A series where we take a #lookback at the stories and history of our community, brought to you by Mick Pryor, Financial Advisor with Edward Jones.
When the Riverton Museum opened its doors in August 1970, it already had a centerpiece collection—one that told the story of early ranching, community life, and the once-thriving town of Lost Cabin. Known as the Rate-Stewart Estate Collection, this assemblage of ranching tools, fine clothing, Lost Cabin school records, and geological artifacts remains one of the museum’s most important early acquisitions. Yet behind its preservation lies a family history marked by both achievement and heartbreaking tragedy—including an unsolved murder that shocked Fremont County.
George “Frank” Rate, born in 1876 in Iowa, was only three years old when his father died. His widowed mother eventually remarried, and the family relocated to Glenrock, Wyo. There Frank grew up and married his schoolmate, English immigrant Salena Young, in 1900. Together the couple established themselves in the sheep business at Lost Cabin, living out of a sheep wagon at first. In 1902, Frank bought some land from JB Okie where they built their home – the only one built in Lost Cabin that did not belong to an employee of Okie. However, they were close friends of Okie’s and visited his mansion frequently
Over the next six decades, Frank and Salena became pillars of the ranching community. Frank served 40 years as director of the Lost Cabin School Board and was active in the Fremont County Grazing Board. Salena helped build caskets and conduct funerals, collected archaeological relics and geological oddities, and nursed many people and animals back to health after accidents or illnesses since the nearest doctor was in Thermopolis or Casper.
Their life was not untouched by sorrow as their two daughters did not live to old age as they did. Their eldest daughter, Bernice, died suddenly of illness at the age of 34 in 1937, leaving behind four young sons. The younger daughter, Frances, became a teacher at Riverton and later married Casper physician Dr. Melvin C. Henrich. Frank died in 1961 at the age of 85. Only two years later, Frances died of cancer in 1963, leaving Salena to outlive her husband and both her children. Salena died in 1966 at the age of 88.
The Rate legacy continued through their grandsons, including John Rate Stewart, the eldest of Bernice’s sons. After their mother’s death, John grew up in Nebraska, served in the Air Force during World War II, and later returned to Wyoming to partner with his grandfather and form the Rate Stewart Sheep Company. Married to Patricia Sixberry in 1952, John was raising three children and managing the family ranch when his life was violently cut short.
On August 17, 1968, after a routine evening at home, John walked out to check the sheep corrals and never returned. His wife Patricia discovered his body under a pickup truck—he had been shot five times and investigators suspected he had crawled under the truck for protection. Heavy rains that night erased any tracks left by his killer. Still, Fremont County Sheriff C.A. “Pee Wee” McDougall quickly identified a suspect: Dr. Melvin Henrich, John’s uncle by marriage.
McDougall later told the Casper Star-Tribune that Henrich’s car had reportedly been seen in the area that night. On August 23, McDougall went to Henrich’s house to question him about this.
Only hours later, the prominent Casper physician took his own life. The news shocked the Casper community.
Three guns belonging to Henrich were then sent to the FBI for ballistics testing, but the results were “inconclusive.” The murder case was then closed, leaving behind lingering questions that remain unanswered to this day.
Reeling from her husband’s death, Patricia Stewart leased out the ranch land and moved her children to her home state of Washington. Before leaving, she made a decision that would preserve the Rate family’s legacy for generations to come: she donated the Rate-Stewart family’s historical possessions to the newly forming Riverton Museum.
Today, visitors can still view items from that collection at the Riverton Museum—an antique Edison phonograph with its original shipping crate, elegant clothing, handwritten correspondence, and photographs that illuminate life in Lost Cabin during its heyday. While the Rate-Stewart story is one of perseverance, loss, and mystery, the preservation of their belongings ensures that Fremont County’s rich ranching heritage lives on.
By April Peregoy: Riverton Museum
Next up for the Fremont County Museum
April 18, 9am with the Pioneer Museum, “Garden Expo” Bailey’s Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
April 25, 1pm at the Pioneer Museum, “Sheep Shearing Day” Bailey’s Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
May 2, 10am at the Pioneer Museum, “Branding Class” Bailey’s Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
May 14, 7pm at the Pioneer Museum, “Lander 100 Years Ago” Wyoming Community Bank Discovery Speakers Series
May 14, 6pm at the Riverton Museum, “Cowboy Poetry & Roundtable with Jack Schmidt” Wyoming Community Bank Discovery Speakers Series
May 23, 10am at the Dubois Museum, “Kids Corner: Blacksmithing History” Bailey’s Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
May 30, 2pm at the Riverton Museum, “Draper Raptor Experience” Bailey’s Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
Daily through December at the Pioneer Museum, “Sweetwater Ranch Life, The Paintings of Jack Corbett” Exhibition Opening
Rare Relics Road Show: Save the Date: Saturday October 10, 2026 Lander, WY Lander Community Center, You Are Invited!
Call the Dubois Museum 1-307-455-2284, the Pioneer Museum 1-307-332-3339 or the Riverton Museum 1-307-856-2665 for detail regarding their programs.
The Dubois Museum, the Pioneer Museum in Lander and the Riverton Museum need your financial support. In the current economic environment, the museums are more reliant than ever on donations from the private sector to continue to provide the quality programs, collections management, exhibits and services that have become their hallmark over the last four years. Please make your tax deductible contribution through the Wind River Cultural Centers Foundation https://windriverccf.funraise.org/ or by sending a check to Fremont County Museums 450 N 2nd Rm 320 or taking it directly to the museum you choose to support. 
