EXPLORING
THE GATCHELL
What
You Can Hear
Native
American Area
The Cheyenne Indian Medicine Rattles
These medicine rattles were used by the Medicine Men of the Cheyenne Tribe. They were used in the Dance of Victory after the Battle of the Big Bend of the Rosebud, and after the Custer Battle.
One day a Cheyenne Indian, a stranger to Mr. Gatchell, brought him a Medicine Rattle with white horsetail decorations. It had the stamp of “Two Moon” camp on it. Two Moon was a famous Cheyenne Chief. Mr. Gatchell knew that the Cheyenne presenting the rattle was not of the Two Moon camp and decided the fellow had stolen it, but he accepted the gift in the spirit in which it was given, and put it in his collection.
Later that same day, some Cheyenne, who Mr. Gatchell knew, came into the store and pointing to the Medicine Rattle asked where he had gotten it. Mr. Gatchell said, “An Indian gave it to me.” The Indians asked who it was but Mr. Gatchell said he would not say. They replied, “You know who?” Mr. Gatchell said, “Yes, and if you think it was stolen, take it, and give it to the rightful owner because I know you speak true.” The Indians withdrew, talking among themselves in Cheyenne dialect. They finally said, “We will not take it,” and then left.
That evening they returned from their camp above town, bringing another Medicine Rattle with black horsetail decorations and gave it to Mr. Gatchell to put with the white one. They said they knew the rattles would be safe with Mr. Gatchell for he had always been “good luck” to their tribe.
Every camp had a Medicine Man. He used these rattles, which were very sacred, in his ceremonies. If one were stolen or lost, it was bad luck. Only in pairs, a black one and a white one, were they “Good Medicine.”
A
Dime On A Train And Calamity Jane by Anna Koch
A
tiny dime, dated 1902 and taped to a small white envelope in the Jim Gatchell
Memorial Museum is one Wyoming family’s testimony to the “kinder, gentler” side of
one of the west’s most colorful female personalities, “Calamity Jane.”
“Calamity,
“ aka Martha Jane Canary, was in a saloon in the Black Hills of South Dakota
one fall day in 1902. As was her
custom, “Jane” was drinking more than she should.
She had purchased a ticket to ride the train from Whitewood to Deadwood,
but seemed in no hurry to cut short her imbibing and board.
Because
of Calamity Jane’s reputation as a somewhat rough character, who could become
“right down nasty” when crossed, the train’s conductor and engineer
decided to delay their departure, rather than incur the wrath of the
mannish-looking woman who was well-known throughout this part of the west.
So,
the train was held up for 30 minutes until Calamity had quenched her thirst and
completed her conversation with the men in the saloon.
She then climbed aboard.
In
a friendly gesture, Calamity, whose life-style was not anywhere near that of a
lady, handed the little girl an orange and a 1902 dime.
“My
grandmother knew who Calamity Jane was and of her “loose” moral
reputation,” says Kay Long Sanford, daughter of the little Kate, who grew up
to be Kate Denman Long. “Because of Calamity’s notoriety, Grandmother kept
the dime as a memento for my mother.”
Sanford is acutely aware of the
important historical role, which can be played by even the smallest items from
the past
Did
Martha Jane Canary have a maternal side to her colorful personality?
Did she, as some accounts of her life suggest, have a daughter of her
own?
Pioneer Ranchers & Settlers Area
The
Story of Jim Gatchell
Theodore
James Gatchell born at Black River Ralls, Wisconsin, August 2, 1872, was the
third child of Prince Albert Gatchell and Hattie Ostrander Gatchell.
The
Gatchell family moved west and settled in the Dakota Territory.
Jim first became friendly with Native Americans as a seven-year-old boy.
During the time they lived there an active fur trade was in progress at
the regional Hudson Bay and Northwest Fur Company’s trading posts. Traders,
trappers and Native Americans congregated in large numbers.
The Native American children were young Gatchell’s preferred playmates.
They taught him their games, the Sioux language and their cultural
traditions.
The
Gatchell family moved frequently; they lived in a number of settlements
throughout the Dakota Territory. In
1892 the family moved to Merna, Nebraska, where Jim found employment in a drug
store and started an apprenticeship in what was to become his lifelong
profession. In those times,
apprenticeships, rather than college study, were the more usual method of
training in many fields.
