Sundance, Wyoming and the Bowers Family

Mount Moriah Cemetery, Sundance, Wyoming

I finally took a real vacation this year. Traveling with my dear friend, Nancy, we traversed all of South Dakota and went into Wyoming to see Devil's Tower (aka Bear Lodge). Nearby, was the beautiful little ranching town of Sundance, Wyoming in Crook County.

Nancy is not a genealogist, but kindly indulged me for the one genealogy stop-off I wanted to make. Look back to Agnes Watson Smith Bowers' story here. I found her particularly interesting because of the path her life took.

The cemetery entrance was a challenge; it looked like an ATV path and not a drive. Signs posted said, "Private Property" and "Unmaintained Road." We took a chance and slowly moved up the hill meeting with a very tired old gravel road, full of pits, until suddenly, there was a maintained gravel road. Over the crest we found the vast expanse of the cemetery, maintained well. It was fairly easy to locate my relatives including Agnes, her son James Harvey, his wife Amalia Reinhold, and her second husband Wyman Henry Bushnell. I also located Agnes' sister Belle Watson and her husband James Benjamin Richardson's grave nearby.

On the way to the cemetery, we stopped at the very charming and well-put-together Crook County Museum and I picked up the book, "Pioneers of Crook County" which is quoted in my first piece on Agnes (see above link). Government Valley is located just outside of Sundance. There was an additional good story about James Benjamin Richards and Belle Watson I want to share from that book as well:

Agnes's sister Belle and husband
J B Richardson

"A short time after James and Isabelle Richardson had moved to the head of Government Valley, he had gone hunting leaving Isabelle and baby son John with his hunting dogs for protection. One bright moonlight night pandemonium broke out among the dogs. Isabelle looked out her bearskin door and saw a huge bear about 100 yards below the cabin. The dogs were so frightened they climbed on the hay stack in the corral leaving their mistress with only a bearskin door between her baby, herself and the big bear. Fortunately the bear went away but the next morning a cowboy rode in and told her he had never seen such big bear tracks. They measured from the tip of his fingers to his elbows when he laid his arm in the track."

"A few years after James and Isabelle Richardson had settled at the head of Government Valley, she had finally acquired a Home Comfort cooking range. One day they had a gentleman visitor from Lead, South Dakota. He offered Mrs. Richardson five (5) shares of Homestake Mining Stock for the range. She did not hesitate in telling him no, not realizing she was turning down what would become a very large amount of money. At that time the range was worth much more to her than any mining shares."
source: Pioneers of Crook County, paragraphs 2-3, pp. 423-424.