Wyoming! Jagged mountain peaks pointing at the sky, crystal clear glacial lakes teeming with fish, and gently rolling plains speckled with antelope and mule deer. It's one of the most beautiful states in the Union.
Tucked into the state's southeastern corner, Pine Bluffs - known simply as “Pine” to its residents - has been a well-kept secret. But this picturesque town, founded when the Union Pacific Railroad extended its line there in 1865, has a fascinating tale to tell.
Pine is readily accessible. From the Omaha area, go west on I- 80, part of
the interstate highway system created by President Eisenhower in the 1950s.
From Denver, take I-25 north to Cheyenne, and then I-80 east. Here, the vast high
plains take over. Treeless rolling hills are covered by 15,000 acre cattle, sheep and
horse ranches, and farms of 6,000 acres or more yielding wheat, pinto beans and
hay. In stark contrast to the mountainous western part of the state, the eastern
prairie possesses a distinct beauty all its own.
Area history is displayed in Pine at no less than three sites; the High
Plains Archaeology Museum, at 211 Elm Street, the Windows on the Past Interpretive Site, at 1001 Muddy Creek Drive, just off State Route 30, and the
Texas Trail Museum, at 201 W. 3rd Street.
Because there's much to see and do, you might consider arriving the evening before. Reasonably priced accommodations are available at the clean and comfortable Gator's Travelyn Motel, at 515 W. 7th Street, only two blocks off the Interstate at Exit 401. After checking in, sample great food at the Rock Ranch Grille just around the corner on Parsons Street, while listening to stories of the Union Pacific Rail line that runs past the town a few hundred yards north.
Next morning, eat a hearty breakfast at any of three eateries; Uncle Fred's,
The Wild Horse, or A&W, all close by on Parsons Street. The coffee is fresh, the
portions generous, and the locals so friendly you'll feel like you've known them
all your life. Leonard Anderson, Pine's Mayor, obviously proud of this town and
its people, says: “Visitors remark that our town reminds them of a park, with the
pride that people take in their (homes and) yards and our wide paved streets
with curb and gutter.”
After breakfast, it's only a short drive out Route 30 to Muddy Creek Road, location of the Windows on the Past Archaeology dig. Once inside, walk onto the deck and converse with excavators at work during the summer months. Objects dating back 9,000 plus years to a prehistoric time when early American cultures thrived in the Pine Bluffs area have been unearthed in the dig. Paleo-Indian artifacts such as arrowheads, spearheads and scraping tools have been found here.
Nearby, Lodgepole Creek, famous for archaeological sites along its banks, once wended its curving way north and east through the Lodgepole Valley and across the plains. Here and in the bluffs south of town, much has been learned about tribes that gathered to hunt Bison ? at one time as many as the sands of the river bottom ? or camped briefly to rest in this welcoming spot before continuing their migration. Gaze at the bluff's tree-studded walls and imagine Indian camps set in the creek's wooded bends; dozens of white teepees assembled a few yards apart, columns of blue smoke lazily rising from cooking fires, while children played and red men met in groups nearby to plan the next day's hunt.
Over 300 teepee rings have been found on the bluffs. At the dig, there's an exhibit displaying both ceremonial and other stone circle sites discovered in these encampments.
At the High Plains Archeology Museum on Elm, one can get a deeper understanding of the artifacts found at the Interpretive dig. On display here are historic and prehistoric items gathered throughout the area by archaeologists from the University of Wyoming, dating from the early 20th Century and going back 9,800 years. There's also an exhibit of artifacts from abandoned Fort Howard, a former training base for U.S. Cavalry in the late 1800s, thought to be the first army “boot camp” in America. Shell casings, bullets, cavalry belt buckles and boots, along with historic photographs from that era, can be examined.
Where to next? The Texas Trail Museum, housed in the old power plant, which preserves the town's history as the place where vast herds of longhorns driven from far-off Texas were loaded aboard rail cars and shipped to Eastern markets seventeen hundred miles away. Then as now, beef and hides meant money, and a cattleman with 20,000 head held a fortune in his hands. On the museum's lawn, a marker erected in August 1948 says it well: “Over this trail from distant Texas, passed the greatest migration of men and cattle in the history of America.”
Browse the museum's collection of Indian artifacts, quilts, and an assortment of barbed wire fencing dating back to the 1800s, chronicling the types of wire farmers and ranchers used to fence their land. Also on display are antique cameras and old saddles employed by real people in a prior time.
Also found here are two diesel-fired engines, which supplied Pine with electricity during the 1950s, the first schoolhouse in eastern Laramie County, opened in 1879, a Union Pacific Railroad caboose, a replica of a doctor's office, and a decommissioned Catholic Church, built in 1908. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
If you're in town on a Friday during the summer, plan to spend the evening at the local rodeo on Beech Street, watching bronco and bull riding, roping, and barrel racing competitions by the best Wyoming cowboys and cowgirls the area has to offer.
Finally, prior to departing, visit the statue of Our Lady of Peace on Route 30, a stones throw from the Nebraska border. The dream of a Wyoming couple, Marjorie and Ted Trefren, of Cheyenne, this beautiful Marian statue of white marble by sculptor Robert Fida, stands 30 feet high and weighs 180 tons. The largest sculpture in Wyoming, it's clearly visible from I-80, providing a pleasant place for truckers and other travelers to stop and rest, or offer a prayer before continuing their trek.
Whether entering or leaving Wyoming, if you're looking for an interesting diversion, visit Pine Bluffs and experience a unique blend of Wyoming helpfulness and high plains history in a land filled with legends of cowboys and cattle drives, Indian encampments and homesteaders' lifestyles.
Come, relax, recharge and recapture the spirit of the old west for a day or two, in charming Pine Bluffs.
Anthony Joseph Sacco, Sr., holds degrees from Loyola College and the University of Maryland Law School. He is a freelance writer, author, and investigator who lives and works in Pine Bluffs, WY.
