City of Green River are sponsoring this grant.

            Phase three is the actual “log and mortar” work on the building itself. This will be by far the most expensive phase of the entire project.

            The total stabilization and preservation of the building is a long-term proposition involving the work of many organizations and individuals. The project really originated with Mike and Joan Wire from Pennsylvania. Mike is Mrs. Stewart’s grandson and he and his wife have a strong desire to save the building from eventual destruction. They have committed to trying to raise funds for the project and to date their efforts have resulted in a $500 donation from family member Linda Stewart.

            The museum foundation has also been raising funds and have received a $700.00 donation from the Wells Fargo Community Assistance Fund and the same amount from the Sweetwater County Historical Society for the project.

            It is not the intent of the foundation or the museum to make this site accessible to the public at this time. The building is located in the middle of several acres of irrigated agricultural land and is inaccessible during much of the year. Rather, the organizations are concerned with the preservation of the property until such a time, perhaps in the far distant future, when opening it to public access will be possible. Unfortunately with a few more years of neglect, there will be nothing left for future visitors to see.

            All parties involved realize that this is an ambitious project, but are committed to it as they feel it is very important. There are only twenty-nine properties on the National Register of Historic Places in Sweetwater County and this is the only one of those sites associated with our ranching heritage. There is also its connection to a well-known female literary figure.

            If you are interested in helping with this project, or would just like to know more about it, please contact Ruth Lauritzen at (307) 872-6435 or (307) 352-6715.           

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Board Message  
Donna Mundschenk

            A well-endowed museum is not one with an impressive chest measurement. Rather it is an organization which has invested in its future by creating an investment fund called an endowment. A true endowment is an account in which the principal remains intact and only the interest is spent.

            Many large public and private museums have endowment funds from which they derive a substantial portion of their income. These large sums held in principal are generally from patron and supporter bequests.

            The museum is very fortunate to have excellent and continuing support from the Sweetwater County Commissioners. All of the basic operating funds for the museum come from tax monies with grant funds being used only for special projects.

            While this is a happy situation to be in, the museum board and staff would be remiss in not planning for a different future. For this reason the museum created an endowment fund several years ago which is administered by the Wyoming Community Foundation. The initial funds invested came from a grant through the Wyoming Arts Council called the Arts Endowment Fund. This was a Centennial project which was designed to help non-profit organizations in the state become more self-supporting. 

            Since that first investment we have continued to add to the fund when we are able, but the increases have been small. In an effort to help the fund grow faster, the museum board has made several key decisions. First, rather than have the interest funds distributed for use, the board voted to have them reinvested as principal until further notice. The board has also requested that the Museum Foundation make a yearly contribution to the principal. This was recently completed for 2005 and resulted in a $500 increase in the fund balance.

            An endowment fund also gives patrons and friends of the museum the ability to make donations to the organization in a way that is beneficial from a tax standpoint. The Wyoming Community Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization and thus donations to it are generally tax deductible.

            If you are interested in the museum’s endowment fund or want to know more about how you can help make our endowment grow, please contact Ruth Lauritzen at the museum (307) 872-6425 or (307) 352-6715 and she can give you more information.

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Director's Report 
Ruth Lauritzen

             I am delighted to report that the museum has received a grant of $2,500 from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. These funds will be used to support a feasibility study/conceptual design for a storage addition to the museum. The study will be conducted by a historic architect to ensure that the addition will not only serve the technical needs of collection storage, but blend with the existing historic structure.

            Kurt Dubbe of Dubbe-Moulder Architects of Jackson is the historic architect who will do the study. Dubbe has worked with several historic building projects in the state including the renovation plans for the Historic Governor’s Mansion in Cheyenne and the expansion plans for the Uinta County Museum in Evanston.

            Dubbe will visit the museum of April 20th to meet with the museum staff to discuss the needs that the museum has for storage and how they can be addressed by an addition. He will also tour the museum and view the site of the proposed addition. He may also meet with City and County staff as necessary to determine how building codes and funding mechanisms will affect the project.        

