One More For The Road

[{"type":"text","text":"Everyone admires a good equestrian..."}]

One more for 4 17 23

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>One More For The Road: Monday, April 17, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Everyone admires a good equestrian...

One More For The Road: Monday, April 17, 2023

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's managing editor, Greg Johnson.

Greg Johnson

Outdoors

Public Lands

After getting bookended by a pair of wildfires that prompted the closure of Devils Tower over the weekend, the national monument reopened again to the public Monday — albeit on a limited basis.

While Devils Tower is open, the hiking trails around the tower and throughout the monument remain closed as crews continue to battle a pair of nearby fires, one just southwest of the monument’s boundary and another southeast.

“We were able to open it up this morning, but as of today, the hiking trails in the backcountry are closed,” said Dustin Sene, Powder River Group superintendent for the National Park Service.

“We’re hoping to get those back up as soon as possible,” he added. “I’m glad we were able to get it open today.”

While the trails remain off limits because of the fires burning nearby, Sene said that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do at Devils Tower other than stand there and look at it.

“You can still come in, drive the roads, and the visitors center and bookstore are open,” he said.

Asked if climbing the tower is still off-limits, he answered, “Oh yes, that’s affirm.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Another Fire"}]

Wyoming State Forestry, NPS and firefighting officials had contemplated discussing reopening Devils Tower on Sunday afternoon after the 282-acre 

 on the southwest border of the monument was started Friday.

That didn’t happen, however, with the discovery Sunday afternoon of the now-300-acre 

 just southeast of Devils Tower and just east of Wyoming Highway 24.

With progress on the Left Creek Fire, fire managers were able to divert resources to the Newton Fire quickly, which has kept it relatively in check for the past 12 hour or so, Sene said.

“Boy, they did get there quick, and so did the air resources,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Monday. “It’s nice we had these resources here at the park already.

“If there was a time to have a second fire, this was it. I’m just really impressed with the local fire folks here.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Really Scary’"}]

The National Interagency Fire Center reports that the Left Creek Fire hasn’t grown since Saturday, and now is 25% contained.

The Newton Fire isn’t reporting any containment; however, it also hasn’t shown much growth overnight and a previous order putting area residents at “set” status to evacuate has been lifted.

Highway 24 also had been closed for a time Sunday south of Devils Tower, but has since reopened.

While both fires seem to be going well for the wildland firefighting crews working them, it was “really scary” when the Left Creek Fire was discovered, said state Sen. Ogden Driskill.

The fire, believed to have been started by lightning, is on the fence line of his property — and it’s land the ranch depends on.

“It was really scary, because that’s some of the grass we depend on in the fall and winter,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Sunday morning while meeting with state and National Park Service officials.

“In my opinion, it without a doubt could’ve been a 5,000-acre-plus fire — or more,” Driskill said, adding that quick and precise work from the more than 100 firefighters on the scene have kept the wildfire in check.

“We literally watched helicopters put out crown fires all day long,” he said. “They kept it in the original line all day long (Saturday), and the ground crews kept it from spreading on the ground.”

That work has kept the fire at an estimated 282 acres, said Dick Terry, district forester for Wyoming State Forestry.

While he wouldn’t say the fire is contained, he said he’s confident it’s basically under control.

“We’ve got fire line around most of it, but it’s indirect,” he said. “It’s still small and not contained just because we’ve got the east side with a shaky line until we get a little bit of a handle on that.”

The fire has so far also stayed outside the boundary of the national monument, Terry said.

“I would assume it’s lightning,” he added about the suspected cause of the fire. “But, I haven’t seen the start of it yet. But it’s 99% sure it’s lightning.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Newton Fire, And Another One"}]

The Newton Fire was discovered at about 1:15 p.m. Sunday, and had grown to an estimated 200 acres in a couple of hours, the National Interagency Fire Center and Crook County Emergency Management report.

