Dad and I were on a mission to pick up a little equipment in the Thermopolis area. While at it, we thought we'd do a little sight seeing along the way. So we called Uncle Phil and hit the trail.
The Owl Creek drainage, west of Thermop, was our region to explore.
This area is no stranger to either Dad nor Uncle Phil. Dad pumped a lot of oil wells around here and Uncle Phil spent time in these mountains growing up.
There is quite a bit of oil activity around here. Grass Creek and Hamilton Dome have produced a lot of oil over the years.
Big old ranches as well. This is part of the Arapaho Ranch, which is ran by the Arapaho Tribe.
Rock Creek is where Grandpa William Murdoch homesteaded. Rough and beautiful country up there.
Anchor Dam was built in the 1950s and backs up the south fork of the Owl Creek.
A real work of art.
Unfortunately, the reservoir doesn't hold water for very long. Durning the construction, several sink holes were found. In a good runoff year the reservoir will fill up, but before the summer is over, it is back to a creek running through it.
In the years that followed, they dammed off a tributary that would loose a lot of water. No doubt it helped, but the water still disappears.
Though, the dam is a bit of a lost cause, it's still a fun place to visit.
Before we headed out, we enjoyed some lunch that Mom made us. Thanks Ma.
After our sight seeing, we got down to business. Dad located some old oil field stairwells and landings that we could use on our barn project.
So we hitched up White Horse and drug them out of the weeds.
Then used a loader nearby to load them up.
Strapped them down and headed for home.
Score. There is plenty of material here to work with. We plan to use them to get us up into the barn loft from the outside.
Fun day. This is country that I'm not real familiar with. I've been to most of these sites before, but didn't really know much of the history. Beautiful. Great find on the scrap iron too. We will make good use of it. On to the next one.
Thermop is good country!
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