            Matching funds for the grant and other supplemental funds to pay for the study will come from the museum budget. The document produced by this project will be used by the museum staff and board to make presentations to potential funders for the construction portion of the project. We anticipate primary funding to come from Sweetwater County Commissioners, but will also seek support from other sources when practical and available.

            This project is really the beginning of Phase Two of the overall relocation of the museum which was begun many years ago. Our move into our current building  in 2001 marked a culmination of several yeas of development efforts, however, the facility is far from perfect, especially in regards to our storage facilities. As a result of the move the museum lost all storage space in the courthouse and only regained in the new building a portion of what was lost. The material that does not fit into the new building has been stored in rented commercial storage space.

            It has always been the intention of the board and staff to pursue Phase Two to provide better storage facilities for the museum both for the good of the collection and the county’s pocketbook. Currently we are paying about $11,000 a year in storage rental.

            The museum staff is very excited to begin this process and look forward to working with Mr. Dubbe in the coming months. 

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Curator's Corner                                             
Mark Nelson

            The continued generosity of the citizens of Sweetwater County and elsewhere has ensured the growth of the museum’s artifact collection over the past several months. Norma Jean Smith donated a number of Girl Scout objects that once belonged to her daughters. Peggy Espy was kind enough to contribute her father’s large map collection to the museum. Many of the maps focus on the Swanson Mine. Carolyn M. Carollo donated numerous items from the Mortimer and Thompson families. Her father, Harold Mortimer, served as Post Master here in Green River for many years.

            From time to time I am asked to write book reviews for various publications. This fall I had the opportunity to write a review of the book Mystery In History by Eva Potts Wells Burton. The review has since been published in the Outlaw Trail History Journal.

            As I am sure Gary will explain at some length in his column, we have made some changes to the exhibits gallery since this newsletter’s last publication. In December I worked with Gary in selecting a number of Scout objects to be included in a new display. The items formerly used in the “Treasures from the Attic” exhibit have been returned to their former storage areas. If you did not get a chance to see these interesting archival items, notify me and we will arrange for you to examine them.

            Last month I gave a two- day presentation to the students of Mr. Loe’s advanced placement history class at Green River High School. The subject of the presentation was the First Special Services or  “Black Devils”. The students seemed to benefit from the presentation and I have been asked to give the talk again next year. If you are a member of a civic group and would like for me to provide a presentation, just contact me.

           Now that the museum’s uncataloged collection of archival materials has been inventoried, it is time to produce a finding aid for the collection. I have begun the process of entering the information into a searchable Word document. When completed, the finding aid will be useful when trying to locate information at the museum and will benefit future researchers.

            I once again ask that if you have an opportunity to visit the collections storage area, please feel free to come downstairs and do so. I am always ready to discuss the museum collections with interested patrons. I hope you all have an enjoyable winter and spring.

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Exhibits Roundup  
Gary Perkins

             I replaced the exhibit “Treasures From The Attic” chosen by Curator Mark Nelson with one on Scouting in Sweetwater County. I used lots of the information that Ruth had gathered on the movement and the documents in our reference files. One of the more interesting things Mark found for the exhibit was a group of glass magic lantern slides that were part of a talk given by the Scoutmaster of Troop 1 in the 1920s. I scanned them and reproduced the whole series of photos showing the boys at camps in the Wind River range and in Fire Hole Canyon.

            If you have more information on early Scouting in our county you are welcome to write out your story and we will include it in our archives.

            The history of the Boy Scouts as known to millions of youth and adults, evolved during the early 1900s through the efforts of several men dedicated to bettering youth. These pioneers of the program conceived outdoor activities that developed skills in young boys and gave them a sense of enjoyment, fellowship, and a code of conduct for everyday living.

