On a road trip in the 1990s, Lela Emmons from Savery saw one of the most unusual fences she’s ever seen. It was so awesome, she stopped the road trip in its tracks just to get out and admire it over the groans of her small children.
The fence was a welding tour de force. Horseshoes hung like a lattice of raindrops, punctuated with a stirrup here, a meat cleaver there, as well as completely random, unidentifiable metal objects that somehow seemed to fit, even while feeling completely avant-garde.
Below the row of random tools that somehow fit together in spite of themselves, stretched a row of metal disks that looked like pie plates punched with holes. And then, on the very bottom, a row of larger plow disks, which finished out the overall design.
“Somebody was one heck of a welder,” she thought to herself and started taking pictures of the artistic fence, pictures that show, off in the distance, what look like Wyoming mountain ranges.
Since then, Emmons, who is the director of the Little Snake River Museum in Savery, Wyoming, has looked for the fence again, but hasn’t been able to find it.
“I was driving on what I thought was the road years later in the 2000s,” Emmons said. “It was that backroad that ends up going across the Swinging Bridge in Brown’s Park, and I didn’t see it anywhere.”
Emmons kept looking and looking the whole way home, waiting for the dream fence of her memories to come back into view. But it never did.
Maybe it vanished. Taken away by a new owner. Maybe it wasn’t where she thought it was at all. Or maybe it’s like a Harry Potter bookstore that moves around and can only be found when it wants to be found, and only by whomever it wishes.
In any case, a Facebook post reshared from nine years ago on the Little Snake River Museum’s Facebook page seeks to learn more about the mystery fence.
Like where it is for starters, and who made it, and why.
In The Middle Of Nowhere
Brown’s Park, which was where Emmons thought she’d seen the fence, lies along the border of three states, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado.
Wyoming’s cowboy outlaws loved the location because of that. It meant they could hightail it into a different state than the jurisdiction of whatever officer of the law was chasing them at the time. That made it a little bit of a Bermuda Triangle from justice for outlaws like Butch Cassidy.
But now it’s become a bit of a Bermuda Triangle for Emmons as well, because she’s no longer sure just what state the fence was actually located in. She just remembers it was a very back country location, with a wilderness feel.
“My kids were too little to remember where that was,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “But I remember it went on for kind of quite a while.”
Brown’s Park today is still just as remote as it was in the days of Butch Cassidy, when it was more often called Brown’s Hole, but today it’s the scene of recreational opportunities ranging from camping to trail riding and fishing in between. It also has a preserved period ranch on site, the John Jarvie Ranch.
Brown’s Park is also near Flaming Gorge, Utah, making the drive an amazing road trip all in and of itself.
Lela Emmons of tiny Savery, Wyoming, stumbled on an unusual artistic fence in the 1990s and took photos of it. But she forgot where it was and hasn’t been able to find it again in about 30 years. She hopes someone in Wyoming can solve the mystery. (Courtesy Lela Emmons) 
Lela Emmons of tiny Savery, Wyoming, stumbled on an unusual artistic fence in the 1990s and took photos of it. But she forgot where it was and hasn’t been able to find it again in about 30 years. She hopes someone in Wyoming can solve the mystery. (Courtesy Lela Emmons)
When Art Is Better Than History
Emmons is a historian, but one of the other things she likes about the fence is how it’s repurposing the junk that usually sits, rusting away on a farm.
“I mean, as a historian, I should poo-poo the fact that they welded this stuff, which, basically ruins it for historical purposes. But at least it’s there and not just being buried in the ground or being thrown in the dump or melted down,” she said. “This is a great solution for what to do with all that crap that just rusts away on your place.”
Emmons is glad she took the photos she did, even if it wasn’t everyone’s favorite idea at the time. Not just because it’s proof she really did see the one of the world’s coolest fences on some backcountry road in the middle of nowhere, somewhere near Wyoming.
It has to do with her philosophy on life.
“The lady who used to take care of us when we were kids would say, ‘Lela, it doesn’t take much to entertain you,’” Emmons said. “And I’ll tell you what, I think that’s the secret to being happy in life. If you can be easily entertained by just little, tiny things, if you can find beauty in simple things, it doesn’t take much to be happy.”
The photos do that for Emmons. Even if they’re still a mystery and may always remain so.
They remind her that it’s always good to take the time to stop along the way on the road trips of life. That way, you are sure to admire all the unexpected treasures life has to offer.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
