Old State Penitentiary, Rawlins WY

We were 149 miles west of Cheyenne when we came across signs saying - come, visit our historical state prison, or some such thing. As we hadn't visited any prisons yet, we just HAD to stop in the city of Rawlins.













































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Here are some of the more noted inmates.



Samuel Barry, Murder 2nd degree


Thomas Madden, Grand Larceny


John C. Conway, Murder 2nd degree


William Henry Wagner, Grand Larceny


Lawrence Harford, Manslaughter





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Cells where permitted to be painted any color the inmates chose.





















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The cell blocks.





























Guards cat walk across from the second level of cells.















When new cells were added, it was decided they would hold three prisoners each. For various reasons, mostly fighting, they found this didn't work. So, the cells were converted into more general use areas, such as a barber shop, below, and a library.





















The Library















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The white spots in this cell show how tooth paste was used as a substitute for glue to attach items to the walls.




















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The showers were hated. The prison opened in 1888, and there was no hot in the building until the 1960's.





























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One inmate was an artist and was permitted to paint the mess hall.

















































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These are the death row cells.





















Death row inmates had the dubious privilege of one man showers, even if they had no hot water or privacy.




















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The next two pictures show the process of execution by hanging. On the second floor, the prisoner would step in the middle of the square on the floor with the noose around his neck. His weight would activate a water valve under the floor that would slowly drain a reservoir tank. When the water was drained from the tank, the trap door would be released by the supporting post being pulled from beneath the trap door. In essence, the prisoner hung himself, relieving the executioner from that duty.

The slightly discolored grey 'box' on the floor is the trap door. On the wall are pictures of all that were executed by hanging.





















This photo shows the trap door from below with the supporting post in place. The tank drains which pulls the cable to dislodge the post.





















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Hydrocyanic-acid gas was used for the execution when the chamber was first tested
... with a pig (not pictured).















Well, maybe!















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This photo was taken from the 'exercise' yard.















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Lost Springs WY

Lost Springs, is a town in Converse county, Wyoming. As of the 2000 census, the town is one of five places in the United States to boast a population of ONE person.

We stopped to see who it was, but he wasn't home.

City of Cheyenne

Friday, August 17, 2007















First United Methodist Church





















St Mary's Cathedral





















Cheyenne State Capitol Building















Victorian home that was converted into a Funeral Home.

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Boots are very big in Wyoming. They paint them and leave them all over town. These boots are around 5 feet tall.
















This ones in front of the train station.



















So is this one.














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The best restaurant in Cheyenne. Built as America's only authentic sliceria, Pizzeria Venti serves over 20 kinds of pizza by the slice. What makes this restaurant unique is that there are only 6 stores in the USA and the owner traveled to Italy to be trained. Not only did he bring back the recipes, the stores also import the water from Italy to make their dishes. We had timpanini (stuffed pizza pie) and bocce balls (no, not rocky mountain oysters), large meatballs encased in pasta dough, served with marinara sauce. Quite a treat.

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The magnificent train station.















Inside, pretty much as is was when built.
A large concession stand was removed from the left side wall.





























Within 5 minutes of entering the station, this downpour began. Lasting only another 5 and it was gone as quickly as it came.





















This beautiful entrance allowed carriages to enter the train station for discharging their VIP passengers next to the train cars. Or, they could disembark to the safety of the waiting room if it was raining, as it was in the picture above.

Terry Bison Ranch Cheyenne

August 17 2007

The is a working ranch of 28,000 acres, which is also a RV campground. They have a bison herd numbering 4,500. We stayed here 3 days, close enough to also visit Cheyenne.
















Yep, it's a prairie dog!
















We took a bus tour through the bison herd.


















Big, ugly, mangy critters!





















For supper, we had our first bison burger. Very lean meat, low in cholesterol. Actually, wasn't too bad.

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Closer to the rv park, were other assorted "true cowboy" animals.

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