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.
On the Dubois Museum grounds sits a log home that was built by Henry Seipt from around the time that the town of Dubois was incorporated in 1914. As described in the 1914 Wyoming State Journal, the “log bungalow, seven rooms in size and of pleasing exterior; located on First Street north of Main Street, commanding a beautiful view of Horse Creek Valley.” The house was built across the street from the Legion Hall.
Henry (Dutch) M. Seipt, Sr. was a naturalized German immigrant born in 1876. He served in the Spanish-American War in 1898. After the war, he arrived in Wyoming in 1899 to serve in the cavalry at Fort Washakie. After his release in 1902, he went to work for Charlie Moore who had been operating out of Fort Washakie. Moore later opened a dude outfit near Dubois. Seipt worked as a hunting guide for Moore for nearly ten years. Beginning in 1904, he began working a gold claim on Horse Creek which he had attempted to mine, but there was not enough gold for a commercial operation. While living in Dubois, he met Ora Jones who had received her teaching certificate in 1912 and began teaching in Lenore (Fremont County) that year. She married Henry in 1913 and moved to Dubois where she taught school, and he opened a blacksmith shop. The shop was located between what is today the St. Thomas Episcopal Church and the V.F.W.
In late 1918, Dutch filed for an abandoned homestead claim located north of Dubois near Horse Creek. After the claim was granted, he, along with Ora and their two children, left Dubois and moved onto the site. They lived temporarily in a tent until a log building could be built. Over the next several years, they developed the Hermitage Ranch, one of the earliest dude ranches around Dubois, which continues to operate to this day as the T-Cross Ranch.
In 1919, the Seipts sold the original log home to Judge John Hanscum. John Hanscum was born in Oswego, New York in 1868. He moved to Wyoming in 1893 and accepted a position as clerk for J.K. Moore who was the post trader at Fort Washakie. In 1899, John purchased the Washakie Hotel and Livery Bar which included the stage line from Fort Washakie to Dubois. He managed the Dubois Mercantile from 1917 to 1920. He then served as the head bookkeeper for the Wyoming Tie and Timber company until 1925. The Hanscums had the house moved 20 feet west from the original spot and remained at that location. John Hanscum passed away in 1929, and the 1932 Commissioner Record noted that the property was sold to his son, Charles, in 1932. The house was sold in 1945 to the Harold and Venus Hickerson. After a few years, it was sold to the Gyer family who had bought the Dubois Mercantile Store.
By 1998, the house was relocated from what would become Lamb Park and moved to the Dubois Museum as a historic home and used as the museum’s Buckman Education and Resource Center. For a brief period, the upper floor was rented as a private residence to generate income for the museum. Today, the house is used to store the museum collection and archive. The three-sided porch was original to the house. The building has stacked log walls with daubing and has post corners at the four main corners. The dormer windows on the second floor were not original. The interior of the building still contains certain elements of the original structure, but the house was modified many times over the past decades. The building originally had two chimneys which were removed over time.
Next up for the Fremont County Museum
August 30, 7am with the Riverton Museum, “Midvale Irrigation District” Wind River Visitors Council Adventure Trek Series
September 6, 10am with the Pioneer Museum, “Red Canyon Petroglyphs Trek” Wind River Visitors Council Adventure Trek Series
September 6, 9am with the Riverton Museum, “J.B. Okie Manor Trek” Wind River Visitors Council Adventure Trek Series
September 10, 6pm at the Riverton Museum, “Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women By Sophie Barksdale” Wyoming Community Bank Discovery Speakers Series
September 13, 9am with the Riverton Museum, “Gas Hills Uranium Trek” Wind River Visitors Council Adventure Trek Series
September 13, 1-3pm at the Pioneer Museum, “Apple Fest”
September 19, 7pm at the Dubois Museum, “Lunar Eclipse with Astronomer Tom Herret” Wyoming Community Bank Discovery Speakers Series
Now thru December, 9-5 at the Riverton Museum, “History Day Exhibits” Shoshone Schools
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.
Corner Detail Modern Setting with Dormer Windows