Asked later Sunday for an update on the wildfire situation around Devils Tower — which has closed the monument for much of Saturday and all of Sunday — county Emergency Management Coordinator Ed Robinson was blunt.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It sucks,” he said."}]

“We get one fire almost contained, and then we’re fighting another one now, too,” he told Cowboy State Daily from the scene of the Newton Fire on Sunday.

The Left Creek and Newton fires aren’t the only serious wildfire being fought in northern Wyoming.

Two counties to the east, a Wyoming Type 3 incident management team was called in to help fight a fire in the Clearmont area of Sheridan County, which has ballooned to more than 7,200 acres since it was started by lightning on Friday, according to the Type 3 team.

“A lightning storm moved across the region starting multiple fires north of Clearmont, Wyoming, in Sheridan County,” according to a report from the Type 3 team and its commander, Jon Warder.

“Weather and fuel conditions led to the fire quickly growing in size,” the report says. “While structures were threatened, none have been lost so far.”

The NIFC reports the Lumin Fire is about 50% contained, and that terrain and fuels are making the wildfire difficult to fight.

While he was at the Devils Tower site Sunday, Terry said he also had been checking in on the Lumin Fire.

Crews there have made considerable progress on getting more control and protecting buildings in the area, he said.

“It kind of sounded like they got some burnouts completed and, hopefully, they’ll be winding down on that,” he said.

Devils Tower Fire Jennifer Pierson via Crook County Fire 8 3 26

<title>‘Really Scary’: Devils Tower Reopens As Two Wildfires Burn Nearby | Cowboy State Daily</title>

After getting bookended by a pair of wildfires that prompted the closure of Devils Tower over the weekend, it reopened again Monday as the fires continue to burn. “It was really scary,” said Ogden Driskill, whose ranch is impacted.

‘Really Scary’: Devils Tower Reopens As Two Wildfires Burn Nearby

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Public Safety

Inside Rawlins Family Church on Sunday afternoon, worshippers paused when the sound of blaring sirens rushed toward East State Street. 

[{"type":"text","text":"No one inside knew exactly what had happened."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"But Michelle Greer said she knew it was serious."}]

"We started hearing police cars," Greer told Cowboy State Daily. "Then I stepped outside."

Emergency vehicles from surrounded the intersection where a small bicycle lay twisted on the pavement. Nearby, a black tarp answered everyone's immediate question. 

"I was devastated," Greer said. "I work at the school, and I knew it was one of our kids. My heart was just so broken all day yesterday. I just couldn't even really function." 

The Rawlins Police Department confirmed an 8-year-old boy died Sunday after a collision involving a bicycle and a vehicle around 12:21 p.m. near East State Street and Jefferson Avenue. 

Officers from the Rawlins Fire Department, Carbon County Sheriff's Office, Carbon County EMS and the Wyoming Highway Patrol also responded.

A preliminary Wyoming Highway Patrol report says the boy was riding north on Jefferson Street when he possibly failed to stop at a posted stop sign before entering the intersection with East State Street. A Ram 2500 traveling east on State Street struck the child.

Investigators reported the roads were dry, the weather was clear, and the pickup driver was not injured. 

The crash remains under investigation and authorities have not released additional details.

For Greer, the facts mattered less in the immediate aftermath than the overwhelming sense of loss.

[{"type":"text","text":"As emergency crews worked, people gathered quietly nearby."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"They were coming down. They were standing on the street,\" she said. "}]

Roads around the scene were blocked for hours while investigators documented what happened. 

[{"type":"text","text":"'Happy-Go-Lucky' "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The crash happened in an area where children are a common sight."}]

"State Street is pretty busy," Greer said. "Jefferson is not, but there's a park right behind our church, so there's always kids at the park." 

Only a week earlier, Greer had watched neighborhood children laughing together during a family event at that same spot.

[{"type":"text","text":"The child who died was among them. "}]

"He was there all day playing with all the kids," she recalled. "He was just happy-go-lucky, and he just had a great time the whole day." 

