Wyoming Pioneer Sheep-Man J D Woodruff

According to my calendar, Spring-2017 started yesterday, and it felt like it. Today seems like we slipped back into the ending days of winter, but that is March in Wyoming.

The first cabin in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming was built by, New Yorker who came west, J. D. Woodruff. He would go on to become a Wyoming pioneer in both the sheep and cattle business. Woodruff came early to Wyoming and served as a scout for the Washburn-Langford expedition into the Yellowstone area in 1870.

Not the Woodruff Cabin, his was not near this nice

The first cabin in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming was built by, New Yorker who came west, J. D. Woodruff. He would go on to become a Wyoming pioneer in both the sheep and cattle business. Woodruff came early to Wyoming and served as a scout for the Washburn-Langford expedition into the Yellowstone area in 1870.

In 1871, John Dwight Woodruff built his cabin on the Owl Creek in what is today Hot Springs County, an area that only a few years before was a sought after and fought over Indian hunting area. Woodruff’s cabin wasn’t much by today’s standard, but it served well enough for his trapping cabin. The structure was 12 feet wide, 20 feet long and seven logs high. The area where he built the cabin, had long been and remained Shoshone area and Woodruff was able to get permission from the famous chief himself, Chief Washakie, to graze sheep. Not sure he told the old chief he intended on grazing 6,000 head, but that is what he brought in from Oregon. It was the first large sheep operation in the state. Woodruff, by the 1880s, was still grazing the area but now with cattle.

Hunting ground became grazing for sheep and cattle

Woodruff later sold his cabin and site for $18,500 to Captain R.A Torrey stationed at Fort Washakie. Torrey later brought in his brother Colonel J.L. Torrey as a partner in the ranch. From the time of the purchase, the two expanded the ranch rapidly, and it soon became the famous Embar Ranch with a reported 40,000 cattle and 6,000 horses. The Cabin site has been noted in the National Register of Historic Places since 1970. The little cabin no longer stands but is marked by a bronze plaque noting its inclusion as a national historic site.

Woodruff seemed to have been lucky in life surviving many close encounters with Indians in the area. Once facing certain death he and three friends were saved when a party of Indians arrived and scared off the tribe Woodruff, and his buddies were fighting for their lives against. Sounds like they were friends with the newly arrived Indians, but according to Woodruff’s account, the second bunch did not know that Woodruff and his friends were there. On another occasion, he hid in the dark underbrush for eleven days as a group of warriors hunted for the trapper along the river. Woodruff survived because he always brought along fishing supplies, and lived on raw fish as he waited for the warriors to leave the area.

Quite an interesting and important man, now mostly lost in history.

Wyoming Snowstorm and Trivia Too

It’s always fun to see the weather reports get it right. Lots of snow and we did need the moisture, after the wind of the past two weeks.

Not sure how a foot and a half of snow was handled in the old days. Probably a lot like me with this one – stay inside and read a book, or work on a project of some kind.

Pine Tree sagging onto garage

The only time I ventured out yesterday was to clean off our dish so the TV stations would come back. Later we did a bit of shoveling from our back door to the garage. All in all, it was a pretty good day.

My back, Rasberry Patch

I did finish the cover for my new book, the third in the series of kids books written for second, third and fourth graders. Now awaiting the proof copies.

Cover for New Kids Book - Should be available by mid-March

It has been too long since I posted my infamous, Wyoming Trivia. Today, give these five questions a try.

Answers below the next photo.

1.   Who was the leader of the first Geological Survey into Yellowstone?

2.   What Wyoming County sits in the middle of these six counties: Sheridan, Cambell, Converse, Natrona, Washakie and Big Horn?

3.   What is the oldest of the five major dams on the North Platte River? This dam is over 100 years old.

4.   What river disappears into Sinks Canyon?

5.   What man caused a controversy at Fort Laramie by hanging two Sioux with chains, and still went on to be appointed as a Wyoming Territorial Governor?

 

Now let's see how you Turkey's did!

