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The G.J. Jones and Simon Morgareidge families traveled

 together from Nebraska to Wyoming in 1888. Jones, a 

Union sympathizer, and Morgareidge, a Confederate, 

bickered the whole way. Mrs. Jones worked to establish

 a post office, which she named after William 

Worthington Morgareidge and her daughter May. 

The post office, and its location, was called Mayoworth.

The Mayoworth Post Office was established on 

July 16,1889 with first postmaster Charlotte L. Jones. 

I believe I have said this earlier but is still worth

 repeating in the time periods of Territorial, Statehood

 and after Statehood approximately 258 post offices in 

Wyoming were established by women. I have seen the use

 of post mistress however the post office apparently has

 never changed their designation from postmaster. 

I hope that those who continue to post on this site 

can relate stories like this one which brings more

 meaning to just the post office name and first postmaster. 

Butch Cassidy, John D. Rockefeller Jr,

 my grandfather, me (Don M Ricks)

A narrative thread, slender but certain,

 weaves Butch Cassidy, John D. Rockefeller Jr,

 my grandfather, and me into the history of

 western Wyoming.
In 1889, a few weeks after the bank in 

Telluride was robbed, Cassidy walked into

 the Amoretti bank in Lander and sat down

 with the young assistant manager, 

E. A. Amoretti Jr. When Cassidy left he 

had opened an account with a large cash 

deposit, had made a new friend, and had 

been hired to work on Amoretti’s EA Ranch, 

five miles north of Dubois.
In 1922, the rough wagon road through 

Togwotee Pass was upgraded to a rough road

 for motor traffic. Amoretti established 

the Lander-Yellowstone Park Transportation

 Company. It hauled tourists from the new

 Chicago & Northwestern terminal in Lander

 to Jackson Hole. He built the Brooks Lake

 Lodge for his guests, as well as the 

Amoretti Inn at Moran, near the site of 

what one day would become the Jackson 

Lake Lodge. My grandfather, Cody Simonson,

 was one of the young men in Dubois who 

Amoretti hired to drive his motor stages.
In 1926, John D. Rockefeller Jr visited 

Jackson Hole with his family, noticed the

 Grand Tetons, and was inspired to create

 a national park. The historical record 

confirms they travelled from Lander and 

stayed at the Amoretti Inn. It does not 

disclose the name of their driver.
I wish I could report that, like Butch 

Cassidy and my grandfather, I once worked

 for Eugene Amoretti Jr. But that would 

not be true. In 1950, when I was 13, 

Francis Amoretti hired me for the summer

 as chore boy on the EA Ranch. That was 

in June. Her husband had died in March.
Photos: In this photo taken at the EA 

Ranch around 1890, the man wearing the 

white hat is believed to be Amoretti. 

The man seated next to the door is believed

 to be Butch Cassidy. That cabin is likely

 the one that served as the unofficial 

post office for the Dubois area at the 

time.—A motor stage like the one my Grandfather

 drove for Amoretti—The “upgraded” 

Togwotee Pass road. 

(Photos: Wyoming Tales and Trails)

The Kaycee Post Office was established on January 27, 1898 with first postmaster George Kaltenbach. The first application was turned down because it was presented as the letters K. C. and the postal service stated the name needed to be spelled out to be accepted.

Portuguese Houses(1834-1840)

 by Margaret Brock Hanson
There seems to be little factual history about the first white settlement on the Powder River. But there are still lasting evidences of a stockade and houses of an early trading post. These were always referred to as the"Portuguese Houses," and are located on the north bank of the Powder River, 11 miles east of the present town of Kaycee.
In 1834, (Antonio) Montero received instructions from (Captain L.E.) Bonneville to trap in Crow Indian Country of the Big Horn Mountains.
The post was evidently not built to be a temporary winter shelter. It had stout stockade of cottonwood logs and the houses were sturdily built of hewn logs. Montero was in charge of fifty men and sent them out to trap the beaver.
In 1859, Captain W.F. Raynolds and Jim Bridger visited the site of the Portuguese Houses. Raynolds, at this time was make an exploration of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. He wrote in his journal: "Bridger and myself turned our faces down stream...after a ride of about 15 miles we came to the ruins of some old trading posts, known as the "Portuguese Houses," from the fact that many years ago they were erected by a Portuguese trader named Antonio Montero. "They are now badly dilapidated, and only one side of the pickets remains standing. These, however, are of hewn logs, and from their character it is evident that the structures were originally very strongly built. Bridger recounted a tradition that at one time this post was besieged by the Sioux for forty days, resisting successfully to the last alike the strength and ingenuity of their assaults, and the appearance of the ruins renders the story not only credible but probable."
No citation for this newspaper article that states...
The late Edward T. Burnett recorded the fact that he saw ruins of these building in 1880. The old beaver hide press was still there, and some of the stockade logs were still lying around. They had been mortised to a heavy sill. The beaver press worked somewhat similar to the present hay presses or balers, built of hewn cottonwood, and was used for baling the beaver hides.
From a book by Tom Wall...
I asked Oris, "Why do they call this place the old Portuguese Fort?" He replied, "I don't know- tis' always been called that, ever since I can remember." I thought this strange as Oris was an old-timer in the country and I thought the legend or history of the place would be handed down to the younger generation. I looked around where the old buildings had stood; one could pick out the spots by the piles of dirt and rock, which was caused by the falling down of the dirt roofs and the stone chimneys. There were three spots that were black as if from fires; maybe Indians burnt the buildings down, or the black spots were caused by campers who camped here as we were doing now. This was my first visit to the main stream of Powder River. The Place looked very rough with sharp jagged rocks which gave it the appearance of being a very difficult country to ride into, or to even get past, or around. It reminded me of what I'd heard of Powder River being a wild and woolly place. Talking to H.W. Davis a few years later about the Portuguese Fort, he stated, "The Portuguese trappers put up the log cabins and when they got through trapping for the season and went to leave, they would bury what extra powder they might have left, so as to be sure that they would have some on their return the next year. The he continued, "It was burying this gunpowder that gave Powder River its name."
From an manuscript written by Jack Roberts...
Montero's fort was built on a slight eminence alongside the Crow travois trail, overlooking the Powder River. Groves of tall, sweet cottonwood lined both sides of the river, providing adequate building material and fuel. The bark of the sweet cottonwood was stripped for winter horse feed, and the straight logs were hewn square for the stockade walls. The enclosure measured 112' x 116' along the outside, with bastions on the northwest and southwest corner, making it possible for a guard on the sod roof to view the riverbank for some distance both directions. The horses were kept in a corral between the south wall and the river, and the blockhouse overlooked the entire area. The main gate was on the north wall, facing the Powder River Trail. The living quarters were built along the inside walls, leaving a courtyard, or trading arena, in the center. Two cisterns were built of rock, eight feet in diameter and located near each bastion. This was a fire prevention measure in the event hostile Indians attacked with incendiary arrows. A blacksmith shop was on the ground level in the northwest bastion. The privy was in the southeast bastion, where the waste was washed away through a rock-lined drain leading to the riverbank. The drain was frequently doused with lime. A carpenter shop was located in the blockhouse, and since there had never been a wagon in the Crow country, there was no wheelwright. There was a two -story barracks for the single men along the south wall, and the kitchen and mess hall were on the east wall. Rooms for fur storage and trade goods were provided along the north wall. Near the main gate were the master's quarters and the counting room for the clerk. Along the west wall were small rooms for employees with squaws and children. The flat roofs of the dwellings on the north and west walls served a s banquette for the guards.

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