[{"type":"text","text":"That memory has replayed in her mind ever since."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"'We're Praying For Them'"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Greer is also a mother."}]

Her daughter recently turned 18, and her son is 30. She said thinking about the victim's parents has been almost unbearable.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Oh my gosh,\" she said. \"I can't even imagine that phone call.\" "}]

She said members of Rawlins Family Church are praying for the family and want them to know they are ready to help however they can.

"Our hearts go out to them," she said. "We're praying for them, and our church is there if they need any help or counseling." 

As police continue investigating what led to Sunday's tragedy, Greer hopes at least one lesson reaches other families.

Watching children ride bicycles and scooters through town has always made her nervous.

[{"type":"text","text":"Now, she says, it carries a different weight."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It can be gone so fast,\" she said. "}]

Rawlins 20240525 rawlins 1104 4 18 26 1

<title>Rawlins Boy, 8, Dies When Hit By Truck While Riding Bicycle Outside Of Church | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Rawlins churchgoer says her "heart was just so broken" after worshippers stepped outside of Sunday service to find remnants of a bicycle crash that killed an 8-year-old boy. "I work at the school, and I knew it was one of our kids," she said.

Rawlins Boy, 8, Dies When Hit By Truck While Riding Bicycle Outside Of Church

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

BUFFALO — Tourists enjoying a warm summer evening in Buffalo get to see something uniquely Western that’s not seen much anymore — a covered wagon rolling down Main Street at a leisurely pace, a gentle clip-clop of hooves echoing off historic storefronts.

Kids wave and phones inevitably come out — cue the social media selfies — the minute Moonhitch Wagon’s history tour appears. 

Owner Ashlee Kintzler doesn’t mind a bit. She’ll stop for a beat if she can, and smile and wave for the photo.

“When you’re on the Moonhitch Wagon, you’re always in your own one-float parade,” she jokes with the guests. “Everybody wants to stop and take photos and videos and they want to come up and ask who you are and what you’re doing and how they can take a ride.”

The one-wagon parade has quickly established itself as a popular way to not only see Buffalo but also to catch other local attractions, such as sunsets over the Bighorn Mountains and history of the Bozeman Trail. 

And, soon, scenic and historic guided tours of Fort Phil Kearny.

“It’s so beautiful out there,” Kintzler said. “There’s rolling hills and whitetail deer and you’ve got the mountains as your background. It’s stunning, so we’ll do those in the golden hour at 6 o’clock in the evening and at 7:30 for a sunset view.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Still Loves Chariot Racing"}]

Although the Moonhitch Wagon takes its time, the idea for the new business was born from a life spent going very fast.

“I grew up in a chariot-racing family,” Kintzler told Cowboy State Daily. 

Her dad continued racing chariots into his 40s, and as a kid, Kintzler always knew just what she wanted to do in life — race chariots just like Dad.

“I ran chariots for a few years with my dad until I went off to college,” she said. “Then we both decided to get out of the chariot-racing world and get into more of a leisurely pace with what you’d call a heavy horse, a draft horse.”

It was a decision born from health complications for her dad and lifestyle considerations for Kintzler, who needed to prioritize her time for college classes.

“Chariot racing … we had always teased that it was a dying sport when we got into it,” she added. “There was never any money involved in racing chariots. It was really just for bragging rights and for the glory of hanging out with a great group of people.”

These days, the sport is practically nonexistent, though she still loves the adrenaline of it, Kintzler added.

“You start in a set of starting gates, like you would a flat track horse race, and when those gates pop, it’s a very quick break,” she said. “You’re zero to 45 instantaneously, and you cruise that quarter-mile racetrack as fast as you can. 

"Looking back, it kind of makes me laugh that I used to do that, and now we go 3 mph to get anywhere with our wagon and our teams.”

