On the Trail of the Sundance Kid

Hi Blog! On Sunday, August 23, 2015, we decided to stop at Sundance, Wyoming on our way back from Devils Tower. We were disappointed to learn that Sundance does not hold the Sundance Film Festival. Apparently, there is a ski resort in Park City, Utah called Sundance Resort and that is where the festival is held. However, Sundance is the place where the Sundance Kid became famous. He didn't become infamous until he hooked up with Butch Cassidy.

Born in 1867 in Mont Clare, Pennsylvania, Harry Longabaugh was not long in making his way West. In fact, he was only 15 when he began his journey on a covered wagon with his cousin George. By 1887, however, things were not going so well for him. He stole a horse, gun, and saddle from a ranch in Sundance, Wyoming and fled. He was captured and sentenced to 18 months in jail. Here are the actual chairs and judges desk used in his trial.

Harry Longabaugh might have lost his innocence, but he gained a name and a place in history. He became known as 'The Sundance Kid'.

After his release, he went back to working as a ranch hand. Unfortunately, the life of an honest cowboy did not suit him. He was implicated in 1892 in a train robbery, and again in 1897 in a bank robbery along with five other men. Sundance became associated with a group known as the 'Wild Bunch' which included his famous partner Robert Leroy Parker, a.k.a. Butch Cassidy. They fled first to Argentina and then to Bolivia, where Parker and Longabaugh were reportedly killed in a shootout in November 1908.

The town of Sundance takes great pride in preserving its history. We stopped at the Crook County Museum to learn about the history of Sundance. When Prussian-born immigrant, Albert Hoge staked his claim in 1879, he was adamant that the town’s name was to be Sundance to honor the Native Americans and the sun dances they performed on the mountain south of the town-site. Here is one of the oldest know pictures of Sundance.

Many of the original buildings still exist. The Sundance State Bank, also known as the Bid Building, was built in 1914 on Main Street. It is unusual as a stone building in an era where brick construction was more popular. It was built of local sandstone taken from nearby Reuter Canyon. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Inside the Crook County Museum, they had numerous displays on the early pioneering history of the area. They even had a couple fearsome jackalopes mounted on the walls. Look out Dave!

The jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore (a so-called fearsome critter) described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns. The word "jackalope" is a portmanteau of "jackrabbit" and "antelope", although the jackrabbit is not a rabbit, and the American antelope is not an antelope. Also, many jackalope taxidermy mounts, including the original, are actually made with deer antlers.

One particular display caught our attention. It told the story of The Vore Buffalo Jump. The Vore Buffalo Jump is an archeological site. A sinkhole, formed where gypsum soil was eroded, leaving a steep-sided pit about 40 feet deep and 200 feet in diameter. Native American hunters could stampede bison in the direction of the pit, which was deep enough to kill or disable the animals that were driven into it. The location is one of a number of buffalo jump sites in the north central United States and southern Canada. However, it is unique because, as a sinkhole, rains washed silt into its floor annually and preserved the bones and other material that were on the floor.  This happened each year, making it possible to date deposited materials by the layer of silt they sit in.

Since the Vore Buffalo Jump was just down the road, we decided to stop on our way back to camp.

But first, we wanted take a walk around town and find a place to wet our whistle. The Longhorn Saloon fit the bill. Just about everything else in Sundance was closed because it was Sunday.

Before leaving town, Kathy took some time to chat with the Sundance Kid and let him know how much we enjoyed his little town.

The Vore Buffalo Jump site was used as a kill site and butchering site from about 1500 AD to about 1800 AD. Archeological investigations in the 1970s uncovered bones and projectile points to a depth of 15 feet. About ten tons of bones were removed from the site. About five percent of the site has been excavated, and the pit is estimated to contain the remains of 20,000 buffalo. The buffalo hide made on the visitor center wasllshows the surrounding landscape and which routes the buffalo were driven by Native Americans before ending up in the sinkhole.

The site was discovered during the construction of Interstate 90 in the early 1970s. Located on the Vore family ranch, the site was to be crossed by the Interstate. Exploratory drilling in the sinkhole yielded quantities of bison bones. The highway was moved to preserve the dig site.

Inside the excavation building, additional digs have taken place each year.  The excavation unit now displays at least seven levels and has nearly tripled in area since it first opened to the public. Here is a view looking down on the dig site.

Inside the excavation building, they had a number of artifacts on display including a buffalo hide teepee.

Before long, we were back in South Dakota. We enjoyed our day trip into Wyoming and look forward to getting back there soon.