When
the Gatchells moved to Sheridan, Wyoming, in 1894., Jim worked initially on his
father’s newspaper. He
subsequently gained employment with the Edelman Drug Company where he continued
his apprenticeship. In 1897, at age
25, he opened his first drug store in nearby Big Horn, Wyoming.
In 1900, the 28-year-old Gatchell opened a little drug store on
Buffalo’s Main Street. From that
location he served the little frontier community for over 50 years.
Gatchell
possessed a rare sense of humor and an understanding ear.
Young and old, rich and poor, red and white, came to his door.
He was a very generous man, who gave freely of himself and of his
medicines to those in need.
When
Jim arrived in Wyoming, the curtain had but recently fallen on many stirring
acts in the pioneer drama of the Powder River Country.
Most of the principal actors --- such as General Crook, General MacKenzie,
Colonel Carrington, Captain Luther North, Frank Grouard, Portugee Phillips, Jim
Bridger, the Cheyenne, Weasal Bear and Curley the Crow --- had just exited the
stage. Some still living and Jim
Gatchell knew many of them.
Jim
was intensely interested in the frontier-era of the Powder River Region.
Through his contacts with those who had made that history, he obtained
eyewitness accounts from active participants on both sides of the fierce
struggle between Native Americans and the pioneers.
Soon after his arrival in Wyoming, Jim met the famous scout, Frank
Grouard, who was then stationed at Ft. McKinney near Buffalo.
They became close friends. When
Grouard was 19 years old, he had been captured by the Sioux and had lived with
various bands for 8 years. He
married an Indian woman. Grouard
learned to speak the Sioux language fluently, and acquired a thorough knowledge
of the traditions, myths, habits and characteristics of the Plains Indians.
Through
his association with Grouard, Jim honed his ability to speak Sioux and use the
universal sign language to converse with members of other tribes, like the
Cheyenne. He became close friends
with many warriors, who shared their versions of the Indian struggle with the
encroaching white men. The
information Gatchell obtained directly was far more accurate and historically
valuable than that acquired through the medium of interpreters.
The
Northern Cheyenne, in particular, regarded him as a valued friend and a great
“Medicine Man.” It was not
unusual for them to come hundreds of miles to seek his advice and aid for their
ailments. He often assisted in
resolving disputes and misunderstandings between the tribes and agents on the
reservations. He was adopted by the
Cheyenne and given name of “Turpy,” which means “He Who Speaks For Them”
or “In Favor of Them.”
These
Cheyenne clearly trusted him and held in high regard.
They knew that he never talked to them with a “forked tongue,” and
that he made no promises, which he could not fulfill.
To show their appreciation they brought him rare gifts for his
collection. Many of these gifts were cherished possessions, the giving of
which is the greatest favor a brave could bestow. Such was the gift by the Cheyenne, Shave Head, of the Model
75 Springfield rifle taken as spoils of war in the Custer battle.
Gatchell regarded this weapon as the most valuable item in his
collection.
As
his collection grew, so did Gatchell’s fame as an authority on frontier
history. Noted writers, including
George Bird Grinnell and Paul Wellman, sought him out for detailed information
about historic events and personalities of the region.
He gave as freely of his knowledge as he gave of his medicines.
After
Jim Gatchell’s death in 1954, his family generously donated his priceless
collection to the people of Johnson County. The museum that grew from his crowded drugstore houses one of
the richest collections of frontier artifacts in the Rocky Mountain West.
The Gatchell Museum has the finest displays of items relating to the
frontier experience in Wyoming’s Powder River Region – the focal point of
historic activity along the Bozeman Trail.
The museum houses a large collection of Native American artifacts,
including some exceptionally fine prehistoric pieces.
Also featured are significant items from the Custer Battlefield, the
Fetterman Fight, the Johnson County Cattle War and personal equipment of famous
lawmen and outlaws. The museum’s
holdings are a priceless resource – intriguing to the casual visitor and
invaluable to students of America’s pioneer history.
George Dagleish, Pioneer Photographer
His “weapon”
was a camera and many of the “trophies” this pioneer photographer captured
are on display in the multiplexes of the Jim Gatchell Museum.
The young Scot’s name was George Dagleish and his life – like his
photos – captured an interesting era.
George was born in
Melrose, Scotland, in 1854. Left an
orphan at fourteen, he worked as a weaver in a woolen mill, twelve hours a day
for approximately three years.
When he was
seventeen years old, he signed on a sailing vessel as a cabin boy, and made many
crossings between Europe and the United States. On one trip he decided to seek his fortune in New York City.