Kintzler moved to Buffalo in 2022, and one of the first things she noticed was the charm of her new home’s many historic buildings downtown. 

There was a whole nexus of Wild West history around the Occidental Hotel, she realized, with storefronts that have changed little since the 1800s lining the main drag. It was all, in her opinion, just begging for a wagon to appear.

“This town would really benefit from an attraction that is true to its heritage,” she thought. 

And it would also give her the chance to put all those skills she’d learned while chariot racing to good use.

Moonhitch was thus “born out of family legacy and Wyoming heritage” to feed both her love for horses and chariot racing and to celebrate her new home’s history.

Moonhitch supplies the horses and wagons, but it all works out so well because of Buffalo itself.

It provides the perfect backdrop to bring historical tales to life. It’s also a community that is proud to say it’s the real-life template for just about any Wild West movie or novel. In fact, it was one of the settings for Owen Wister’s famous novel, “The Virginian.”

The idea that anything that’s ever happened in a Western happened in Buffalo first was actually the theme of a BBC documentary, local historian Richard Kendall tells his wagon tour riders.

“We have the wagon trains surrounded by Indians,” he said. “We’ve got Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. 

"We have the Johnson County Cattle War. We’ve got Fort Phil Kearny up here, where the cavalry was surrounded and wiped out by the Sioux. So it’s all happened here.”

From his wagon seat, Kendall points out the 1884 Johnson County courthouse, built on the old site of the Lone Star Dance Hall, then glances down a Main Street that was once lined with 17 saloons serving a town of just 637 souls.

“I did the math,” he tells his riders with a chuckle. “That’s one saloon for about every 35 men, women and children in town.”

He points next to the Occidental Hotel, which is “the cradle of Buffalo itself.”

“There were three things that worked together to determine that Buffalo was going to be right here,” he said. “The first thing is that Main Street generally follows the Bozeman Trail from down around Douglas up to the gold fields in Montana.”

The second factor was the creek flowing right through the town, which meant there was ample water for civilization. 

The third and final deciding factor was its distance from Fort Phil Kearny.

“There was a rule that said you couldn’t serve liquor within 3 miles of the fort,” Kendall said. “Guess how far it is from right there to the fort? Exactly 3 miles.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hotel Of The Century"}]

The Occidental was begun by a man named Charlie Buell who was taking care of the fort’s sutlers. 

“He would give them a place to take care of their horses, give them a meal and a place to sleep,” Kendall said. “He started in a tent right there where the Busy Bee is, and as he got more business, he expanded to a wooden hotel here.”

The Occidental served as the nerve center of the growing community.

“It was the place where business was taken care of,” Kendall said. “If you needed somebody to go to work for you, you came down here. They were in the saloon.”

Business decisions were also often made there, and famous people came to stay there.

“Teddy Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover stayed at the Occidental,” Kendall said. “Their names are in the register.”

Owen Wister, Ernest Hemingway, Buffalo Bill Cody, Johnson County Sheriff William “Red” Angus, frontier sheriff and U.S. Marshal Frank Canton, and renowned Union general, General Philip Sheridan are among other famous people who stayed there.

The infamous also put in an appearance — Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Calamity Jane, Tom Horn, and various members of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang.

Marathon high-stakes poker games lasting for days took place at the Occidental, and the original tin ceiling still has the bullet holes to show for it, as does the 25-foot wooden bar, brought to Buffalo via horse-drawn wagons more than 100 years ago.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Flood Of 1912"}]

The brick hotel was built sometime in the 1920s, after a 1912 flood wiped everyone out.

“The two biggest events in Johnson County history is one, the cattle war, and second, the flood of 1912,” he said, pointing at the next block over from the Occidental. “At the corner of that building up there, just above the American flag, you see a line marked about 2 feet above the flag.”

That mark, which is not all that noticeable when one is standing on the street, is where the high-water line for the 1912 flood was. It’s about as high as a man is tall. 

