Wyoming Historical Society

06/19/2026

Grand Entry - Children's Eastern Shoshone Pow-Wow in Fort Washakie, WY

06/19/2026

Watch Author & Historian, Paul Hedren live tonight at Rockpile Museum!

06/18/2026

We are so happy to report this progress! Stay tuned for more!

06/18/2026

Tonight in Casper! Join in on this month’s 3rd Thursday Natrona County Genealogy Society at 6:30 pm Natrona County Library

Happy 250th!! On Thursday, June 18th, 6-7 PM, the Natrona County Library is celebrating by hosting a special class of interest related to your search for Revolutionary War ancestors! Greg Kapeles, Marcia Stroh, & MH Hennagin from the Natrona County Genealogy Society will give you an overview of sources to use in your search. They'll do this by telling you a few stories about their own Revolutionary ancestors & by sharing some of the research materials they used in their searches. Come on down to the Crawford room at the library, bring your laptops and a friend, & join us for a trip back to 1775-1783!! like & Thank you for liking & sharing this post!

06/17/2026

🏔️ DID YOU KNOW? MOUNTAIN HOME, WYOMING

Mountain Home, Wyoming was shaped by Wyoming’s rugged timber and railroad era. 🌲🚂

Hidden deep in the mountains near the Colorado border, Mountain Home developed as a remote settlement tied to ranching, logging, and the booming railroad industry of the late 1800s and early 1900s.

One of the biggest industries in the surrounding Medicine Bow forests was “tie hacking” — the cutting of lodgepole pine trees into railroad ties entirely by hand. Workers known as tie hacks spent brutal winters in mountain camps using broad axes to shape ties for the expanding western railroads. Some skilled tie hacks reportedly produced 25–30 railroad ties per day by hand.

The forests surrounding Mountain Home became critically important to railroad expansion across the American West. Historical forestry reports describe how ties cut in the Medicine Bow region were floated down mountain streams before being loaded onto railcars for treatment and use across the Union Pacific system.

Life in the area was anything but easy. Early settlers and workers endured deep snow, isolation, rugged mountain roads, and winters that could cut communities off for weeks at a time. Despite the harsh conditions, small settlements like Mountain Home survived by supporting ranchers, timber crews, travelers, and freight routes crossing southern Wyoming. ❄️🐴

By the 1920s, improved mountain roads through the Snowy Range and Medicine Bow Mountains began attracting tourists, hunters, and fishermen into the region. Over time, the area evolved from a rugged industrial landscape into one of Wyoming’s treasured recreation destinations. 🎣🏕️

Today, Mountain Home remains one of Wyoming’s quiet historic mountain communities — a reminder of the hardworking ranchers, tie hacks, and pioneers who helped build both Wyoming and the American West.

📸 Photo: Historic tie-hacking/logging camp in Wyoming’s mountain timber country, early 1900s.

Sources:
• U.S. Forest Service historical publications
• National Park Service forestry history records
• Rocky Mountain Research Station forestry studies
• Historic Wyoming newspaper archives

06/17/2026

📅 EXPLORE WYOMING HISTORY EVENTS:

🤠🏛️JUNE 17–30, 2026 🏛️🤠

Looking for ways to explore Wyoming’s rich history over the next two weeks? Museums, historical societies, lectures, treks, book signings, community celebrations, genealogy programs, and America 250 events are happening across the state.

🔗 View the complete Wyoming Historical Society Statewide Calendar:
https://wyshs.org/mission-vision/statewide-calendar-events

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📅 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17

• 8:30 AM | Remembering the Rosebud: 150 Years of Courage & Legacy — The Hub on Smith, Sheridan

• June 17–20 | The Beginning of Grand Encampment or A Tale of All Tales (America 250 Celebration) — Grand Encampment Opera House, Encampment

• 5:30 PM | Beers & Banter: Triangle X Ranch 100th Anniversary — Jackson Hole History Museum, Jackson

• 5:30 PM | Re-Storying the West (Dinner Provided) — Campbell County Public Library, Gillette

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📅 THURSDAY, JUNE 18

• 4:30 PM | Saratoga Historical & Cultural Association Board Meeting — Saratoga Museum, Saratoga