Answers

1.   F. V. Hayden

2.   Johnson County

3.   Pathfinder

4.   Popo Agie

5.   Thomas Moonlight

Oh What Can We Do

A little different slant on today’s posting. I seldom post anything, on any of my blogs, about political goings on. No, not the presidential race, actually no race at all, but instead the all-important money. In politics, money matters.

Wyoming as I am sure all readers of this blog know is going through some tough times, extremely tough. Natural gas prices are down, crude prices are low and for all practical purposes, it looks like the coal industry may be on its last legs. So what can we do?

I, like most, am not sure, but what I do feel strongly about is where we are cutting money. Now don’t take this wrong, we need to cut, what we once had may be gone forever. In the last day or two, I have read several articles about cuts, most talking of why every area needs to be cut.

Every area, really – WHY? This is turning into the equivalent of the modern-day idea that everyone is a winner. Which by the way, they are not. We do not need to keep everyone happy by cutting something from everyone. Cut where and what we must, but not everything.

Tourism

Yesterday I read of deep cuts to the tourism advertising budget. Tourism is fast becoming our number one industry and soon will be. Instead of cuts, this is the one area where we need to spend more, not less. Tourists and their money is Wyoming’s lifeline, and we need it now more than ever.

If we take money from tourism, especially from advertising, or from State Parks and Cultural Resources, we are giving up. Might as well just throw up our hands and ask Washington for money, like so many others.

Just my thoughts but remember the old saying – Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is? We talk about the importance of tourism and supporting our parks and cultural areas because they bring money into the state and reflect well on Wyoming. It is time to back it up.

Oh – Oh – Where Should We Go?

Nearly everyone has heard of Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Jackson Hole and Devils Tower, I have visited and love everyone, but we have more, so much more. How about a trip to see one of the following.·        Hot Springs State Park·        Buffalo, Wyoming and the area around·        Cody, the city, and Museum·        The Trails Center in Casper·        Cheyenne, the capital and Frontier Days·        Any and all of Wyoming’s National Forests and Mountain Ranges·        Fort Laramie – The fort that opened the West·        The incredible Civilian Conservation Corps Museum at Guernsey State Park·        Wild horses, Buffalo, Bears, Elk, Deer and other wildlife·      Hunting, Fishing, backpacking, camping, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, snow machining or how about a Cowboy or Cowgirl game in Laramie?

That is just ten quick things off the top of my rather worn out mind. I am sure there are many more, people, places and things that need to be visited in our great state. Things to do year round, summer, fall winter, spring. We need to keep this in the minds of tourists everywhere, it might be our lifeline to the future.

**All photos today are things I believe everyone enjoys about Wyoming

There you have it, Now if I can just get down from my pedestal . .

Chevalier Verendrye & The Assassin's Creed

The Assassin’s Creed

The Assassin’s Creed Is an action-adventure video game series. I know nothing, not one thing, about gaming but became interested in this series of games because of the historical characters portrayed. One, in particular, Chevalier (she va lya) Verendrye, caught my attention. Why? Because he was, reportedly,  the first white man into what today is Wyoming. The series of games are fiction, but as historical fiction books also do,  there are people, in the game, that were in that place or period in history. As I understand it, and this may be a stretch as I have not played a video game for 25 years. Remember Atari? The game features two adversarial groups, the Templars, and the Assassins. Our man, Chevalier Verendrye is of the latter group of Assassins. These two groups are fiction, but gamers tell me they are fascinating and that the storyline for Assassin’s Creed is terrific.

Who Was Chevalier Verendrye?

In real life, Chevalier was one of three sons of, trader, trapper, explorer and seeker of fame and fortune, Pierre de la Verendrye. He is best remembered from the 1730s, two hundred years after Coronado tramped all the way to the Kansas/Nebraska line searching for the seven cities of gold. In many ways, Pierre de la Verendrye was like Coronado seeking the unknown and the riches that might be afforded there. In Verendrye’s case, he was looking for an easy way to reach the Pacific Ocean, preferably a water route. The river he sought was the Columbia and today we all know what he did not, it doesn’t reach Wyoming.