“You can extend it back that way and see how far the damage was,” Kendall said. “And it was a big deal. It was on June 11, 1912. It had been raining in the mountains all day. About 6:30 p.m. it started raining here and by 7:30 p.m. people were putting their babies to bed. They’d finished supper, and all heck broke loose.”

One cloudburst later, and it was like some invisible floodgate on high had suddenly opened up, engulfing the young town.

“It just came through these buildings here and just threw everything out in front of them, out into the street, down the creek,” he said. “This side wasn’t damaged quite as badly as the ones on this side, but when the water finally went down, people just got out here and started cleaning up.”

That included a jeweler who found his inventory of diamonds and other jewels scattered in the mud. 

“People came out here and picked through there and picked up everything they could find and gave it back to him through his store,” Kendall said. “There was one fatality, a young fellow 29 years old named Rodney Childs. He had been trying to get away, but couldn’t make it. He was swept away and died.”

Four of the town’s 17 saloons were completely destroyed, leaving the town to “make do” with just 13.

Kendall touches on many other lesser-known highlights of Buffalo history during the tour, including its red-light district — condemned but tolerated — complete with monthly “fines” that look suspiciously like license fees and its old Wyoming Railroad.

That became infamous for taking six hours to cover 29 miles because it had to stop and open 21 gates along the way. 

The history tour helps Buffalo history shine for tourists, but it’s the scenic Sunset Seeker tours that have so far drawn the most interest.

“That one really is a crowd pleaser,” Kintzler said. “We go out and watch the sun set over the Bighorns, and I stop for ice cream at Creekside Family Fun Center.”

From there, she takes guests to Mountain Plains Heritage Park, giving the kids a chance to burn off the sugar high from the ice cream, while the adults climb a hill to look out over the surrounding mountains. 

Along the way, there are interpretive plaques to spark discussion of the Bozeman Trail, the railroad and Native American history in the area.

“I tell people, put your phones away, kick up your feet and just enjoy the scenery,” Kintzler said. “Enjoy the clip-clop of the horses. Enjoy a slower pace of life and just relax.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Molly Mules'"}]

For all its popularity and charm, Moonhitch has required a carefully engineered survival to make it. Buffalo, like many communities in Wyoming, is seeing increased housing expenses that are making it hard for entrepreneurs like Kintzler to thrive.

“It’s very difficult to make a living in Buffalo as a single-income household,” she said. “But I wanted to put together something that I knew was my own, and that I could make as big or small as I’d like.”

She’s kept costs manageable by leasing her teams during the wagon tour season, rather than owning them outright. 

Her teams include Percheron-Paint cross horses Sparky and Stanley, as well as Morgan-Percheron pair Mitch and Mike and Percheron-mule team Katie and Maggie, known as “Molly mules.”

Percheron blood runs through all of them for a reason.

“Folks ask me all the time, ‘Why Percherons?’” she said. “They are of the draft horse breed and they’re very strong, very docile. You get a lot of strength from them and size, but they’re calm and quiet and easy to work around. They’re not as high-strung as certain other breeds out there, but they’re strong and very gritty.”

The city also decided, at her and other vendors’ urging, to create a new tier of vendor with a lower seasonal fee, making the business a little less costly to operate.

Kintzler has been told often she could easily raise her tour prices from $30 per adult and $15 per child, but she’s decided to keep the fee modest as long as she can.

“I don’t want somebody to miss out on a tour because it was $10 more than the last one,” she said. “I’d rather keep this affordable than make it an exclusive thing at $50 a tour.”

Meeting new people has been her favorite part of the tour, which has included people from all over the world. 

“I love bringing people together,” she said. “People are so glued to their phones and screens these days, so it’s nice to see the face-to-face interaction and folks actually talking to each other.”

She also loves how complete strangers entering the wagon leave it as friends, making dinner plans together, and talking about what adventures to have next.

