Travel

Day Seven: Virginia City and Helena

I had the first good night of sleep I’ve had on this whole trip at the Stonehouse Inn last night. I woke up at six, and slipped outside for a walk downtown. When I returned, everyone was up and John and Linda were fixing breakfast (John, a self-taught carpenter, remodeled their amazing kitchen and built some of the furniture in the house). Later, we met Evelyn and Joanne over at the library. With their help we were able to determine that Henry Larrabee wasn’t in fact the sheriff of Madison County, as we previously thought. He was, however, the first sheriff in Missoula, which meant this afternoon we had to drive to Helena where the records we need are stored (I made Jim listen to Paul Zarzyski’s poem Why I Like Butte on my iPod as we passed by Butte). We will do more research at the Montana Historical Society tomorrow, and then we’ll head home.

Evelyn and Joanne also arranged for us to meet with John Ellingson, a respected Montana historian and Mason. John very graciously allowed us to see the inside of the Virginia City Masonic lodge room (the oldest, he said, in the country). We looked through the relevant registers they had on site (there are apparently more in other locations), but we were unable to find Larrabee. Jim thought he might have been involved in the Virginia City vigilance committee that hung several “road agents” in 1864. Larrabee had helped found the first Masonic lodge in California while he was there and is the only person who essentially admitted his involvement with the vigilante group that perpetrated the massacre on Indian Island in Humboldt Bay. It seems unlikely now, though, that he had anything to do with what went on in Virginia City. We’ll see what we turn up tomorrow.

Posted by Kristin on 05/01/06 at 09:02 PM
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Day Six: Club-Foot George

John, our host at the Stonehouse Inn, entertained us with some fantastic stories about Virginia City, but the best was the tale of how George Lane’s club foot ended up on a shelf at the local museum. Lane was among the “road agents” who terrorized Virginia City in the winter months of 1863 and 1864, and who were consequently hanged by a group of vigilantes with ties to the local Masonic Lodge. In the 1930s, as John said the story goes, some fellas down at the local bar got in an argument over where in fact Lane was buried. The original grave markers had been made of wood and over the years they had deteriorated and fallen over, making it difficult to determine who was buried where. As the drink-infused discussion continued down at the saloon, some of the men decided they were going to find out once in for all which grave belonged to Club Foot George. They headed up to Boot Hill and started digging until they found a skeleton that resembled him. They took the foot back to the bar “to show the rest of ‘em,” and that’s where it stayed until it was finally moved to the museum. John said they are planning to make a plaster cast of the foot for their exhibit and rebury the actual appendage under George Lane’s marker.

Posted by Kristin on 05/01/06 at 07:35 PM
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Day Six: Wyoming and Montana

Today was mostly a driving day, but we did stop briefly at the Little Bighorn Battlefield, where we wandered around a bit, and Jim busted out an old-timey picture-taking contraption that he claimed was a camcorder.

We spent the rest of the day making our way to the Stonehouse Inn in Virginia City, where we met up with Henry Larrabee’s great-granddaughter, Joetta, and her husband, Bob. Although it’s a tiny town, we somehow managed to get lost when we turned up one of the many dirt streets and failed to realize it actually went to the left and not up the hill. There was no way we really could have known this since it wasn’t marked, but who am I to say it should have had a sign? I, too, am from a town with dirt streets, and only one of them is marked with its name spelled correctly.

Our host, a former heavy equipment mechanic, sheep shearer, and cowboy named John, helped us get settled in our rooms upstairs. I got a pink room with a balcony and a giant stuffed bunny on the bed (hooray for me!). Jim had first option on it, but for some reason he passed. Since this is still the slow season for John and his wife, Linda, they let us spread out all our stuff in the dining room, and while Jim, Joetta, and Bob dove into the research, I filmed everything with my new camera. John and Linda were a tremendous help since they’re both knowledgeable about the area and involved with the local museum in town. After an hour or so of work, we all drove to a restaurant a few miles away. The community kids were putting on a fundraiser dinner for their FCCLA group. We were happy to support them, but I have to admit I felt a little despondent over the idea of consuming yet another steak. I’ve probably eaten the equivalent of the back half of a small steer since we left California last week.

Posted by Kristin on 04/30/06 at 05:25 PM
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Day Five: South Fork Crazy Woman

Jim doubled back on the freeway just so I could get this photo. That’s the kind of guy he is!

Posted by Kristin on 04/29/06 at 09:49 PM
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Day Four: Colorado and Wyoming

I feel road weary tonight. We’ve been traveling for five days and have already visited seven states. We drove from Castle Rock, Colorado, to Sheridan, Wyoming, with one short trip to Fort Laramie. We talked to the ranger there--who just happened to be from Red Bluff--about routes Henry Larrabee might have taken home from Virginia City, Montana, where we are headed tomorrow. He was very knowledgeable about the region’s history, and also provided me with some useful facts that I fully intend to test when I get home: Buffalo chips burn hot like coal and buffalo tongue tastes a lot like prime rib.

I also made some new firefighter friends at Fort Laramie named Kyle and Luke. They said they are stationed nearby and came out to the fort to learn more about the area. They were also pretty excited about the plant identification books they intended to purchase, bless their hearts.

Posted by Kristin on 04/29/06 at 09:22 PM
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Day Four: Dodge City, Kansas

I just wanted to post a few photos from our visit to Dodge City. When we got into town, we checked into our motel and then headed to Casey’s Cowtown Steakhouse. A day that begins with rattlesnakes and The Wizard of Oz requires a bourbon and t-bone finish. Everybody knows that. The next morning we allotted a couple hours for walking around the Boot Hill Museum. We enjoyed it, although many of the exhibits were closed. Jim had trouble containing his glee when we discovered the photo booth wouldn’t open until summer. Alas, no Miss Kitty.