Dunes and Dinos - Sawyer, Michigan 7.30.24

 

Big Horn History   6.5.21

Big Horn County Historical Museum is so close to where we had been camping for almost a week that we were surprised we almost missed it.  This was because the museum did not appear on our maps, and the sign advertising it from the freeway was so old and faded we wondered if the museum was still in existence.  It is still there and is a treasure trove of area history, comprising several acres and many buildings.  The main ranch house is the centerpiece and some of the other buildings were moved from other places.  There was the house, a school, church, store, railroad depot, doctor’s office and farm outbuildings.  The cabin and studio of artist Will James were there, the studio looking as if he was still working.  The only building we could not visit was the funeral parlor which had suffered a broken window during the storm the night before.  We also saw several downed branches, suggesting the storm was worse in this area than in our campground not far away.

We have seen other history museums with old buildings and artifacts, but this one seemed especially thoughtful in the way it was curated.  All of the buildings, including second floor living quarters in the store and railroad depot, were rich with detail and period items, like authentic quilts and coverlets, a corset thrown casually over a chair, children’s toys, books, and items in the kitchen cupboards.  You could almost hear voices of the families who lived in these quarters.  Even given the more difficult way of life without electricity or running water, they seemed cozy apartments – small by modern American standards, but not cramped.  

The railroad depot looked as if the occupants had just stepped away, leaving their piles of leather suitcases, calendars still on the walls and old ledgers on the desks.  The old slaughterhouse was complete with papier maché carcasses made by art students at the local high school.  There was an early mechanical device in the store for calculating weight and price of produce, called the “Computer Scale.”  A child’s homework assignment was still on his desk, a 4^th of July tribute to the flag, carefully drawn and colored. 

The buildings were set out along wooden walkways, and the compound was full of shade trees and benches, each inscribed with the names of donors and in whose honor they were donated, which was a good thing because there was so much to see that we spent nearly three hours there.  There was also the museum proper, not large but full of artifacts from the Big Horn battlefield, Native American items, wagons, saddles and Western clothing, and another general store.  Most of this museum concerned the period following the battle of Little Big Horn, around 1900 into the 20s, 30s and even later.  There was even an entire filling station from the ‘40s, complete with vintage pickup truck, pumps and signs.  I thought of my dad when I went into an outbuilding which used to be a stage station but is now a garage for older buggies and automobiles, including several beautifully kept fire trucks from the 1940s. 

When we left the museum, we felt we had seen history of the area in a pretty comprehensive way, from prehistoric pictographs to Native American buffalo hunts to battles with government troops, up until the one-room schoolhouses were closed in the 1950s and early 1960s.  It was a fitting end to our time in the Billings area.  Tomorrow we are headed west.