For a woman who once flew down icy chariot-racing tracks with manes and chunks of snow flying, it’s been oddly satisfying to move at a slower pace, knowing she’s created a moving front porch for the community, one where strangers come together over Buffalo’s past and present. 

Buffalo Wagon Ride 20260718 172306 8 2 26

<title>Wyoming Places: Buffalo’s Covered Wagon Tours A Nod To Town’s Old West Legacy | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Tourists enjoying a warm summer evening in Buffalo get to see something uniquely Western that’s not seen much anymore — a covered wagon rolling down Main Street at a leisurely pace, a gentle clip-clop of hooves echoing off historic storefronts.

Wyoming Places: Buffalo’s Covered Wagon Tours A Nod To Town’s Old West Legacy

Just as wildland firefighters seemed to be getting a good handle on a

burning just outside the southwest boundary of a closed Devils Tower National Monument, another fire has erupted to the southeast.

The Newton Fire burning just east of Wyoming Highway 24 southeast of Devils Tower was discovered at about 1:15 p.m. Saturday, and had grown to an estimated 200 acres in a couple of hours, the National Interagency Fire Center and Crook County Emergency Management report.

Asked for an update on the wildfire situation around Devils Tower — which has closed the monument for much of Saturday and all of Sunday — county Emergency Management Coordinator Ed Robinson was blunt.

Although the 282-acre Left Creek Fire burning to the west is “not as bad as it was,” Robinson said that having another wildfire so close to the monument’s boundary “certainly doesn’t help any.”

While state forestry and National Park Service officials told Cowboy State Daily earlier on Sunday that they would evaluate the potential of reopening Devils Tower later in the afternoon, the new fire takes that option off the table, Robinson said.

Highway 24 has been closed from the “Y,” or where it branches off Highway 14 north toward Devils Tower, and all residents in the vicinity have been placed on “set” status to be prepared to evacuate, according to Crook County Emergency Management.

The Newton Fire also will slow some of the progress at the Left Creek Fire as some personnel and resources are diverted to try to keep the new wildfire from getting out of control, Robinson said.

For state Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, whose family homestead contains part of the Left Creek Fire, another blaze sparking up so close to the tower is another gut-punch for local firefighters and residents.

“That’s out by the Tower Cemetery,” he said. “It’s a pretty tough deal, and that one’s probably going to burn up to the rimrock at the highway (24), and they’ll make a stand there at the highway, it sounds like.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"KOA Still Open"}]

A little farther north and next to the monument, Devils Tower/Black Hills KOA campground remains open, and is hosting the basecamp for firefighters working both fires.

“Yup, we’re open and full business ahead,” said worker at the KOA who identified himself as “just Chris.”

“We’re catching the breaks, because we are just north of the fires,” he said. “So, we’re open. Everything is good on our end here. That’s what I keep answering phone calls about all day.”

He said the KOA staff has also helped feed the wildland firefighting crews as they go in and out of the field to work the fires.

“Last night, we stayed up late and were the drop-off point for food, and (owner) Andrea Driskill opened up the kitchen,” Chris said. “We made sandwiches and the go-lunches, and had breakfast waiting for them.”

Not only is the KOA campground open, it’s continuing a long-running tradition of nightly screenings of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“Yup, ‘Close Encounters’ every night, 8 o’clock,” Chris said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"How We Got Here"}]

The Left Creek Fire was discovered at about 10:40 a.m. Saturday, and grew quickly in hot and dry conditions in northeast Wyoming, with temperatures hitting 99 degrees Saturday, the National Weather Service reports.

Believed to have been caused by lightning, Ogden Driskill said the wildfire was on the fence line of his land and another ranch owner — and he was struck with fear when he first saw the smoke.

Just as firefighters seemed to be getting a handle on a nearly 300-acre fire burning just outside the southwest boundary of a closed Devils Tower, another fire erupted to the southeast Sunday. “It sucks,” was the blunt assessment from a county official.

One More For The Road: Monday, April 17, 2023

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