            In this country and abroad at the turn of the century, it was thought that children needed certain kinds of education that the schools could not or did not provide. This led to the formation of a variety of youth groups, many with the word "Scout" in their names. For example, Ernest Thompson Seton, an American naturalist, artist, writer, and lecturer, originated a group called the Woodcraft Indians and in 1902 wrote a guidebook for boys in his organization called the Birch Bark Roll.            

            Meanwhile in Britain, Robert Baden-Powell, after returning to his country a hero following military service in Africa, found boys reading the manual he had written for his regiment on stalking and survival in the wild. Gathering ideas from Ernest Seton, Daniel Carter Beard, and other Scoutcraft experts, Baden-Powell rewrote his manual as a nonmilitary skill book, which he titled Scouting for Boys.

            The book rapidly gained a wide readership in England and soon became popular in the United States. In 1907, when Baden-Powell held the first campout for Scouts on Brownsea Island off the coast of England, troops were being formed in America.

            Chicago publisher, William D. Boyce, while on a visit to London became lost in a fog. He claimed he was led to his destination by a young Boy Scout who refused to take a tip claiming that it was his “good turn.” Boyce was so impressed with the Scout’s actions that he sought a meeting with Scout leader Baden-Powell. Boyce decided that he would create a similar organization in the United States. Upon his return to America in 1910, he incorporated the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Immediately after its incorporation, the BSA was assisted by officers of the Young Men's’ Christian Association (YMCA) in organizing a task force to help community organizations start and maintain a high-quality Scouting program.

            Troop One was founded in Rock Springs in 1916 under the sponsorship of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion. Troop One of Green River was formed in May 1919 under the sponsorship of several local men including Charles Nicoll, businessman and later mayor, O. O. Davis, editor of the Green River Star, and A. R. Couzens. The first scoutmaster was George Ecenroad who was assisted by C. E. Beveridge. At the time of organization, a council, an organizational unit for Scouting, had not been established in the area and the troop was administered by correspondence with a distant Scouting office. The Community Club of Green River was established in 1921 and took over sponsorship.

            Shortly after the establishment of the Green River troop, it got an opportunity to participate in an historic event, the first Transcontinental Airplane Race of 1919. The Scouts helped prepare the landing ground at Hutton Heights and tried to keep bystanders from getting too close to the airplanes. One airplane taxied into the railroad spur line, which ran across Hutton Heights to supply the potash plant. The plane tipped forward, causing the propeller to strike the ground and break off. The troop was given the broken prop as a souvenir of their participation in the historic occasion. This relic, from a DH-4, a WWI-era Army plane, is on display in the museum gallery.

            Camping for early Boy Scouts was a rustic affair. There were no developed campsites and so the boys truly “roughed it.” The first camp was held at the old Lee Stephensen place four miles west of Green River in 1919. There was not a bridge close by so the food and equipment was carried by the boys on their shoulders when they waded the river.

            The 1920 camp was held upriver at Rood’s ranch, a few miles above Big Island. The last day of camp was spent with the whole troop voluntarily walking back to town. Scoutmaster Ecenroad carried a pedometer and declared that the troop was on the move from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and that the hike was forty miles long. Each boy carried a package of soda crackers and a can of pork and beans for lunch but they had to leave the road and go down to the river to get water.

            In 1923 Troop One camped at Newfork Lake in the Wind River Mountains, current site of a developed camp for both Boy and Girl Scouts, for the first time. The boys stayed for two weeks and had the opportunity to hear “walk talks” presented by professors from the University of Wyoming. These experts included geologists and botanists who taught the boys about the natural history of the area. The only shelters for the campers were pup tents and an army pyramid tent loaned by one of the nearby ranchers, and there were so many rat holes in it that it was almost useless to keep out the rain.

            Girl Scouting also has an interesting history. Juliette Gordon “Daisy” Low founded the Girl Scouts in 1912. Low met Sir Robert Baden-Powell the year before in England and was very impressed with his Boy Scouts and Girl Guides youth movements.

            Juliette Low was born in Savannah, Georgia, on October 31, 1860. During the Civil War, her mother took the children to stay with her family in Chicago while Juliette’s father served as a captain in the Confederate army. After the war, the family reunited in Savannah.

