Past Events

Have A Historic Summer 2022

FREE SUMMER CLASSES

Due to limited space we require an RSVP so please call us to register in advance. Please contact us at 307-872-6435 to register or with any questions. Our classes are free and last about 2 hours. All of the classes begin at 10 am and all supplies are provided.

• June 29, 2022

  Map and Compass for Kids

  Dick Blust hosts his popular basic map and compass class for children. This popular class involves the outdoors.

• July 27, 2022

  Adobe Brick Making

  Join us to make mini adobe bricks and learn more about this historic building material.

• August 3, 2022

  Basket Weaving

  Come make your own basket and learn about this historic craft.

• August 10, 2022

           John Wesley Powell

            Join Lucy Diggins-Wold as you learn all about crossing rivers, packing ferries, and explorers like John Wesley Powell.

FREE FAMILY FUN FRIDAYS

Family Fun Fridays take place on Fridays from 10 AM until 4 PM. Families are encouraged to come and go anytime during that time frame. The events have indoor and outdoor (weather permitting) activities. No RSVP required.

• July 15, 2022

  Fabulous Fossils!

  Touch a real dinosaur bone, sift in a dig pit, and learn more about the creatures that used to live in Sweetwater County.

• August 12, 2022

  Gold Panning

  Try your hand at panning for pyrite without even having to stand in a river. Participants can even keep one piece each!

Family Fun Friday-Fabulous Fossils

Photo 1 - Participants will gain hands-on experience in how paleontologists work at fossil dig sites.   (Anyone4Science photo. Used with thanks.)

Photo 2 - Hadrosaurs were among the many species of dinosaurs that once lived in Sweetwater County. The track at right is that of a Hadrosaur, recovered from a coal mine north of Rock Springs in 1927. It is currently on exhibit at the Sweetwater County Historical Museum.

Photo 3 - Prehistoric Lake Gosiute once covered some 20,000 square miles.

Photo 4 - Wyoming’s official state fossil fish, the extinct Knightia were related to sardines and herring. A schooling fish, they swam in the waters of the Green River Formation in uncountable numbers 50 million years ago.

“Family Fun Friday - Fabulous Fossils” at County Museum

(Sweetwater County, Wyo. - July 7, 2022)     The Sweetwater County Historical Museum in Green River will stage a special outdoor event next week.

Public Engagement Coordinator Aidan Brady will present “Family Fun Friday - Fabulous Fossils” between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM on Friday, July 15, on the sidewalk in front of the museum, located at 3 E Flaming Gorge Way. Participants will get to handle and explore variety of fossils, including Knightias and a real dinosaur bone, and learn how paleontologists dig and sift for fossils in a dig pit.

The prehistoric era and fossils are integral not only to Sweetwater County history, but its very existence. The immense trona deposits west of Green River stem from Lake Gosiute, a huge prehistoric lake that covered much of southwest Wyoming 50 to 55 million years ago. As the lake evaporated over the course of many years, it became saturated in sodium bicarbonate and began depositing trona in beds running up to 3,500 feet below the surface. 

The vast deposits of coal that brought Rock Springs, Superior, and coal camps like Reliance, Winton, and Stansbury into existence and sustained them for generations are equally prehistoric, coal being the product of gradual heating and compression of organic material over the course of many millions of years.

The public is welcome, and there is no charge for the event.

Museum hosting special map and compass class

(Sweetwater County, Wyo. - June 23, 2022)    The Sweetwater County Historical Museum will host a special class for young students on Wednesday, June 29.

“Map and Compass for Kids” is geared toward students who want to learn about navigation. Participants will learn the basics of street maps, topographic maps, map reading, direction orienting, and the use of a compass, followed by a “compass walk” at nearby Centennial Park.

There is no charge for the course, and all materials are provided.

The class is scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM on the 29^th, and lasts less than two hours.

The museum is located at 3 E. Flaming Gorge Way in Green River. For questions or to sign up, call (307) 872-6435.

Students attend History Fair 2022

Photo #1 - Dennis Freeman of Green River, here wearing a period-accurate Hudson’s Bay coat, spoke about mountain man life, gear, weapons, and clothing (Bud Allen photo).

Photo #2 - Landry Roskelley, an authority on Plains Indian history and culture, does his presentations inside his own tipi, which he brings to every History Fair event

Photo #3 - Stan Blake, himself a retired career railroader, supervising the simulated railroad spike-driving activity

Photo #4 - Richelle Rawlings-Carroll handling the calf-branding activity

Photo #5 - Mike Masterson’s coal and trona mining presentation included coal scuttle races

(Sweetwater County, Wyo. - May 12, 2022)     Dave Mead, Executive Director of the Sweetwater County Historical Museum in Green River, expressed his special thanks to the volunteers and others who made possible this year’s four-day Third Grade History Fair, May 10 through May 13.

Over 700 students from all over the county took part this year. Each received a guided tour of the museum, reviewed special exhibits and demonstrations about ranching, mining, mountain men, Native Americans, and the railroad at Centennial Park, and participated in hands-on activities grounded in frontier history such as gold panning, making their own butter, simulated calf branding, and simulated railroad spike-driving.

Among the volunteers who made this year’s event possible:

• Bud Allen
• Stan Blake
• Diane Butler
• Sarah Crow
• Dennis Freeman
• Mike Masterson
• Richelle Rawlings-Carroll
• Landry Roskelley
• Emilio Sanchez
• Madeline Trujillo-Hamel
• Carrie Tuttle

Mead also expressed his appreciation to Sweetwater County School Districts #1 and #2, which provided bus transportation for the students; Brad Raney, Debbie Hansen, and Chuck Bryan of  Green River Parks & Recreation, for making possible the use of Centennial Park; Community Service Officer Ashton Robinson of the Green River Police Department, Assistant Chief Larry Erdmann of the Green River Fire Department; Jarod Ball, Adam Rodabaugh, Marshall Burt, and Anna Rywelski of the Union Pacific Railroad; the Tynsky Law Office, and special thanks to Bill Taliaferro for the use of his sheep camp.