Johnson County, Wyoming WyGenWeb Project Index

HELLO! MY NAME IS REBECCA AND I AM THE COUNTY COORDINATOR FOR JOHNSON COUNTY.

Buffalo Ancient Cow Town A Wyoming Saga by Burton S. Hill
-available for checkout at the library...
Buffalo began to appear along Clear Creek during the late spring of 1879 in the nature of a civilian adjunct to the uncompleted Fort McKinney on the mesa three miles westward in Wyoming Territory. On July 18, 1878, Captain Edwin Pollock of the 9th U.S. Infantry had laid out and started construction on the new fort designed to protect emigrants on the nearby Bozeman Trail. Contracts had been let to a number of civilians to provide forage from the adjoining valleys for the post livestock, and these contractors established their camps along Clear Creek where Buffalo now stands. Soon this brought tradesmen and merchants to serve these workers, as well as beer halls and saloons where liquor could be bought and enjoyed on the premises. The new town was just off the military reservation which made for a greater license than would be allowed near the post. This situation was quickly taken advantage of.
While the new town soon gained considerable prominence along the trail, the spot where it stood, and the environs, were well known long before. Just east of the mouth of Clear Creek Canyon with the tall and shining Big Horns rising to the immediate west, the locality had long been a favorite one. First the Indian tribes and later the early day white explorers and trappers found their way there to rest and enjoy the clear cold water of the creek, the shade trees, and the wide valley abounding with game of all kinds.
Prior to the time white men made their appearance, the Sioux called Clear Creek Tu Shu Wakpala, meaning Lodge Pole Creek, and it went by the latter name until some of the first explorers commenced calling it Clear Fork, and pronounced it the largest tributary of Powder River, which it still is. One of the first of these explorers was Wilson Price Hunt, who, on August 31, 1811, made his camp on the flat just west of where Buffalo now stands.

Roy McDougal drove the stagecoach to Clearmont and back. Notice that we already had streetlights. That first building is Margo's Pottery looking north from Clear Creek.

By Kari

JIM GATCHELL MUSEUM

When I was growing up, I spent much time at the museum, going through the different displays. I especially remember the dioramas done in miniature of historical events such as the Fetterman Battle, the Wagon Box Fight and Ft Phil Kearney. They were so lifelike and have left a lasting impression on me. The displays of the Indian items were very vivid, also. There were also hugh collections of arrow points, period clothing and head dresses. When I would go arrowhead hunting and find something, I would compare my finds with what was in the museum.
Today, I still go in and view the many new things they have added and make my own donations for others to share.

LIBRARY

I spent much time at the Johnson County Library in Buffalo. The rule in our family was that all us kids had to be at the library by 4:30, so Dad could pick us up and take us up the mountain after school and there were NO excuses. I remember my brother, Steph got yelled at seriously because he was a little late. It turned out Steph had ball practice and Dad forgot! You could tell Dad wanted to say sorry, but that wasn't Dad's way back then!
The library was this wonderful place for me where I could escape into fantasy. I think girls do that a lot! I loved mysteries and Tarzan! And I read every book the library had on those. Nancy Drew-the Hardy Boys-Tarzan. Everything was right with the world if I have one of those to read.
The library was old...to me. It had wide plank pine floors and old shelves-very high-and oak tables and chairs and smelled old. Now that I am old, I appreciate pine planking with a lot of patena and rich dark shelving with a lot of patena. And the building itself...oh, it must have been-and still is-an architectural prize. It is of red brick-very large brick-I wonder if it was made at the fort? And the north side of the building has a turret. I can't describe it well enough. It was one of my favorite buildings, even as a child.
Now, the Museum has annexed it and it has changed tremendously. Gone are the old plank floors and old walls. Even the smell is different. It has been converted to the museum gift shop.

OUTDOOR SWIMMING POOL

Ah...hot summer days and the city pool. What could be better. The pool is fed from Clear Creek, which runs right down through the center of town. When I was a kid, the pool was just this big-and I mean big-concrete lined square and a dirt bottom. On the north side were the dressing rooms, which were rough logs chinked just like all log buildings were chinked and the trim was alway painted a bright blue, if memory serves me correct. On the northeast corner of the pool was a huge diving tower. It had two levels to jump from and if you were â€˜cool' you always jumped from the top level. Goodness, it was high in the sky when I was a tyke. The first time I jumped off that level I thought I would never get back up above water. That end down there was very deep.
Across from the pool, there is a band shell and it still has great accoustics even today. There is what we called back in the day the baby pool, which was made of the same concrete material and had a fountain in the center of it and all the little ones spent their time there. Swing sets and tennis courts made up to rest of the park area and my brother and I spent all our summer days in that park.
Today, they have changed the pool. It is still the same monster size, but sports a new kind of wall and it is painted bright blue. And it also has a floor, which is also painted blue. And it is still the same kind of magnet for the young and old as it was in my day.

