WLM
Wyoming for what turned out to be a
brilliant three weeks, and I’d like you to
join me now on the route that we took.
I needed to learn about life on an 1880s
ranch, so where better to start than on
a working cattle ranch that dated back
to 1890, the Two Bars Seven Ranch, Tie
Siding. We couldn’t have made a better
choice. In an idyllic setting, the ranch lies
at the foot of the Rockies, spanning the
Wyoming/Colorado border.
Owing to the warmth and hospitality
of Polly, the owner, and the crew, our
time on the ranch was everything we’d
wanted and more. We played a full part
in the ranch life, and when we wanted
to ride, all we had to do was ask a
wrangler, saddle up and ride with him
in the beautiful scenery. By the time we
left to go northeast to Cheyenne, I knew
much more about the daily struggles of
the homesteaders and their hired hands in
the 1880s.
Our next stop was Cheyenne, the capital
and largest city in Wyoming. We stayed
at the Little America Hotel, and were
thrilled by the size of our room, the lovely
pool and the superb service given by
the staff there. Altogether we spent three
delightful days in Cheyenne, exploring the
town on foot and on one of the Cheyenne
Street Railway Trolleys, and enjoying
some excellent meals. (On the subject of
food, I’ll mention now that we didn’t have
a single bad meal in the whole of our
time in Wyoming. The standard of cuisine
in the state is extremely high.)
Cheyenne museums were top of our
list of things to do, and the first of
the museums we headed for was the
Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West
Museum, which has an amazing rodeo
and carriage collection. On our final
day in Cheyenne, we traveled to the
Homesteaders Museum in Torrington,
a drive of just over an hour. It was
a journey well worth making, as
the museum was full of fascinating
homesteaders’ memorabilia, and I’d
thoroughly recommend a visit there
by those interested in the lives of
homesteaders.
By taking a different road back to
Cheyenne, we were able to visit Fort
Laramie, which, we learned, looks pretty
much as it did when the post was active.
After seeing the fort in countless western
films, it was a thrill to see the place itself.
Leaving Cheyenne, we took Interstate 80
towards our next destination, Rawlins,
stopping on the way to visit the lovely
university town of Laramie, an iconic
name that is full of history.
We loved Laramie, from the university
area to the old historic town to the newer
areas. Everywhere we went, we were
met by kindness. The florist in Historic
Downtown Laramie, who went to so
much trouble to help me get my leather
bag repaired, was typical of the universal
helpfulness. I can’t leave Laramie without
mentioning The Copper Kettle Gourmet
Kitchen Store. Sitting comfortably in their
espresso loft, looking down on a shop full
of enticing cookware,
we had the best cup
of coffee that we had
in the whole of our
Wyoming trip.
Reluctantly, we left
Laramie to reach the
former railroad town
of Rawlins before
nightfall. My fictional
homesteaders had
settled in the Savery
area, south of the
Overland Trails and
the railroad, and my
research had shown
| Wyoming Woman
me that a stagecoach ran in the late 1880s
between Rawlins and Baggs. On page
one of my novel, Ellen O’Sullivan, a mail
order bride, gets off the stagecoach at
Baggs, and I wanted to travel the same
journey that Ellen had followed.
Taking Route 789, we drove the 100
miles between Rawlins and Baggs. It
was a very emotional moment when I
got out of the car at the very spot where
Ellen got off the stagecoach. After getting
coffee, we went into an 1880s house. The
curator on duty was a mine of useful
information, and after we’d explored the
house, he took us behind it to the Baggs
Town Hall, built in 1879, which houses
a narrow