In the summer of 1733 Verendrye and his party, including his sons left Montreal and marched southwest. At least on paper, the mission was to claim land in the name of the motherland, France. Most believed Verendrye was more interested in collecting a fortune in furs and in the fame that would come his way as an explorer of the American wilderness. Verendrye reached as far as present-day South Dakota before losing twenty men, including his youngest son in an Indian battle. Losing the men was devastating enough, but he also lost his supplies and most of his pack animals. His guide who must have had enough by that point in the journey, snuck off during the night leaving Verendrye no other option than to go back.

A Second Try

Nine years passed before Pierre’s son Chevalier decided to give it another try. Chevalier found no passage to the Pacific, but he did reach present day Wyoming. He entered the state in Park County near present day Franny and traveled on south to the site of Lander in Fremont County. Although he was not looking for an overland route if he had continued about 100 miles, they would have found South Pass.

Would they have recognized it as the gateway to the Pacific? That question is best left for historians to argue.

He may not have found what he wanted, but today Chevalier Verendrye is known as the first white man to enter Wyoming.  

Jackson Wyoming

At times I have people say to me, “Jackson, that’s not even Wyoming, I hate it when people come to Wyoming and only visit Jackson Hole, Yellowstone, and the Tetons.” Or something similar to that. I could not agree less. Jackson is Wyoming through and through. Cowboys, wildlife, horses,  mountains, rushing rivers and hard working people, sure reminds me a lot of Wyoming.

Still some Grizzlies around the Jackson Area. Stay far back

David Edward Jackson - So, who was this Jackson fella, the town was named after? He was David Edward Jackson and reportedly his friends called him Davy. He was one of the first white men to visit the area, a trapper, and partner with the firm Smith, Jackson, and Sublette. This Sublette was William, responsible for building Fort William, later to become Fort Laramie, and about as far from the Jackson area as one can get in Wyoming. Jackson after John Colter and perhaps one or two others, spent an entire year, including one of Jackson’s, legendary winters, in the area.

The story of David Edward Jackson is one that would make a terrific mini-series. It is one of those rags to riches family stories. Although I have spent all of my Wyoming years on the eastern side of the state, this story is one I told in my history classes for years.

Jackson's grandparents John Jackson and Elizabeth Cummins were convicted of crimes in London and sentenced to serve seven-year indentures in America. The two met on the ship and were married six years after arriving in what would become the United States. By 1778 the couple migrated west and by 1770 they lived in western Virgina and were acquiring large tracts of good farm land. The couple had eight children, the second was Edward Jackson, who became the father of six children, three of them boys, the second being, David, the namesake for Jackson and Jackson Hole. Their third son was Jonathan, the father of Civil War legend Thomas (Stonewall), Jackson.

Shenandoah – Yep, just like the song - David Jackson was born in the Shenandoah Mountains in what is today West Virginia. Jackson moved with his young wife, west to Missouri for cheap and good land to take up farming in the early 1820s. But then everything changed when he saw Colonel Ashley’s newspaper add. He joined the Ashley-Henery party and headed west. And the rest, they say, is history. Jackson went on to work as a businessman in the West for nearly twenty years traveling into New Mexico and as far west as California, before failing health sent him home to Missouri where he died in 1837 at age 49.

Beauty and History Too - Next time you visit, Yellowstone, The Tetons, or the Jackson Hole area, remember, there is also a lot of history to explore in the area.

Bring on the Tourists

Must Be In Wyoming

With Wyoming coal now suffering at the hands of environmentalists, the downturn in crude oil prices, and natural gas, seemingly in abundance everywhere, Wyoming, once again, is seeing an economic slowdown. We have been through these before the last big one in the 1980s and a smaller one in the 90s. The difference is that this time there may be no natural recovery. 

So now is the time for Wyoming to go to work. Survival without the huge money from the minerals industries. At one time ranching was Wyoming’s lifeblood, no longer. It should, and will stay as part of Wyoming’s economy, but will never be able to put the state on its back and carry it. Farming is iffy in our high country and now with corn prices falling to half what they were two years ago I would suspect we will see less, not more farm products growing in our state.

What can we do?

