Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
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Ann and Dale Wille were selected to be the Grand Marshals of the Carbon County Fair this year. This isn't the first time a Grand Marshal has been selected in Little Snake River Valley in recent years. "My mother had the honor about five or six years ago," Dale said. Ann is presently teaching at Little Snake River Valley School (LSRV) and is also its athletic director. She has been teaching there for 35 years. Dale retired last year after 33 years as the VoAg and FFA advisor...
On the weekend of July 9, it may have looked like a small town had sprung up at Bottle Creek Campground south of Encampment. A variety of campers and tents had been set up for an extended weekend stay and were joined by several large tents. For the 75th year in a row, the United States Forest Service campground served as the home of the Wyoming Rancher's Family Camp. Emphasis on family. On a warm, sunny-and slightly smokey-Saturday morning the Miller family is hard at work...
Grand Encampment Museum (GEM) hosted its annual Living History Day on Saturday with booming attendance. The event is a tradition which Candy Moulton, author and a founder of GEM said goes back about 50 years. "I was here when we did the first one," Moulton said. "When we first started it, we did it on Memorial Day weekend, but so many times it would be cold. Some of the buildings have fire places that we would light and huddle into to stay warm. Then we moved it to July, so...
Last summer, a number of highly anticipated events were ultimately cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). Among those was the Sierra Madre Muzzle Loading Rifle Club's Mountain Man Rendezvous, which is held annually on the grounds of the Grand Encampment Museum. This weekend, July 23 - 25, the rendezvous will return for its 40th year and the fields of the Grand Encampment Museum will once again be a window into the past. Local black powder enthusiasts will recreate the...
According to her parents, Elk Mountain residents Steve and Courtney Priest, Mackenzie has been obsessed with llamas since she was about eight years old. "I did like the book 'Llama Mama'," Mackenzie, a sophomore at Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow High School, said. "But I can't really say why I wanted one." Steve and Courtney took Mackenzie to a llama farm to see if her desire to have one was real. It was and Mackenzie got her wish. She is now the proud owner of Peak, a...
The Owen Wister Cabin residing at the Medicine Bow Museum (MBM) is open after being closed for four years. "It got re-painted and refurbished," MBM worker Howard Bame said. "It was looking pretty rough before." The Owen Wister Cabin is a significant building to the museum and the country, according to MBM Director Sharon Biamon, because it is a place the author built himself and lived for a time after he completed his most famous work, the 1902 novel "The Virginian: A...
With more and more folks flocking to the Upper North Platte River Valley weekly and a free event being staged, a record crowd is expected to attend the 18/19th annual Grand Encampment Cowboy Gathering in Encampment this weekend, July 16, 17 & 18. The three-day celebration will begin Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. in Grand View Park with a free open mic cowboy poetry/music program, followed by the popular campfire jam session. Saturday morning will begin with a free self-defense...
Encampment native Francis Herring is the 2021 Pioneer Award winner for the Grand Encampment Cowboy Gathering Outfit. Herring, best known as Francie, was one of the 16 children of Ellis and Gladys Herring. He was born in Encampment and has spent most of his life in the town, leaving only for a short time chasing work in New Mexico. Herring will be presented with his award Saturday night during the Grand Encampment Cowboy Gathering All-star Cowboy Poetry & Music performance in...
Candy Moulton of Encampment has been named the new Executive Director of the Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame (WCHF) while Andy Nelson of Pinedale is the new Board Member for Region 10, which includes Sublette, Teton, and Lincoln counties. Moulton's appointment begins July 1 while Nelson took over in May upon the resignation of Windy Noble. The two newest representatives have deep connections to WCHF and to Wyoming. Moulton has worked with the organization since its inception...
Gary Wilken has been a minister at the Medicine Bow Methodist Church for just shy of a quarter century. Wilken went to Colorado State University (CSU) and attained his undergraduate degree and then went to Berkley for his masters in religious studies. While at CSU Wilken became acquainted with police officers of the town. "They shared with me the need for a chaplain," Wilken said. "Because of all the divorce, suicide and stresses that come with law enforcement and that sort...
People who know Hanna Fire Chief Mark Kostovny know he didn't want a big deal made out of him hitting the 30 year mark working as a firefighter. His crew, however, insisted and a small award party was held for him on June 24 at the Hanna fire station. "They made it very clear, that they were not going to let this-more or less-milestone pass by without some sort of acknowledgment," Kostovny said. Kostovny thanked everyone who came to see Sam Sikes present him with an award. He...
For its 75th year, the Wyoming Ranchers Family Camp will return to Bottle Creek campground south of Encampment. Begun as a mountain top Christian get together three-quarters of a century ago by Wyoming ranchers with families, the event has now grown into a “really neat way to have a blessed gathering for a weekend, not only with your family, but with others so inspired to have a Mountain Top experience”. Attendees are invited to bring a camper or tent to Bottle Creek Campground and can either join for the entire weekend, jus...
On June 25 and 26, The Grand Encampment Museum (GEM) hosted author Nicole Jean Hill, Professor of Art at Humboldt State University in California. Hill was present not only to present her book on photography from the Lora Webb Nichols Collection, but to also help kick off the museum's newest exhibit. The new exhibit is all about Lora Webb Nichols. The exhibit has pictures, cameras, clothes and other mementos of Nichols life. The exhibit opening stretched out for two days and...
