Revisiting the West Texas Trail Museum in Moorcroft

by Larry Miller

Three years ago, friend Don Matthesen and I made a trek to nearby Moorcroft, Wyoming for a visit to the West Texas Trail Museum. When we arrived, we discovered they were in the midst of a major expansion and renovation; nonetheless, museum director Cynthia Clonch very graciously allowed us to explore the museum, even providing much background and information about the many exhibits that were still on display during their "remodeling" and expansion.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and vowed that we would return after the expansion was completed in September 2013.  Alas, as often happens, time got away from us.  We continued to explore other museums in Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana, but we didn't make it back to Moorcroft that fall -- or the next season -- or even last year.  So our return to the West Texas Trail Museum last week (4/21/16) was long overdue.

Joining us on this trip was Nebraska native and Spearfish resident Perry Beguin.  Now that he, too, is retired, perhaps he'll be able to join us more frequently on our occasional jaunts to things historic across our region.  Museums have been favorites, but we've also explored the remnants of the 1894 Spearfish Electric Light and Power Company about three miles up Spearfish Canyon.  But I digress....

The Hub in downtown Moorcroft, Wyoming

Plans for breakfast in Sundance en route to Moorcraft had to be scrapped as we discovered that Higbee's Cafe was closed for a couple of weeks, and we could find no other home style cafe open.  There's a Subway, but we saved that for a "dessert stop" on the way home.

Arriving in Moorcroft late in the morning, we elected to first find a place to eat and then "play" later at the museum.  

Thus, we found ourselves pulling up in front of the Hub Cafe, about a half block or so north of the railroad tracks in downtown Moorcroft.  

Museum guys Miller, Beguin and Matthesen

Don Matthesen remembered the Hub from his years as a teenager in nearby  Sundance.

After a hearty breakfast and good conversation, we met up with Babe (Hoshaw) Lynch, whose parents ran the restaurant about a half century ago.  And she has returned remodel and run the business again.. That must be a record of sorts in Moorcroft.  It's rare to find an old building that's occupied by a business that's continuing to provide the same kinds of services many decades later.  That would be the Hub.

With breakfast -- including cinnamon rolls -- behind us, we forged ahead to the West Texas Trail Museum.  Although we missed director Cynthia Clonch, volunteers graciously welcomed us and gave us an overview of the "new" museum, including a peek at the traveling exhibit from the Sweetwater County Historical Museum.  It's a wonderful collection of photos and display boards with information about the rough and tough years in the late 19th century.  It's called Wyoming's Outlaw Trail, and it's well worth traveling an hour or two to see it.  

We spent three hours in the museum, re-visiting earlier exhibits -- but spending more time poring through the traveling exhibit. We're told it was organized three years ago by author Mac Blewer and Sweetwater County Historical Museum Exhibits Coordinator Dave Mead.  It's replete with photos and information from Blewer's Arcadia Publishing book by the same name, Wyoming's Outlaw Trail.  The Wyoming Humanities Council provided a grant to help the project get off the ground.

Wyoming's Outlaw Trail exhibit will remain on display at the Moorcroft museum until May 20th.  Then it's slated to be a part of and "Outlaw Symposium" in Vernal, Utah, beginning June 10th.

As with our last trip, I've posted a collection of photos illustrative of the many exhibits in the museum.  You'll find them in this gallery entitled West Texas Trail Museum  - Revisited!

The West Texas Trail Museum is located at 100 E. Weston Street in Moorcroft.  They're open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.  Question?  Give them a call at 307-756-9300.  Admission is free.

Expansion underway at West Texas Trail Museum

We like this panoramic image of early day Moorcroft, Wyoming, which is home to the expanding West Texas Trail Museum.  You can get a closer look in our Museum Gallery. (Sorry, Gallery is temporarily closed eff. 4/25/16)

The framed photograph -- along with hundreds of other items -- is part of a growing collection of artifacts that are housed in the museum at 100 E. Weston Street in Moorcroft.  The collections helps to tell the story of Moorcroft and the longhorn cattle trails that stretched from Texas through Wyoming and into Montana as early as 1866.

Last year, friend Don Matthesen and I made a trek to the museum at Newell, South Dakota, and enjoyed it so much that we elected to make another similar museum outing -- this time westward to Moorcroft.

After a hearty breakfast at Higbee's in Sundance one day last week (7/11/13), we headed west on I-90 toward Moorcroft, arriving about 30 minutes after the 9:00 a.m. opening of the museum.

Museum Director Cynthia Conch

New director Cynthia Conch, obviously pumped about the 1,800 square foot expansion of the museum that's underway, provided us with some background about the exhibits that remain accessible during construction.

It might have been a bit disappointing that some items are not displayed during construction, but Cynthia's enthusiasm -- and the remaining availability of many artifacts and photographs -- enticed us to explore the rooms that are still open.  And it simply motivated us to plan a return visit after the addition is completed this fall.

"We're hoping construction will be completed and we can show off the facility by the time of the Heritage Roundup in September," Conch told us.  The addition includes a conference room and break room that will help make the museum an even more viable facility.

Like Belle Fourche in Dakota Territory, Moorcroft became an important Wyoming trailhead for shipping cattle in the late 1800's.  Of course, there're no remnants of the old depot  on the south side of town, but the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (CB&Q) line was certainly a conduit for prosperity during the late 1800's and early 1900's.

The museum offers lots of histories of Crook County pioneer families and railroad memorabilia, and it also boasts a wide array of quilts, sewing machines, and embroidery work.  Perhaps our wives should have been along, too!

Ranching displays highlighted western saddles and tack collected from the surrounding area, including items from "Mr. Mustang," Bob Brislawn.

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy depot in Moorcroft

Most of the railroad items are still inaccessible, but we were surprised and pleased to be able to pore over a collection of American Indian artifacts and tools.  There's also an impressive collection of household and personal items from the Helen Robinson Zimmerscheid Collection -- and even more for the Robinson Mercantile store owned by early-day merchant L. H. Robinson.

We've assembled a fair number of photographs taken while ambling through the museum, and you'll find them in our West Texas Trail Museum gallery.

Admission to the West Texas Trail Museum is free, and they're open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday.   We found their slogan, "A little bit of everything…..A whole lot of history…" to be true.  When their expansion is complete this fall, we anticipate finding even more!