History & News

County Museum sponsoring special World War II exhibit

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(Sweetwater County, WY – November 4, 2022)  The Sweetwater County Historical Museum is sponsoring a special one-day exhibit on Saturday, November 12, in commemoration of Veteran's Day. 

Denny Pace of Green River has been a World War II reenactor for over 15 years. He has compiled an extensive collection of gear, clothing, and weapons used by American paratroopers of the Second World War era, particularly the 82nd Airborne Division, all of which will be on display at the museum. 

WW II paratroopers jumped with an incredible amount of gear and weapons, including an M-1 rifle or an M-1 carbine, a Model 1911A1 .45-caliber pistol, ammunition, fragmentation grenades, knives and a bayonet, a canteen, a shovel, a flashlight, maps, a compass, a three-day supply of K-rations, an emergency ration packet, a gas mask, a helmet, a first aid kit, a main parachute, a reserve parachute, and an anti-tank mine. 

The public is invited to stop by and check out this remarkable exhibit. The museum is located at 3 Flaming Gorge Way in Green River. Hours are 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Tuesday to Saturday, except for major holidays, and admission is free. 

The museum will be closed on Friday, November 11, in observance of Veteran's Day.

County Museum observes Native American Heritage Month

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Photo No. 1 - Among its many displays, the Sweetwater County Historical Museum features exhibits about Native Americans, marking November as Native American Heritage Month

Photo No. 2 - The late 19^th-century photograph that set in motion a special research project:    Shoshone woman Kate Enos - upper left - and her sisters.

Photo No. 3 - The arresting solo portrait of Kate Enos in her dress adorned with elk tusks. Both this photo and the group portrait were taken by Charles S. Baker and Eli Johnston, who operated a photo studio in Evanston, circa 1880s. They were known particularly for their images of Shoshone, Arapaho, and Apache people.

(Sweetwater County, Wyo. - October 29, 2022)     November is Native American Heritage Month, and the Sweetwater County Historical Museum in Green River is marking it with its Native American exhibits and an article on WyoHistory.org about early 20^th century events on the Wind River Reservation in Fremont County.

Recently a visitor to the museum inquired about an exhibit photograph of four Shoshone women and two children, a studio portrait probably taken in the late 1880s. Were the identities of the women and little ones known? That prompted museum staff to launch a research project, one that revealed their names:  Kate Enos and her sisters, Louisa Enos Wesaw, Mary Enos Rabbittail, and Emma Enos Lewis. There is a baby in a cradle board, believed to be Antoine Weed, and a little girl standing, Sousanna Weed, both of whom were Mary Enos Rabbittail’s children.

As the museum’s research progressed, it began to focus on Kate Enos, as also in the archives was a striking solo portrait of her in a dress studded with elk tusks, the mark of a prosperous Plains Indian family. Her story turned out to be a complex tale of mystery and murder, all grounded in the sordid history of misappropriation of Native American lands on the Wind River Reservation.

Kate’s life and the chain of events that led to the 1907 murder of her husband, Shoshone tribal council member George Terry in Fort Washakie, are the subject of a new article written by museum staff member Dick Blust, Jr.:  “Three Photos, a Murder, and a Murky Outcome: Troubled Times on Wind River,” which can be found online at WyoHistory.org, the online platform of the Wyoming State Historical Society at

https://wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/three-photos-murder-and-murky-outcome-troubled-times-wind-river .

For more information about Native American Heritage Month, go to the U.S. Department of the Interior website at

https://www.doi.gov/blog/celebrate-native-american-heritage-month#:~:text=November%20is%20Native%20American%20Heritage,of%20our%20nation's%20first%20people 

Located at 3 E. Flaming Gorge Way in Green River, the Sweetwater County Historical Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and there is no charge for admission.

Descendant of Green River pioneer visits county museum

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Photo 1 - Judge Joseph Payne and his daughter Jessie on the stoop of his Justice of the Peace Office in Green River, circa 1915

Photo 2 - Leilani Aubry Niswander and County Museum Executive Director Dave Mead with Judge Joseph Payne’s Model 1892 Winchester carbine

Photo 3 - John Wayne in True Grit (1969) and Chuck Connors in a publicity still from The Rifleman (1958-1963), two of many film and television productions featuring 1892 Winchesters

Photo 4 - In the late 1880s, Judge Payne owned a saloon and restaurant on Railroad Avenue in Green River. He is the man seated at the center of the photograph.

(Sweetwater County, Wyo. - October 28, 2022)      The Sweetwater County Historical Museum had a special visitor recently. Leilani Aubry Niswander of Selma, California, is the direct descendant of Judge Joseph Payne, Sr., a distinguished Green River pioneer.