Phillip Mundt was recently appointed as head distiller and production manager at Brush Creek Distillery in Carbon County. Mundt comes to the distillery from Colorado where he worked at Stranahan's Colorado Whiskey. Starting out as a distiller, for six years he was production manager. Mundt grew up in Evergreen, Colorado. He studied international relations at a university in Switzerland and received his masters in management at a school in Scotland. "All of those travels allowe...
Most people know Karen Heath as the clerk and treasurer for the Town of Medicine Bow, but she is also a writer of seven fiction works and a book of poetry which she recently published in 2021. Her book of poetry is titled "Book of Days". A poem in the collection called Elm on the Lawn is one that Heath likes to read to those who don't know her work. 'Warm gentle drops and flickers, Dancing from leaf to leaf, Fuzzy dark emerald sprays Thunder speaks, growling long and low like...
Summers in Wyoming can be heralded by several sights. For some, it's the flurry of cotton from nearby cotton trees which agitate their allergies. When it comes to others, the seasonal opening of mountain byways is the sign. An almost universally accepted sign summer has arrived in the Cowboy State is the sights of bicyclists peddling either through town or in between towns. Some try to maintain a certain pace and an average mileage as they ride the TransAmerican Trail from...
The Hanna Basin Museum was recently given access to an audience in the millions. ARD German Radio & TV is the largest public broadcasting network in Europe. It serves 60 plus radio stations with over 39.7 million listeners. The website has approximately 2 million hits a day. While Hanna Basin Museum Director Sunshine Solaas was interviewed by ARD, she also extended an invite to Carbon County historian and former Hanna resident Bob Leathers. The reporter, Jule Käppel, has been...
It is all too easy to become mesmerized by the various historical collections and exhibits at the Grand Encampment Museum in Encampment, Wyoming. On June 9, the museum added yet another one, which can be found in the Doc Culleton Building. A diorama of the aerial tramway, once the largest in the world, used to transport copper from Battle Mountain to Grand Encampment is off to the right when a visitor first comes into the building. At 16 feet long it is hard to miss. While,...
The Grand Encampment Opera Company presents "The Widow's Might or What Happened to Henry" by C. H. Keeney. Performing June 16, 18 & 19, 2021 in conjunction with the Encampment Riverside Woodchopper's Jamboree at the Grand Encampment Opera House, 622 Rankin, in Encampment, Wyoming. All performances start promptly at 7:00 p.m. Admission is by donation at the door. Produced by special arrangement with Pioneer Drama Services, Englewood, CO. Harriet Highgrade (CayCee Cox) and her...
Reprint of this story is from the files of the June 8, 1899 Saratoga Sun. Mr. Thomas Tonge of Denver, Colorado during his recent visit of one week in Saratoga and vicinity was very favorably impressed with the possibilities of the Saratoga Valley and the great future which it has immediately before it. Prior to leaving Saratoga Mr. Tonge was interviewed by a representative of the Sun and expressed himself as follows: “No one can realize the wonderful capabilities of this Valley, say, for upwards of 100 miles south of Fort S...
Show off your green thumb this September Sign up now for the Saratoga Friends of the Library’s (FOL) inaugural Sunflower Growing Competition. Created in collaboration with the Friends’ Free Seed Library and the Saratoga Branch Library, this program aims to get kids and adults outside to care for their sunflowers and inside the library to participate in the programs that Sue, Saratoga Library’s Branch Manager, has planned. Packets of sunflower seeds and a handout, including the registration form, were provided to every student...
This year the Saratoga Historical & Cultural Association (SH&CA) annual dinner/meeting is very special as founders of the 45-year-old organization are being honored. According to a news release, “These are the folks who had foresight in the 1970’s to save and preserve the history of the Upper North Platte Valley.” Sponsors announced that at 5:00 p.m. in the Platte Valley Community Center, Wednesday, June 23, 2021, “we will start the evening with small talk, cocktails and hors d'oeruvres, followed by dinner catered by Firewate...
The Hanna Agricultural Resource Team (HART) met on May 18 at the Hanna Market for their first meeting of the 2021 growing season. Perry Goodrich, chairman of HART, told the group their community garden located on grounds owned by Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) was going to have to be moved to a new location behind the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) High School. "They (C J Mahan Construction) are going to need the land that the garden is on for the...
Each year, the ladies of the Valley Service Organization (VSO) bestow the title Woman of Distinction on a woman who has made significant contributions to the North Platte Valley. In previous years, honorees have included influential Valley residents such as Elva Evans (2018) and Cheryl "Mo" Munroe (2019). This year, the VSO awarded the title Woman of Distinction to five Valley residents for their hand in filling a need for childcare in the area. Tiffany Jones, Cheena Parsons,...
The Grand Encampment Cowboy Gathering will be celebrating two years in one this summer. The annual event, which sees cowboy poets and musicians from across the country descend upon Encampment, was cancelled last year due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). This year, however, the event will return with plenty of bang for your buck; especially since it will be free. Beginning on Friday, July 16, attendees will be able to take in a free open mic poetry/music event before gathering...