• All Day | “The Picture is the Rope” Listening to the Strands Lecture — The Brinton Museum, Big Horn

• All Day | 1st Annual Eras Party — Jackson Hole History Museum, Jackson

• 5:30 PM | Suffrage Stories: Surprising Things You Didn’t Know About The Equality State — Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum, Cheyenne

• 6:00 PM | Fireside to Tablewide: 250 Years of Food, Culture & Community — Eve’s, Rock Springs

• 6:30 PM | Sitting Bull’s War Presentation & Book Signing with Paul Hedren — Rockpile Museum, Gillette

• 7:00 PM | Flint Knapping & Handiwork with Jeff Garetson — Pioneer Museum, Lander

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📅 FRIDAY, JUNE 19

• 1:00 PM | Dinosaurs for Kids featuring Marcus Eriksen — Niobrara County Library, Lusk

• 1:00–5:00 PM | Book Signing: Paul Hedren, Author of Sitting Bull’s War — Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum, Buffalo

• 6:30 PM | Natrona County Genealogy Society Classes — Natrona County Public Library, Casper

• 7:00 PM | Rock Springs Cemetery Historical Walking Tour: RS Women Tour — Rock Springs Cemetery, Rock Springs

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📅 SATURDAY, JUNE 20

• 11:45 AM | Log Cabin to White House: Abraham & Mary Todd Lincoln Living History Presentation — Laramie County Library, Laramie

• All Day | 150th Anniversary of the Great Sioux War — Fort Laramie

• 1:00 PM | Texas Trail Museum Annual Meeting with Guest Speaker Wanda Manley — Curries Family Dining, Pine Bluffs

• 2:00–4:00 PM | Riverton Rendezvous Day — Riverton Museum, Riverton

• 7:00–11:00 PM | H***y Tonk History @ The Mint provided by the Museum at the Bighorns — The Mint Bar, Sheridan

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📅 TUESDAY, JUNE 23

• 3:00 PM | Researching Your Wyoming Roots — Meeteetse Museums, Meeteetse

• 6:00 PM | Sitting Bull’s War with Author Paul Hedren — Kearney Community Hall, Story

• 6:00–7:00 PM | The American Revolution on Film & TV: Debunking Common Myths & Misconceptions — Riverton Museum, Riverton

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📅 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24

• Noon | The Wyoming Bomber Crash of 1943 — Washakie Museum, Worland

• 11:00 AM | South Pass City June Trek with John Mionczynski — Dance Hall, South Pass City

• June 24–28 | Mountain Man 1838 Rendezvous: Walk in the Footsteps of the Mountain Men — Riverton Museum, Riverton

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📅 FRIDAY, JUNE 26

• 9:30 AM–9:30 PM | Annual Brinton Gala — The Brinton Museum, Big Horn

• June 26–28 | Deer Creek Days — Glenrock

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📅 SATURDAY, JUNE 27

• 10:00 AM | Deer Creek Days Parade — Glenrock

• All Day | Glendo Dayz: Stars, Stripes & Small Town Pride — Glendo

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📅 SUNDAY, JUNE 28

• 2:00 PM | High Tea with Denise Brannon — Historic Elk Mountain Hotel, Elk Mountain

• All Day | Clearmont Day — Clearmont

• June 28–30 | 66th Annual Eastern Shoshone Indian Days Powwow — Lander

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🏛️ From Hulett to Rock Springs, Cheyenne to Cody, Wyoming communities are keeping history alive through lectures, treks, museum programs, celebrations, genealogy workshops, and living history events.

📌 Bookmark the Wyoming Historical Society Statewide Calendar and check back often for new events:

https://wyshs.org/mission-vision/statewide-calendar-events

📸Photo Credit: 2012 Cody Parade, Wyoming All State Marching Band (B. Speas Photo Collection)

06/16/2026

Ucross Foundation Event tonight at 5 pm - After nearly a year of major renovations, Ucross Foundation, the acclaimed artist residency program, will celebrate the reopening of the 144-year-old Big Red Ranch House with a public ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house on Tuesday, June 16, at 5 p.m. The evening includes the opening of the Big Red Showcase exhibition featuring Sheridan artist Arin Waddell, and a ticketed summer picnic with live music will follow. See details below.