Born in Kentucky in 1838, Judge Payne came to Wyoming after his Civil War service with the 3^rd Regiment, Colorado Cavalry. He became Green River’s Town Marshal, a post he held from 1896 to 1898 and again from 1900 to 1901. He went on to serve for many years as Town Judge and Justice of the Peace and died in Green River at the age of 80 in 1918.

A highly-prized item in the museum’s collection is Judge Payne’s rifle, a lever-action Model 1892 Winchester carbine in .44/40 (.44 Winchester Center Fire), manufactured in the year the rifle was introduced, 1892.

The Model 1892 was chambered for pistol cartridges, including  the 32-20, .38-40, .44-40, and .25-20 Winchester. (Late in its production, is was also made in .218 Bee, though in very limited numbers.)  The original Winchester company made well over a million of the very popular rifles from 1892 to 1945; the Royal Navy even bought about 21,000 of them in .44/40 during World War I.

Though a fine firearm in its own right, the Model 1892 has a unique distinction. In hundreds of western films and television programs from the 1930s onward, it was prominently featured in the hands of cowboys, lawmen, outlaws, ranchers, Native Americans, settlers, and soldiers of the 1870s and 1880s, well before it was actually available. The large-loop Winchesters so often carried in movies by John Wayne, (including 1969's True Grit), and the centerpiece of the popular television series The Rifleman, which ran from 1958 to 1963, were Model 1892s. 

The museum offers a Vintage Firearms Research Program. Those with a firearm (or firearms) who would like to learn more about them are encouraged to contact the museum at (307) 872-6435 or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . There is no charge for the research service.

County Museum researches vintage Colt revolver

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Photo #1 - The .45-caliber Colt Single Action Army revolver, manufactured in 1885, recently researched by the Sweetwater County Historical Museum.

Photo #2 - The initials “DFC” identify the Colt’s inspector, David F. Clark, who served at the Springfield Armory, in Springfield, Massachusetts, from 1880 to 1887.

Photo #3 - The initials “U.S.” identify this frontier-era Colt Single Action Army as American military issue.

Photo #4 - Single Action Army revolver on exhibit at the Sweetwater County Historical Museum, once the property of Sheriff William Johnson.

Photo #5 - Famed Old West lawman Bartholomew William Barclay “Bat” Masterson and his .45-caliber Single Action Army Colt, which recently brought over $375,000 at auction.

(Sweetwater County, Wyo. - October 22, 2022)     The Sweetwater County Historical Museum in Green River recently researched an iconic Old West revolver through its Vintage Firearms Research Program.

Museum staff determined the old pistol to be a Colt Single Action Army single-action revolver with a barrel length of 7½ inches. Based on its serial number it was assessed as being manufactured in early 1885.

Needing to replace its percussion revolvers and cartridge-converted percussion revolvers, in 1872 the U.S. Army held revolver trials. The design selected was that submitted by Colt, created by William Mason and Brinkeroff Richards. As adopted, the new handgun, officially designated the  “New Model Army Metallic Cartridge Revolving Pistol,” was chambered for the then-new .45-caliber cartridge and fitted with a 7½” barrel. It was formally adopted in 1873, remained the official Army issue sidearm until 1892 and, unofficially, remained in limited service for a good many years thereafter. It became available for civilian purchase not long after the Army adopted it and was hugely popular. (The 7½-inch barreled SAAs came to be known as the “Cavalry Model.”  Other barrel lengths, particularly 3", 4¾" and 5½,” were also favored by the civilian market.)

This Colt proved to be a military issue, as evidenced by the “U.S.” stamp on the left side of the frame. During that era, the practice was for a military sub-inspector to inspect all military firearms. These  sub-inspectors were civilian employees of the Springfield Arsenal. The bottom left-hand grip of this gun was noted to be stamped “DFC,” which were the initials of David F. Clark, the sub-inspector who examined it. (Clark so served from 1880 to 1887.)

Guns like the old Colt are becoming more and more valuable. Five years ago, a military-issue Single Action Army nearly identical to the pistol recently researched by museum staff sold for a little over $8,000 on the Rock Island Auction website. (For details, go to

https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/71/3172/us-colt-model-dfc-1873-cavalry-single-action-army-revolver ).

And there are true Cinderella stories in the world of vintage firearms, such as the case of Paul Pasko who, in the 1960s bought was thought to be a run-of-the-mill Single Action Army that turned out to be a bonafide Bat Masterson gun that sold at auction last year for just over $375,000!  (See https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/27262/lot/14/ .)

Those with a vintage firearm (or firearms) who would like to learn more about them are encouraged to contact the museum at (307) 872-6435 or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . There is no charge for the service.