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.
“Every woman should have one experience in pioneering. It is good for her to learn how many things she can do without and still exist and be fairly happy.”
So wrote Mrs. Edward H. Ryan, author of “The First Winter in Riverton,” article that appeared in The Riverton Chronicle’s Friday, February 12, 1926 magazine edition. In it, Ryan describes the first winter of 1906-07 spent by the settlers at the new town of Riverton. The town was formed on August 15, 1906 following the sale of nearly half of the Shoshone Reservation lands north of the Big Wind River to the US government for white settlement.
With the town being only a few months old when winter arrived in the Riverton Valley that year, most of its early residents were still living in one-room shacks or walled tents. These houses could not be considered modern, even by the standards of the time. There were no bathrooms and water was scarce. The majority of it had to be hauled from the river in tanks where it was then sold to the residents at about thirty-five cents per barrel. “She who would bathe must do so in a teacup,” wrote Ryan about the water scarcity.
Even so, women of the new community came together that November to organize the first Women’s Club in town, calling themselves the Riverton Relief Society. The Women’s Club movement had begun in the late nineteenth century. Initially focused on self-improvement, it quickly expanded to include community activism. The movement in the U.S. lasted until the 1960s when women began to work and socialize more outside the home.
Organized initially by Mrs. William Haines and Mrs. James Fox, the mission of the Riverton Women’s Club was to help those in need, especially those who were ill. The club met at the homes of the members and the hostess served refreshments that were not supposed to cost her over $1.00 to provide to the dozen or so members. Apparently, this task was a bit difficult at the time given the scarcity of resources in the remote area.
To raise funds, the society held dances. Mrs. Ryan became the chairman of the first social committee and its first affair was to put on a dance in the middle of December. However, finding a location in the” tent city” to hold such an event was no easy thing. Saloons were usually the ideal place as they often donated the use of the piano and, sometimes, the musicians also. Luckily, a saloon building had just been erected and was owned by Col. Frank Forney. He was willing to donate the use of the hall located above the saloon for the occasion. It was the only place in town that was large enough for it.
Being two stories high, the building was tall and slim, described Ryan. “A veritable skyscraper among the sagebrush,” she said. About three days before the dance was to be held, however, she heard a rumor that the building was unsafe. As a result, she laid awake for several nights worrying about it. However, the first large dance ever held in Riverton went off without any major mishap. The only incident that occurred is one of the musicians did not show up, but someone rose Jack Chenery out of bed and he was willing to fill in.
Ryan reported the only easy part about putting on the dance was getting the crowd. Nearly everyone in town was there and, “being typically a frontier town crowd they were warm-hearted and generous.” Quite a substantial sum of money was raised, according to Ryan. However, she added, it turned out that first winter in Riverton’s history was quite mild and there was little sickness or poverty.
“I do not think people suffered much actual hardship that winter,” she wrote. “If they did it was offset by the courage and hopefulness that must always characterize the people who go to a primitive country and, besides, we had reached the promised land which would soon be flowing with milk and honey.”
The same building in which that first Riverton dance was held later became the Riverton Hotel, owned by Mrs. William Cook. Located on the corner of what is now Broadway and Fremont, it was destroyed by a fire in the early 1920s.
Pictured is the Riverton Hotel in 1911 when it was owned by Mrs. William Cook (pictured at left with her foster daughter, Cora Murphy, and then-school superintendent, Everett Hassel). The building, initially used as a saloon, was the host of the first large dance held in Riverton in December 1906. The dance served as a fundraiser for Riverton’s first Women’s Club: The Riverton Relief Society.
By April Perigoy: Riverton Museum
Next up for the Fremont County Museum
May 24, 1-3pm at the Pioneer Museum, “Being a Pioneer Kid” Bailey Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
May 24, 10am at the Pioneer Museum, “Lander Main Street Trek” Wind River Visitors Council Adventure Trek Series
May 30, 10am, at the Dubois Museum, “Wild Plants of Mason Draw, Wind River visitor’s Council Adventure Trek Series
May 31, 11am at the Riverton Museum, “Horned Owl Draper Raptor Experience” Bailey Tire/Pit Stop Children’s Exploration Series
June 4, 6pm at the Riverton Museum, “The Murder of Andrew Jackson Cooper” By Mark Stratmoen, Wyoming Community Bank Discovery Speakers Series
Oct 4, TBA at the Lander Community Center, “Rare Relics Roadshow” Wind River Cultural Centers Foundation
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 www.windriverccf.com 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.