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Saratoga may be home to the rebirth of the atlatl and a world-wide competition. What is an atlatl you ask? An atlatl is a device used to throw a spear, commonly called a dart, much farther and more accurately than a human can unaided. An atlatl is usually constructed from a stick or slat with a hook on one end and a handle on the other. If it were explained by your high school physics teacher, they would describe it as creating an extra lever on your arm, thus increasing the force you can throw...
The Encampment Town Council approved spending up to $750 to repair a propane gas line that has been leaking at the Opera House at their Aug. 14 meeting. Other purchases approved include a skid-steer mounted brush hog, the use of recreation board grant funding to fence the archery range and the installation of a bathroom at the industrial park. The bathroom would be located behind the Doggett Greenhouse shop. The Master Service Agreement between the Town of Encampment and PMPC Civil Engineers...
Apparently, skunks have taken up residence under the old Riverside Town Hall. At the Riverside Town Council meeting on Thursday trapping the current striped residents and putting a barrier around the foundation to prevent new animals from moving in was discussed. Skunks have previously been removed from the property and released into the mountains. The town of Riverside plans to financially support Encampment’s purchase of a new mosquito fogger because there have been problems with the a...
Fun is scheduled Saturday at the 19th Annual Ryan Park VFD Fundraiser. Doors open at 11 a.m. and a barbecue lunch begins at noon. Both live and silent auctions will follow. The proceeds of the days events will benefit the Ryan Park Volunteer Fire Department and are used to buy new equipment, pay for training and provide for other fire department needs. Homer Beach, of the Ryan Park VFD, said two years ago they bought a used rescue truck and donated it to the county. “This is our take on how w...
Saratoga and Encampment middle school football equipment checkout will be Aug. 20 at 4 p.m. at the building behind the high school. Equipment checkout is for all students in grades 6 through 8 interested in playing football....
Local historian and archaeologist, Chilly Rollison, was emotional after being able to visit the place that first sparked his passion for Native American history and lifeways nearly 40 years ago. Rollison, along with Big Creek Ranch Manager Mark Dunning, gave 40 Saratoga Museum Trek participants an in-depth tour of tipi rings, war lodges, and the Cherokee Trail located on Big Creek Ranch last Saturday. The day's events started with Rollison erecting his tipi to give participants a better...
Chairman Shawn Warner closed the meeting by telling Bill Miller and his crew to "enjoy your 15 minutes of euphoria". Miller, the Senior Vice President of Energy and Land Resources for the Anschutz Corporation, president and CEO of Power Company of Wyoming (PCW) and the Overland Trail Cattle Company, and the rest of PCW congratulated each other with hugs, handshakes and tears. This was at the end of day two of PCW's Industrial Siting Council (ISC) hearing for the Chokecherry Sierra Madre wind...
An emotional debate over Bill Dahlke’s involvement with additional pay for the Saratoga EMS occurred at a special meeting Thursday of the South Central Wyoming Emergency Medical Service (SCWEMS) Joint Powers Board (JPB). At the special meeting, Bill Dahlke, former board chairman and current Saratoga representative to the board, offered his resignation from SCWEMS and left early. The meeting was called by town of Elk Mountain Mayor Morgan Irene and held in Saratoga. The SCWEMS JPB was formed in 2...
The bulls and bull riders put on quite a show for the Bullfest audience Saturday night. Jason McClain, of Cortez, Colo. split the buckle and prize money with Kayne Boswell, of Cheyenne. Both men scored an 83 in the first round of the Bullfest Saturday night. The weather was cool, and the bulls were mad enough to give many bull riders a less-than-eight second ride. Six riders would get thrown before the buzzer went off, and only three men rode the required eight seconds in the long round. Josh...
The Encampment Winter Carnival has a new chairperson in Alyson Sneddon. Sneddon decided to volunteer to be the Winter Carnival Chairperson because no one else was stepping up, and she hates to see their community’s customs and activities die. Winter Carnival brings “the spirit of competition to Encampment … it also brings camaraderie,” Sneddon said, referring specifically to the treasure hunt and sled races. Sneddon may work on adding events to this year’s Carnival, but ensures the tradition...
Improvements to the town of Riverside's wastewater system are nearly complete. Recent upgrades have been made to the wastewater treatment and settling ponds. The ponds have had roadbed material laid down around their perimeters, electrical upgrades and the replacement of the chlorine treatment process with a UV treatment system. The only remaining improvement will be the addition of a backup electric generator. The town has already had the sewer pipes mapped and scoped to identify blockages and...
A grass fire was ignited by a pickup on the Condict Ranch on July 23. Around 11 a.m., Alden Condict was driving across his ranch with family friend, Nancy Long, when his pickup truck quit, started smoking and eventually caught fire. The fire spread from the truck through the grass and sagebrush adjacent to the two-track Condict was driving on near the Ladd Place. Condict and Long were taking a morning drive to check on cattle around the ranch. They called in the fire and five trucks from... 
