When a Wyoming photo album surfaced at a San Diego thrift store and a few of those images were posted on Facebook, Patti Nelson Kinkaid of Clark recognized the family of her husband Todd.
The photos were from a doomed 1940s covered wagon trip to Cooke City, Montana, and only one family member is still living to remember going on that trip more than 80 years ago.
Now generations later, those few lost photos somehow found their way to a thrift shop more than 1,200 miles away.
Jerry Kinkaid, now 91, was just a kid when his father Harley had a dream of recreating a wagon trip from Cody to Cooke City, Montana.
It was the 1940s and Kinkaid said that his dad was a man ahead of his time, because back then, the notion of reliving the days of wagon trains wasn’t as historically appealing as it may be now.
Kinkaid believes tourists were not ready to step back into a past removed by only a generation or two.
“Dad had a 'Queen for a Day' promotion for his summer trip and invited about nine rodeo queens on the first trip,” Kinkaid said.
The queens all rode in the covered wagon and the other participants rode horses.
Harley had only one extra horse and three sons, so the boys each took turns riding on the nine-day trip.
It didn’t take long for the wagon train to run into problems, he recalled.
“I went with him on the first three days,” Kinkaid said. “We hit a big rut and tipped the covered wagon over the first day. The covered wagon dumped all of the rodeo queens and luggage out on the road.”
Kinkaid said he still remembers the adventure vividly and said everybody had a good time.
Unfortunately, his dad didn’t do well financially on the trip and ran out of cash.
Kinkaid said that there were a lot of expenses, including groceries for a week for eight or 10 people. Also, advertising the adventure was more than his dad could afford, so he gave it up.
“He was an old cowboy all the way through,” Kinkaid said. “He said he was born 100 years too late.”
There were photos taken during the covered wagon trip to remember it by, however — until they were lost.
At the K3 Guest Ranch, Jerry Kinkaid built a room with a unique chuckwagon bed. This canvas covered wagon is a silent nod to his dad, Harley, who in the 1940s took a wagon full of rodeo queens on a fun trip from Cody, Wyoming to Crook City, Montana. Even though it was a fun time, it failed financially and only became a dream — that Kinkaid was able to resurrect in his own way with a guest ranch. (Courtesy Patti Kinkaid) 
When a photo album was discovered in a thrift shop in San Diego, the photos were posted on Facebook and reunited with the family more than 80 years after they had been taken on a failed covered wagon trip. Harley Kinkaid, the son of a dairyman, had a dream to offer tourists a trip of a lifetime from Cody to Crook City, Montana. However, he was only able to finance the first trip before running out of cash. (Courtesy Patti Kinkaid) 
When a photo album was discovered in a thrift shop in San Diego, the photos were posted on Facebook and reunited with the family more than 80 years after they had been taken on a failed covered wagon trip. Harley Kinkaid, the son of a dairyman, had a dream to offer tourists a trip of a lifetime from Cody to Crook City, Montana. However, he was only able to finance the first trip before running out of cash. (Courtesy Patti Kinkaid)
A Wyoming Life
Harley Kinkaid had moved with his family from Canada to Montana in the early 1900s.
When he was about 9 years old, his family moved to their home in Cody and opened the Kinkaid Dairy.
Kinkaid said that his grandfather delivered milk with an old horse named Murphy.
When Harley helped his dad with deliveries, he would often be left chasing after old Murphy, who was anxious to get the deliveries done quickly.
“Dad would go in the house, leave the milk in the refrigerator, and when he came out, Murphy would have already gone to the next stop,” Kinkaid said. “He would always make dad run really fast because Murphy wanted it over with quick.”
Kinkaid said that nobody drove Murphy because the old horse would go along the route on his own.
After growing up in the dairy, Harley bought a ranch to live out the cowboy life he felt called to. But when his boys reached school age, he sold the ranch and moved into town.
The lure of the cowboy life was still there, though, which was when he tried out his failed wagon tour.
Harley next went into construction work with his brother, Harold, which lasted until once more Harley got restless. This time, he went into law enforcement.
Over the years, he was Cody’s chief of police, was elected sheriff for 18 years and was one of Wyoming's original 13 highway patrolmen.
Jerry Kinkaid, now 91, was a kid 80 years ago when his dad tried to run a covered wagon camping trip from Wyoming to Montana. It didn't go well and they never did another one. But now decades later, a few photos from that trip have turned up in a thrift shop 1,200 miles away. (Courtesy Patti Kinkaid) 
Jerry Kincaid has operated the K3 Guest Ranch for years, attracting visitors from all over the world. (Courtesy K3 Guest Ranch) 
Jerry Kincaid has operated the K3 Guest Ranch for years, attracting visitors from all over the world. (Courtesy K3 Guest Ranch)
‘I Got On A Bull Once'
During all these years, Harley made sure his sons grew up in the saddle.
Kinkaid said that he has been over almost all the mountaintops around Cody and, like his father, is a cowboy at heart.
“I never became a rodeo cowboy,” Kinkaid said. “I got on a bull once, and he got rid of me real quick like, and I decided that I should be a brain surgeon because that would be easier.”
Many decades after the failed covered wagon venture, Kinkaid said the world was finally ready to relive the past.
He bought a piece of junk land south of Cody and built it into a beautiful 33-acre ranch.
He then built the K3 Guest Ranch on it, where he welcomes visitors from around the world. Kinkaid even themed out one room with a chuckwagon bed, a silent nod to his dad and that before-his-time attempt at a covered wagon adventure.
For more than two decades Kinkaid has lived his father’s dream of hosting tourists and now is selling the ranch as he prepares for the next chapter in his life.
“I am 91, so I’m gonna go chase women and drink a lot of whiskey,” Kinkaid said.
Then he laughed and added that he already had his legacy.
Kinkaid served on the Cody City Council for eight years and had a sewer lagoon named after him.
His dad Harley also has a legacy with a fire hall named after him on the North Fork.
There is also the legacy of Harley’s failed covered wagon trip that had been lost, but has been rediscovered through a few lost photographs found in a thrift shop 1,200 miles away.
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