            Juliette wrote poems, sketched, wrote and acted in plays, and later became a skilled painter and sculptor. She loved animals and always had exotic birds and dogs around her. In 1886, she married wealthy William Low of England. At her wedding a grain of rice that was thrown at her lodged in her ear puncturing the eardrum and leading to deafness in that ear.

            During the Spanish-American War (1898), she returned to America to help her mother organize a convalescent hospital for returning soldiers from Cuba while her father, now a general in the US Army, was campaigning in Puerto Rico. After the war she returned to England. Her husband died in 1905 and the young widow searched for several years for something useful to do with her life. After her 1911 meeting with Baden-Powell, she thought she had found her mission. She became a Girl Guide leader and lead three troops in England and Scotland.

            Juliette returned to America in 1912 and on March 12th she gathered 18 girls to register the first troop of American Girl Guides. The organization’s name was changed to Girl Scouts the following the year.

            In developing the Girl Scout movement in the United States, Juliette brought girls of all backgrounds into the out-of-doors, giving them the opportunity to develop self-reliance and resourcefulness. She encouraged girls to prepare not only for traditional homemaking, but also for possible future roles as professional women — in the arts, sciences and business — and for active citizenship outside the home. Girl Scouting welcomed disabled girls at a time when they were excluded from many other activities. The idea seemed quite natural to Juliette, who never let deafness, back problems or cancer keep her from full participation in life.

            From the original 18 girls, Girl Scouting has grown to 3.7 million members.

            Girl Scouting is the largest educational organization for girls in the world and has influenced the more than 50 million girls, women and men who have belonged to it.

            The American Legion Auxiliary sponsored the first Girl Scout troop in Green River in 1931. The following year the Green River Woman’s Club took up co-sponsorship for the troop. The first camp was held at Covey Ranch in Cokeville, Wyoming in 1934. The next year the troop camped at Newfork Lake in a primitive cabin without electricity, water, or heat other than a coal-fired stove. Tragedy struck in 1928 when four Rock Springs area girls drowned in the lake while on a scouting trip. A stone memorial was erected by the lake in their memory.

            Today, Camp Sacagawea on Casper Mountain, Camp Meeks, Uinta County Youth Camp, and Big Muddy Outdoors Ranch near Piedmont, are favored campsites.

            There are over 250 registered Girl Scouts ranging in age from kindergarten to high school seniors and 70 adults in Sweetwater County today.

            I replaced our intern Mark Chollack’s exhibit on the hazards of coal mining with one entitled “Steam Locomotives Photographed in Sweetwater County” using photos from our museum archives. The coal mining exhibit has been installed in the County Hospital showcases in Rock Springs.

            The train engines of the 19th century were, like so many other objects built in the mechanical age, “sparkling, shiny, colorfully painted and ornately decorated machines” to quote Brian Solomon in his excellent book Union Pacific Railroad. From the old photographs of the engines it is obvious that these machines were lovingly maintained by the train crews. According to Solomon, locomotives were “intended as things of beauty, so every element of the locomotive was decorated to make it as attractive as possible. Decorative ironwork was used to support the headlamp while ornamental brass was used to cover cylinders, check valves, and other machinery. Russian iron covered the boiler, cabs were made of the finest hardwood, decorated with gingerbread trimmings and covered in thick lacquer, while the wheels, pilots, and tenders were painted in brilliant colors. Often decorative murals were painted on the sides of the tenders, headlamps, and side domes.”  Russian iron was a type of sheet-iron manufactured in Russia. It was remarkable for its smooth, glossy surface, more metallic gray than the bluish gray of common sheet-iron. It was used in Russia for roofing and in the United States for stoves and encasing locomotive engines. (http://www.narrowgauge.iform.com.au/russian-iron.html)

            There’s something about a steam locomotive that just didn’t make the transition to diesels. I have enjoyed researching the photographs in our collection and I think they will make an interesting exhibit.

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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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