Frontier Prison

Our "plan" for Thursday was to get on our bikes and ride over to the Carbon County Museum, and the now closed Wyoming Frontier Prison, but something in the high plains air is making TLE's eyes water, so we aborted the bike plan and instead decided to get the T'Bird washed.....the local Conoco has a quickie car wash so we headed there first and purchased the $8.00 wash, which includes spraying off the under carriage.  TLE and I made quuick work of it with a couple of micro fiber towels, and it was nice to get the girl all shined up and pretty again. 

From there we headed directly to the Carbon County Museum around 10am.  You never know what to expect from these local historical museums, but this one exceeded our expectations.  We spent at least an hour and a half examining all the exhibits, which really gave one a great overview of the history of Rawlins.  Originally this town was established by the Union Pacific railroad as a maintenance yard, as well as a water and fuel station.  Today the town is a county seat whose population has fluctuated dramatically over the years of boom and bust as they call it locally.  A few years ago the population was up to 16,000, but now sits around 9,300.  The museum tour is free, but they do accept donations.

We were to meet Ben and Mary-Pat at the Aspen House for lunch, so by the time we finished walking through the museum it was Noon, so instead of heading over the prison we headed down to Cedar Street to take a quick walk through the local thrift store before lunch.  TLE, as usual, found another paperback she needed....I don't know where all those books are being stored, but she finds a way to store them without cluttering the coach up.  I found a cool Eddie Bauer rain jacket for $9.00 and snapped that up.  I'm sure I'll be needing that in Campbellsville from time to time.

We arrived at Aspen House just as our hosts did.  This restaurant is located in a former home, and the dining areas are cozy.  We had a lovely lunch, and more great conversation.  Ben and Mary-Pat had to get back to their insurance office for a telephone conference by 2pm so we wrapped up lunch around 1:45pm going our separate ways......with us headed for the prison.  

The Frontier Prison opened in 1901, and was closed in 1981.  Over their history they processed over 13,000 prisoners and executed 14 using hanging until 1930, and then a gas chamber was installed.  Two women were among the executed.  Back in October of 1912 they had a mass escape of 28 prisoners over two days.  All were recaptured with 3 being shot to death in gun battles 30 miles south of Rawlins.  The price to tour the prison is $8.00 per adult, unless you are a "senior" in which case it is $7.  Gallen, a nice young man in his 20's who really knew his stuff.  The tour lasts about an hour and you get to see everything.  The original cells were so small.....I think my closet at our home in Ontario is bigger than those cells.  The ceilings were under 7'.....that along would have discouraged me from ever doing anything that would land me there.  For it's first 28 years there was no heating......now, it gets cold here in the winter.....often below zero.  Additionally, there were no hot showers until the 60's.....wow!

The Gas Chamber....no, TLE did not go in, but I did...lol!

 The prison had its own water tower

The exercise yard

Our tour ended at 3:30 and we headed "home" for the afternoon.  I did some insurance work, then took a nice hour nap.  Then it was time to put the T'Bird back in the trailer so our wash job would not be spoiled by the night's dew.  By the time our hosts arrived home we were all buttoned up again and ready for Friday's departure.  Ben grilled some great steaks, and we contributed a nice bottle of Coppola Pinot Noir 2010.  Before we knew it 11pm had arrived.  The time just flies when we get talking.  

We'll be departing around 10am on Friday headed toward Ft. Collins.  We'll probably stop again at Terry Bison Ranch, and then drive 30 miles south in the 'Bird to Ft. Collins to get our Amazon.com drug screening done at LapCorp, and then return to Terry Bison Ranch for 2 days, and then south to Denver for about a week.  

Thanks for stopping by!