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The archaeologist in me is continually amazed at how many people currently living in this Valley have ties to the earliest families, ranches and named places in the Platte River Valley and surrounding mountains. Even before I began working with the paper, I made friends with Judy Bellamy who’s father-in-law was the surveyor who named Lake Marie and many other spots up in the Snowy Range. Having worked on hundreds of historic archaeological sites in Wyoming, I have always had an interest in w...
The Power Company of Wyoming (PCW) hoped to begin construction of the Chokecherry Sierra Madre wind farm (CCSM) in the fourth quarter of 2014. This is no longer a realistic start date. “As part of the permitting you have to put a stake in the ground,” said Kara Choquette, Communications Director for PCW. A new extension of the Carbon County conditional use permit for the wind farm states the project must begin before October 2, 2015. Why does PCW need more time? The answer seems to be that the...
The sound of black powder rifle shots echoed through Encampment this weekend. The Sierra Madre Muzzleloaders Club sponsored a weekend filled with competitions at the Sierra Madre Mountain Man Rendezvous and Black Powder Shoot on the grounds of the Grand Encampment Museum. Competitions included a variety of rifle and pistol shoots, knife throwing, tomahawk throwing, fire pan throwing and fire starting. Participants came from around the country to enjoy each others company, talk shop and even...
LuDel Deal has both a passion for printing and a family connection to the North Platte Valley. Her great-grandfather was Robert Deal, one of the original owners of the Rudefeha mine, The Rudefeha was just west of the town of Battle, which was about 16 miles west of Encampment. LuDel has been coming up from Colorado Springs, Colo., to Encampment most weekends this summer and restoring the platen press that is housed in the old Battle Miner newspaper building at the Grand Encampment Museum (GEM)....
Craig Cameron, renowned horseman, will conduct a free horsemanship clinic at Buck Springs Rodeo Grounds on 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday. Cameron has his own show on RFD-TV, is a member of the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, is the author of two books on horsemanship and has been teaching clinics for almost 30 years. He plans to work with at least one "problem" horse to show people at the clinic how to work with their horses. "It's not about making them, it's about teaching them," Cameron said....
The Holroyd fire is burning approximately two miles north of the Wyoming-Colorado state line and 15 miles southwest of Encampment. As of Tuesday morning, Aaron Voos, the public affairs officer with Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, said the fire is less than one acre in size. As the result of overnight efforts on Monday, the blaze is fully contained. The cause of the fire has not been determined. One firefighter from the Parks Ranger District was injured during the initial attack, when a...
By Erik Gantt The George B. Storer Foundation provided funding for four University of Wyoming (UW) College of Education students to participate in the Teton Science School's (TSS) Carbon 2 Science Summer School. The Storer Foundation has partnered with TSS for five years to support learning about local environments and economies, specifically based on hands-on experiences. With tears in her eyes, Storer scholar Rhonda Kraus said "Personally, I got so much more out of this than the Storer...
The Sierra Madre Muzzleloaders Mountain Man Rendezvous this weekend will feature bigger prizes thanks to a Carbon County Visitors’ Council grant. Because of the additional funding there will be awards for the top three contestants in all of the events, with a total cash prize of almost $3,000. The first prize in many of the events has been raised to $300, as well as a prize for the person wearing the best period costume. Adults and children can participate in a variety of rifle and pistol s...
Wyoming Game and Fish Wildlife Biologist Will Schultz and Game Warden Biff Burton were forced to euthanize a bighorn ram in the Sierra Madre mountains on July 9. The Forest Service contacted Game and Fish about the bighorn ram, which was seen mingling with a herd of domestic sheep on Forest lands near Haggerty Creek. Schultz said it should be clear the euthanization has nothing to do with herd management in the Sierra Madre’s and the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance lawsuit against the US Fore...
The Teton Science Schools (TSS) brought their Summer Science School to Carbon County School District No.2 (CCSD#2) last week. The five-day program was focused on weather and climate, and it took the children to several places in the Platte River Valley. Working with a host of local experts, teachers from Saratoga Elementary School, Storer Scholars from the University of Wyoming (UW), and TSS faculty-led studies that included: • Local community dynamics • Measuring weather events • The conce...
The 2014 Encampment/Riverside Lions Club Youth Horse Show was held at the Lions Club Arena in Encampment on Saturday. Children and adults alike enjoyed the stiff competition from the 26 entrants. Girls, who made up 80 percent of the competitors, won both the overall Hi-point in the show and took nine of 13 top spots in the five age classes. Aubrey Berger, of Saratoga,won the overall Hi-Point buckle. Lanae McDonald, an equestrian team coach and equine studies instructor at Laramie County...
A program of spraying is intended to quell the mosquito population, provide relief from those biting buggers, and hopefully prevent cases of West Nile disease around the Valley. However, the Platte Valley is a natural ecosystem where every creature fulfills a role, and trying to manipulate that ecosystem can have negative consequences, right? Maybe not. And what about health hazards to humans? The answer seems to be that there is no need to worry. The greatest exposure to the insecticides seems...
