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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 ‘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.
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About 1930
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