9-8-2021 Evansville, WY

 A good place to learn history here is the Historic Trail Interpretive Center.    It is approximately here that the thousands of travelers coming west parted company onto three different trails.  The gold diggers headed southwest on the California Trail.  Others headed directly west on the Mormon Trail toward Utah and religious freedom.  And the rest went northwest on the Oregon Trail seeking a better life on the vast rich farmlands there.  They’d all left from some point in the Midwest, presumably near St. Louis where the arch now symbolizes the “gateway to the west.”  They came this far and then, said, “See ya,” and went their separate ways.

 

This wagon was restored by a history
buff, Ben Kern, in about 1960 from mostly
an original wagon from ~1900.
He wanted to travel the trails that the 
emigrants traveled and put approx. 20,000
miles on the seat of his pants.

This itemizes
what it cost a person to
take part in a wagon train.  
The bottom line was $55
after everything was cashed
in at the end of the trip.

The covered wagons were pulled by oxen and mules and driven by wagoneers on horseback.  The Martin party of Mormons, however, opted to walk from Chicago to Salt Lake City pulling handcarts filled with their necessities.  The problem was that their departure was delayed because of the extended time it took to construct the carts and the lack of availability of the correct hardwood.  Finally, a lesser grade of wood was used.  The Mormons paid two ways for these decisions.  They launched in September and encountered the worst snow storms in recorded history on their trail, halting progress.  Furthermore, their carts began to disintegrate.  Brigham Young, who was already in Salt Lake City, learned of the dire situation, 375 miles away, and sent a rescue party.  Only 500 of the original 650 travelers survived and made it to the “promised land.”  I personally don’t know why somebody in Chicago would suddenly get inspired and say, “Hey I know!  Let’s walk to Salt Lake City this winter!”  And 649 other people would think that was a great idea (including women in petticoats, bloomers, long dresses and pregnant).  I’m just sayin…’ they could’ve waited till Spring.

Handcart (original) pulled on foot
by some hearty Mormon soul.

 

There was death on the other trails, too, though.  There were unhappy Indians to deal with and there were cholera and starvation.  But people wanted to pursue their happiness and they were driven.  At one point, 50,000 people passed through this area in one month.  It was barren wilderness.  How to communicate, send messages and so forth?  Enter the Pony Express.  Although it only survived for about 18 months because the railroads took over, the history and romance of the Pony Express is alive and well.  Heroic riders had to be young, thin and fit, foolhardy and unafraid of death, happy with $25/week if they lived that long.  The same with the station masters who maintained fresh horses, stored supplies and handled messages and mail.  So you got it, right?  Three trails:  California, Utah and Oregon.  And the Pony Express connected it all, to a degree.  I’m not sure I have the whole Wild West thing figured out, yet, (except for the hookers) but that’s the Reader’s Digest version of the trails for now.

Pony Express Station (replica)

Check out this "help wanted" 
poster.  "Orphans preferred."

  

The largest walrus on record

The second largest Shiras
moose in the world

Another point of interest:  The Werner Wildlife Museum.  Herman Werner liked to hunt and taxidermy his animals and he had a lot of them.  In 1964, unable to maintain the collection anymore, he donated the whole works including the building, to Casper College.  Since then, many others have made contributions and now, there are hundreds of animals on display.  Fun facts:  The moose is the largest antlered animal on planet Earth and their antlers can weigh as much as 70 pounds.  (Imagine carrying that around on your head!)  A grizzly bear can run up to 30 mph but I’d probably still try to outrun the bastard.  Antelope are turbos.  They top out at 53 mph.  By the way, there are so many antelope in WY that some consider them pests.  They are called “prairie mice” or “speed goats.”  Some people hunt them but because they only know 2 speeds, fast and stop, they’re pumped up with adrenaline and the meat is very tough.  I’d give it a shot, though, if I could find some.

 

You can’t get a speed goat steak at the Wyoming Ale Works, but you can get an ice cold Speed Goat beer when they have it.  It is so popular that they run out in one day, so I didn’t get a chance to try it.  However, this place does feature walleye.  So where do you t-loggers think we dined tonight, hmmm?!

The pretty River's Edge RV Park 
in Evansville, SD on the
banks of the North Platte River