The Escapees rally in Gillette officially ended on July 3rd; but as the organization's gift to its members, the Escapees provided free camping for the night of the 4th and all the Escapees were invited to the Gillette/Campbell County 4th of July Celebration billed as the biggest in northeastern Wyoming. The festivities kicked off with a pancake "feed" at the fire hall at 6:00 AM followed by a parade in downtown Gillette at 9:00. We passed on the breakfast since it was a little early and Paul is trying to watch his carbs anyway. However, we wanted to make it to the parade since we worked on the Escapees' float.

There's nothing like the 4th of July in small-town America. Everything seems so much more sincere and heart-felt. We got to the parade about 8:30 in plenty of time to get a shady parking space only a block away from the parade route and to get a front-row spot near the start of the parade. As we sat waiting for the parade to begin, someone was walking down the street handing out flags, and not little 3" X 5" flags on a stick either. The photo below shows Margery holding our new flag.

The parade got started right on time. Although there was only one band and it looked a little rag-tag and not quite in step, they sounded pretty decent.

The Escapees' float was fairly close to the beginning of the parade. The float represents the Escapees' logo, which is a house on a little red wagon. Kay and Joe Peterson, founders of the Escapees, rode on the back of the float and a couple dozen Escapees walked along behind. We found out later, the Escapees' float won second prize.

Surprisingly, there were only a few equestrian groups in the parade. One group included this patriotic horse with red stripes, blue stars, and red and blue hooves.

 

There was also this very special little fellow riding his power chair with a stick horse on the front.

And, of course, there was the inevitable equestrian follow-up crew.

The parade had a number of custom, classic, and antique cars...

...and several motorcycle groups (It seemed the motorcycles outnumbered the horses!) including this guy with the Uncle Sam hat on a Harley.

The parade lasted over two hours. It seemed almost every business, club, and civic group in town took part. We overheard someone say since this year is an election year, the parade was much longer than usual because every politician had a wagon, float, truck, or car in the parade with his or her name on it.

We were impressed that the city didn't waste any time getting started on the cleanup. This street sweeper was close enough to the end of the parade that we almost mistook it for another float, especially with the flags mounted on it.

 

After the parade, there was a picnic at the Campbell County Bicentennial Park and we where amazed they provided free hot dogs, potato chips and soft drinks. The photo below shows the early part of the crowd in line for hot dogs being prepared in the blue and white striped tent. People kept arriving and getting in line, but there were plenty of volunteers preparing and serving and the line moved quickly so the wait was never more than just a few minutes.

Margery is enjoying her hot dog.

After we finished our hot dogs, we wandered over to the mud volleyball pits. There were numerous teams awaiting their turn to play at one of the three nets. It was just good, clean fun. Well, maybe it wasn't so clean after all.

There were also kids' games, kids' sidewalk chalk drawing, and strong man and woman contests going on. Then after a while, they started the fire hose water fights. We were used to seeing firefighters doing the water fights, trying to force a beer keg suspended from on a cable over to the opponent's end of the cable with their fire hoses. But here, they let the kids man the hoses and the target was a lighter-weight soccer ball. We're guessing they reduced the water pressure a little, but as you can see, the water still has a good bit of force. The kids loved having an excuse to get wet on a hot day, and the mud volleyball players found a good way to get (somewhat) clean.

After we watched the water fights, we headed back to the rig where we thought we might take a nap before the evening fireworks like so many of the other Escapees we talked to. Ten o'clock fireworks seemed to be past many retirees bedtime! :)

Well, there is no napping in Gillette, WY on the 4th of July. It seems consumer fireworks are legal in Gillette and the residents go all out with their own displays. In the housing plan across the road from the camping area, there were quite a few people setting off fireworks all day. They weren't just little bangs and pops either. There were many loud BOOMS. Because of the flat terrain, we could see for quite a distance and as dusk fell, we could see fireworks being set off everywhere we looked. Some of the aerial pieces were almost professional quality and were quite impressive. We found it totally incredible how much money people must have spent on their own fireworks.

We also had ring-side seats for the professional fireworks because they were set off from the Cam-Plex race track right near where we were camped. The fireworks were supposed to be coordinated with music broadcast on the radio, but we never did find the correct station. Even without the music, the display was very impressive and continued for a full 20 to 25 minutes.

Following the Escapade and the July 4th celebrations, we still had two days left before we were scheduled to move on so we took the opportunity to learn a little more about the area. On July 5, we went to the Campbell County Rockpile Museum in Gillette. The Rockpile has been a landmark in Gillette for many years. In fact, the first four settlers in Gillette centered their claims on this site. The Rockpile is a small rise in the earth capped by a mound of exposed rocks. As travelers approached, the Rockpile would let them know they had arrived in Gillette. This was especially true for those who arrived by rail since it was close to the railhead after the Burlington & Missouri railroad arrived in Gillette in 1891.

Ralph A. Kintz, who had purchased the land that included the Rockpile, donated it to the county in 1970. Kintz was instrumental in establishing the museum, which opened in 1974. The museum contains numerous collections, photos, and artifacts relating to the history of the area. In the photo below, Paul is checking out the collection of spurs and bits.

And Margery is looking at the general store display.

The wagon in the photo below is a sheepherder's wagon. Wagons like these were also used during cattle roundups and branding. In the 20th century, ranchers sometimes used the wagons as RVs to vacation in the Black Hills or Bighorn Mountains to enjoy the cooler air.

 

The Rockpile Museum also had two good videos on coal production. We learned that Wyoming produces 38% of our nation's coal, and most of it comes from right around Gillette. Wyoming coal, which is mostly surface mined today, is low sulfur coal and is in high demand. The Powder River Coal Company in Gillette, Wyoming, is the second largest coal producing company in the United States. It and owns and operates four surface mines in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. Together, the four mines control 2.5 billion tons of recoverable coal. The coal seams at the four mines range from 65 feet to over 100 feet thick. Although tours of the coal mines are open to visitors, we were disappointed we didn't have time to take advantage of this opportunity.

We did, however, take a short drive about 4 miles north of Gillette where the Foundation Coal Company has a mine with an overlook where you can see some of the operations. Foundation Coal is the fourth largest coal producer in the U. S. At the overlook, they had one of the huge tires used on the haul trucks. The tire is 13 feet in diameter and weighs 13,000 lb. Cost per tire is $36,000. And we thought motor home tires were expensive!

The trucks dump the coal into a crusher, which is at the far left of the photo below. From the crusher, conveyors take the coal to the top of huge silos. Trains pass through a tunnel under the silo where the coal is loaded into hopper cars.

Gillette has such an interesting history. This is another town we had to add to our list of places to return to someday. But for now, it's time to move on farther west.

Comments

[Robert Henning]

Hello Paul and Margery. Thanks for your great comments about the Rockpile Museum. We were sure glad to have you and all of the Escapees in town. Make sure and stop in again if you are in the area. Thanks again.

Robert Henning

Registrar
Campbell County Rockpile Museum

[Marty Nelson]

Beautiful photos, especially of Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. It makes me want to travel there again soon.
http://www.martynelsonphotoart.blogspot.com
(Travel Idaho and Beyond - USA & Canada)