SCLT Big Goose Walking Tour

On Tuesday, August 8, the SCLT Explore History program featured the early settlers and businesses in Sheridan along the Big and Little Goose Creeks. The tour was well attended by over 20 people.

Chris Verba, Director of Marketing and Development, led the tour, and the first stop was the monument at the corner of Smith and N. Brooks. It marks the site of the first cabin built in what is now Sheridan.

Verba explained about Dutch Henry, who built the cabin, which, being made out of cottonwood logs, deteriorated over time.

During the 1800s, fur trappers sold beaver pelts to the markets in the east and in Europe for the fashionable beaver fur hats. But, before the beaver were completely extinct, the fashion changed and in the 1850s men went to wearing silk hats and the beaver trade died.

The next stop was near the Sheridan County Fulmer Public library, and Verba said that this was once Crow Country, and asked the attendees to imagine the land as it was before the white men came into the area and built fences and roads and towns. He said there were two bands of Crow, the River Crow and the Mountain, or Kicked in the Belly, tribe.

Verba talked about the Big and Little Goose Creeks, and how the channels had been engineered and changed over the years to help to eliminate flooding of the town when the creeks overflowed.

The next stop was at what is often referred to as “Crook’s Fountain” near the site of the old flour mill and elevator, the Sheridan Manufacturing Company and Flour Mill. The mill was built prior to 1896. It used the flow of water in the creek to drive the mill wheel to grind the wheat into flour. The company produced Sifted Snow and White Swan Flour.

Although the signage refers to the fountain as, ‘Crook’s Foundation’ Verba explained why it was actually built.

The next to the last stop was the Mandel Cabin, inside of Whitney Commons. The cabin was built between 1878 and 1880 second cabin built in Sheridan.

The cabin is now owned by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Wyoming, and the Lindy Burgess and Isabel Wallop, members of the group, opened the cabin for the group to tour, and explained about the reconstructed building.

The last stop was the old Sheridan Brewery site, which once stood where Whitney Commons is now. The brewer used the fresh, clean mountain water to brew their beer, and, later, soda pop.

Sheridan’s Big and Little Goose Creeks have played their part in the history of Sheridan, Wyoming through the years.