For a few years he lived and worked at various jobs in New York, Boston,
Philadelphia and several other eastern cities.
Eventually, his
wanderings took him to Toronto, Canada, where he became interested in and
studied photography, then it its infancy. In
addition to learning to take pictures, he learned to make plates, to process the
necessary photographic paper, and to handle the chemicals required in making an
early photograph.
The west beckoned,
and he went to Chicago, where he established his first studio.
The urge to move westward still strong within him, Dagleish traveled to
Ord, Nebraska, and then via the Niobrara Transportation & Freight Company to
Laramie, WY. Utilizing a tent for a studio on the road and traveling by
mule train, horseback and wagon, he then proceeded to Douglas, Sundance,
Sheridan and Buffalo, establishing a regular studio at each place for a short
time.
Early American Wars Area
The Battlefield Bible
The tattered mud stained bible seen in the display at the Jim Gatchell Museum has an unusual story behind it. This pocket sized New Testament was carried by a young Buffalo soldier, Spec. 4 Larry Warnock, who was killed in Vietnam. A hand-written inscription to his sweetheart also tells of his premonition of death. He wrote, “Thelma, I want you to have my bible, maybe it’ll remind you of me when you use it. I’m sure God will take care of you. He always takes care of his own children – even if it’s his will that we die. He knows all, and does what’s best for all. Don’t worry about me, Thelma. God has taken me home for a reason - maybe to get me away from the war. See you at home, Larry.”
Larry liked to underline passages in
his bible. Some of those passages
revealed his fears and his beliefs. He
may have realized that his death would release Thelma to seek another. He underlined, “For the woman which hath a husband is bound
by law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead she is
loosed from the law of her husband.”
Larry and Thelma were never married. He was killed in battle in Vietnam’s Tay Ninh Province. He had underlined passages in the Book of Psalms, which may show how he overcame his fears.
“I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears.”
“In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid of what man can do unto me.”
“Greater love hath no
man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Larry laid down his life on the
battlefield in Vietnam.
His bible was found by a young Viet
Cong soldier. With the help of another guerrilla who had studied English in
Saigon, the young Viet Cong soldier learned what the inscription said. He was moved by what he learned and wanted to see that the
bible was sent back to America.
During the battle of Bingh Gia in late 1964, the Viet Cong soldier made the acquaintance of a French woman reporter. He told her the story and gave her the bible. She later showed it to a representative for United Press International. A story was written about the bible and published in hundreds of newspapers in the United States. Larry’s mother, Violet Warnock of Buffalo, read that story. She got in touch with officials of UPI and gave details, which positively identified the bible as the one she had given her son. It was returned to Larry’s family and in 1986, they decided the bible and the story should be on display in the Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum.
Wagons
Sheep
Wagon
The
Johnson County Historical Society obtained the sheep wagon formerly owned by
Martin P. Pelloux, for display at the museum.
Mr. Pelloux was born January 23, 1878, near Grenoble, France, in the
French Alps. He
came to Wyoming from France in 1903 with two uncles, Jacque and Joe Allemand.
Joe Allemand was killed during the raid at Tensleep as related in the
book, “Tensleep and No Rest”
by Jack Gage.
Mr.
Pelloux was employed for a short time by Joe Allemand as a sheepherder and then
worked for L. R. Van Houten for four years.
While there, he was given a French-English dictionary and studied
diligently to learn English.
Having saved his money, Martin Pelloux went into the sheep business in
1908 by purchasing 700 ewes, two work horses and the sheep wagon.
Ten years later he was running three bands of sheep.
In 1918, Martin Pelloux married Edna LaFleur. The wagon became their
honeymoon cottage…..and their home until they bought a place in Buffalo.
Memories of
Yesterday
Out
on the hilltop
all
weathered and bleak
stands
an old sheep wagon
the
symbol of sheep.
The
tongue is a wreck
there’s
holes in the floor
and
the wheels will turn
as
they did, nevermore.
From
where I now sit
all
wrinkled and gray
fond
memories return
of
yesterday.
I
can still hear the bleating
on
the evening bed ground
there’s
no duplicating
that
musical sound.
Melancholy
by sunshine
lugubrious
by rain
she
withstood blizzards
droughts,
misuse and strains.
You
could see her white cover
for
many a mile
and
the comfort she offered
brought
many a smile.
Now
we’re both battered
we’re
old and we’re gray
I
want to rebuild her
as
she was yesterday.
- Bill
Norton