 First, we cannot spout only gloom and doom. Nor can we simply continue to say we need to promote more businesses to open or move to the state – that should be a given, and always a part of the state's economic strategy.

My two cents worth

I believe that we need to put more money, not less, into parks and park staffs, expand, historical, cultural and physical opportunities in Wyoming’s State Parks. Game and Fish needs to continue to expand stocking, and fishing opportunities and the state needs to look into additional trout fishing areas. The area where I live on the North Platte River, below Guernsey Dam, could be a fantastic fishery, but I don’t see the fisherman there any longer. I not sure why the fishing is no longer as good but with a state park and Fort Laramie nearby it would, and could be a day long stop for tourists. I am sure there are places and situations like this all over the state, and we need to keep working on them.

The View North From Guernsey State Park's Brimmer Point

Tourism

Visitors spent nearly three and a half billion dollars in our state last year. We saw a five percent growth in that vital industry in 2015. The State Parks and Historic sites and Game and Fish do a terrific job with limited resources. Now might be a good time to spend significantly more in these areas, expand staff and spend money to make money. Keep this high growth industry on the move.  Adding to facilities, expanding opportunities for visitors. The question will undoubtedly be, where do we get the money? Find it? I have long marveled that out of state boaters are not charged to put a boat into Wyoming waters. Out of state camping fees could be slightly raised, as could out of state hunting and fishing licenses. Our lodging tax is also low compared to surrounding areas.

We are going to need to see growth in tourism every year. There needs to be a way to get out of state visitors to spend more days when they visit. I think Wyoming’s office of tourism is on the right track building an awareness of Wyoming and all the historical and recreational opportunities available here. Now may be the time to spend money.

Who Doesn't Want to see a Grizzly? - Just Not Too Close

10 Things we have, in Wyoming that no one else has

1.     Fort Laramie – The most important outpost in the American West

2.     Frontier Days – The greatest rodeo in the world (Real Cowboys)

3.     Unspoiled areas, without roads and wires – unparalleled opportunities for backpacking and wilderness camping

4.     Incredible wildlife – Visitors could see more wildlife driving through than they will be able to see anywhere else

5.     Devils Tower – Legends and Movies

6.     Yellowstone and Grand Teton – Magnificent

7.     Great snow for winter enthusiasts of all kinds

8.     Hunting and fishing as good as it gets in the United States

9.     More Pronghorn than people

10.   So many places to sit, all alone, where nature overtakes the modern world

Lots and Lots of Pronghorn - These Guys are Fast

5 things we do not have in Wyoming

1.     Busy Highways and traffic jams

2.     Huge shopping malls

3.     Air pollution

4.     Urban sprawl

5.     Unobstructed views – sorry too many mountains in the way

I May Have Stretched the Truth Here - Guess We Do Have the Occasional Trafic Jam

Need a good read?

How about a book about the building of Guernsey State Park? 

Or a Wyoming Cowboy story?

What a Shape We're In

When one looks at the shape of the various states, Wyoming certainly does not stand out. Along with Colorado, our neighbor to the south, we are rectangular, nearly square. How did that happen?

Wyoming is the only state that is made up of territory taken from all four of the United States major acquisitions. Five different countries have claimed parts of Wyoming. After that, and 30 different boundary changes, and Wyoming ended up a rectangle. Weird!

It took a few years but at last, the lands acquired from, Spain, France, England, Mexico and the Republic of Texas became Wyoming.

Why we love Wyoming

-Today’s trivia questions-

1. What are the names of the two waterfalls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone? Don’t think two hard on this one.

2. How did Ned Buntline help make Wyoming famous?

3. Harry Longbaugh’s nickname is one of the great wester names. What was it?

See answers at the bottom of the page

My, oh, by the way, for today – I’m feeling great, my two kid’s chapter books are both in the top 10% of all books being sold on Amazon. See both of them plus my westerns and my nonfiction CCC book here.

Now the answers. 

1. Upper Falls, Lower Falls

2. He wrote dime novels many featuring Wyoming people. His books made Buffalo Bill a legend, hero and mythical figure in Wyoming.

3. The Sundance Kid

Wyoming high country

1.