CHRISTMAS IN BUFFALO

There is NO town in America like Buffalo at Christmas time. When I was a kid, oh, my Goodness, Buffalo went all out for the season. It's not called the City of Lights for nothing!!! The full length of main street was lined on both sides with lighted Christmas trees and there were lights strung over the street. The huge pine trees on the courthouse lawn were lighted from top to bottom and you could see them for miles. Those trees had to be 50-70' high. And Buffalo always had snow at Christmas time..
I remember going from store to store singing Christmas carols the last week before Christmas and our church group would go house to house in some neighborhoods singing carols. One of the old ranchers would bring his team of horses and his wagons into town and we would have hay rides down main street.It was truly a winter wonderland.
Dad always took us kids tree hunting in the mountains. We would spend the day looking for just the perfect tree and always came home with it, cold and wet and hungry. Mom would have a fire going in the fireplace, and hot cocoa and popcorn ready for us when we got home.
When I grew up and had a family of my own, I kept those memories alive while I was still in Buffalo, but then, I moved to this big city and Christmas has never been the same. City folk don't celebrate the same way or feel the same way about all the trappings of the season. So now, Christmas in Buffalo is only in my heart.

SPRING FLOWERS

The spring flowers in the Big Horn Mountains are some of the most beautiful flowers known to man-of course, there is no bias in that statement! Because I was raised west of Buffalo and spent the majority of my life on the back of a horse exploring all the mountains that surrounded me, I was privy to the early show of purples from the lupine, the yellows of the balsam roots, the hot pinks of the fire weed, the red of the Indian paintbrush and the list goes on. The hills outside my bedroom window were carpeted in purple with splashes of yellow. The aspen groves sang their song in the breeze and the paintbrush peeked through the tall grasses. The air was crisp and fresh and carried some many scents. And all I had to do was look to the west to see the glacier on the top of the peaks...how blue the sky was...how white snow was...how purple the lupine was. How truly blessed I was to lilve in that wonderous area.

This is a photo of the Johnson County High School/Buffalo High School building that used to be at the top of High School Hill.
"It was in 1911 when the separate high school was built on the hill on land donated by Joe Todd, a school board member. Construction cost $28,000 with a $6,000 levy for the heating plant.
Members of the first county high school board were J.J. Cash, William Bryant, A.M. Brock, W.J. Thom, R.O. Watkins, and Richard Young. Mr. Wood was named first principal in the new building.
Shortly after the opening of this school, Mrs. Hart, the mathematics teacher, had sent all her pupils to the blackboard to work because of poor behavior. They had just begun to work when an unbraced air vent fell through the roof of the room smashing the desks beyond repair. Only one girl was injured. Sometimes misbehavior does do some good!"
(quoting from Buffalo's First Century pg. 169 - This book is available for check out at the library and is full of interesting bits of Buffalo's history.)

1949 Johnson county high school graduating class.
Back row, standing left to right: Douglas Sparks, Ellis Elsom, Martin Long, Roy Wuthier, Robert Worden, Robert Barrett, Phil Little, George Gardner, Eldon Buell James Lucas, Clarence Gammon Jr., Alvin Johnson, Harvey Torrence, Robert Garland, Richard Walters, Darry Kelley, Bill Hepp, Charles Jacobson.
Second row: Patricia Murray, Thelma Key, Ann Leath, Theota Stone, Virginia Dahlstrom, Cynthia Quale, Dana Anderson, Florence Francis, Frances Shreve, Phyllis Green, Patty Hilliard, Dixie Jones, Barbara Buckingham, Addie Schoonover, Dorothy Forsyth, Ann Yoder, Tobin Lucas, Betty Gilbert, Hazel Green.
Seated: Jack Maggard and Barbara Meike, king and queen of Class day

The City of Buffalo, Wyoming was incorporated on April 4, 1884.*
In 1884, a two-story annex was added to the south of the Occidental Hotel to enhance business and provide more rooms for weary travelers and cowboys. Also in 1884, the Buell family purchased the land that the Occidental sits on from Buffalo’s first landlady, Juliet Watson Hart.
*As with so much of the state's early history, there are some discrepancies. The Wyoming State Archives lists April 4, 1884 as the city's date of incorporation. A marker at the Johnson County Courthouse lists March 3, 1884 as the city's date of incorporation.

Buffalo in about 1903

Buffalo in about 1903

Buffalo in about 1903

Buffalo in about 1903

Buffalo in about 1903

Nancy Stevens, Mrs. Peter Watt, Janet Brock, Dolly Tisdale, Mrs. Van Dyke, Lil Baker, Winona Gatchell, Mrs. Copps, Mrs. Jim Gatchell, Margaret Smith, Mrs. Rothwell, Ruth Van Dyke, Bess Hill, Mrs. Kube, Mary Holt, Fannie King, Eliza Adams, Mrs. Parmelee, Mrs. Thom, Mrs. Hesse, Mrs. Quick, Mrs. Chappell, Mrs. C.N. Walters (no date given)

A few pioneers of early Buffalo, in front of T.P. Hill's law office, 1912.
Names listed in order...
J.C. Van Dyke, Gray Norval, W.J. Thom, Alex Laing, M.T. Redman, Billy Adams, George F. Myers, Billy Cochran, Charlie Rand, Jim Gatchell, W.G. Angus, C.H. Parmelee, Dave Young, T.P. Hill, Sr.

Being a County or State Administrator is fun and rewarding. If you have an interest in the history of Wyoming and the genealogy of it's residents please consider it. If you think "there is no way I can do this" there are many people ready, willing and able to help you. It's not near as difficult as you might think.

Johnson CountyWyoming

Johnson County
Wyoming