Wyoming State Penitentary

On our way home from Casper we decided to go through Rawlins and take the kids through the old state prison.  It was a lot of fun.  Here they do a guided tour, so you get to hear all the history and stories about the prison.  

Here are Kiley and Miranda looking around before the tour started.

They always start the tour with a hanging.  A Cheyenne, Wyoming architect named James P. Julian designed the contraption in 1892, earning the name "The Julian Gallows," which made the condemned man hang himself. The trap door was connected to a lever which pulled the plug out of a barrel of water. This would cause a lever with a counterweight to rise, pulling on the support beam under the gallows. When enough pressure was applied, this would cause the beam to break free, opening the trap and hanging the condemned man. (Gallows info from Wikipedia.)  It was pretty interesting to watch it work.  I can't imagine standing on the trap door listening to the water drain from the bucket just waiting for the door to fall away and you falling to your death.

After the demonstration they take you on the tour.  You start out where all the inmates started, in where you get your mug shot.  Then they take you into the room where they would get their prison uniform.  There is a window that they would open and yell out "fresh fish", which is what new inmates are called.  There is a pole in the middle of the room.  If the inmate was not following commands they would handcuff the inmate to the pole and whip them with a rubber tipped whip so they didn't leave any marks.

Connor had his hands wrapped around the pole right before I took the picture.  I thought it was funny.

Next you walk past the visitation room.  They have a dummy in there.  It scared the kids when they walked in.

Then you walk into cell block A.  When they originally built the prison they had 13 cells on each of the 4 levels on the front side and back side of cell block A.  It was designed for one inmate per cell, but when they transferred the inmates from Laramie to Rawlins, they discovered they didn't have enough room.  They put another bed in the cell.  It was quite cramped in the cell with two people in there.

Cell block A

Just had to take a picture of cell number 13 ;)

After you go through cell block A you go into the library area.  They had an inmate paint the walls.  How painted them with bright colors.  On one wall as you are going out of the library into the shower area, he painted happy faces coverting to sad faces as you leave.  They said it was because you were going from the happiest place to the saddest place.

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In the shower room they said they would have about 30-35 inmates showering at a time with only few shower heads.  She said that that was where a lot of disputes were settled among the inmates.  There is a staircase that leads up to the game room in the area of the shower room.  There was a guard that was brutally murdered in the game room and then thrown down the stairs.  After that, they sealed the door closed and there was no more game room.

The stairwell that the guard was thrown down.

Here's Isaac looking tough in front of a cell ;)

Next we went into the kitchen.  There was a riot in the cafeteria one year.  The inmates had taken all the wooden tables and benches and piled them up at the end of the cafeteria and lit them on fire.  After the guards got control again, they installed metal tables and benches that were bolted to the floor.  They also installed a birdcage where a guard would stand with a tommy machine gun.  He was given the ordered to shoot to kill if anybody got out of control.  I think it worked, because I don't think they had any more problems after that.

They had one of the inmates paint all the beautiful pictures in the cafeteria.  The picture of the big horn sheep is very interesting.  The sheep's heads follow you wherever you go in the area.  It was a reminder that you are always being watched.  The painting of the railroad tracks was interesting also.  No matter where you stand in the room you are always on the right side of the tracks.

Next stop is outside.  They used to have a warehouse/factory where the inmates made various things. First they made brooms, then they made wool blankets for the Navy (I think) during the war.  They received an award for the high quality of blankets they made. Next they made license plates and highway signs.  The factory is no longer there.

They had an outdoor recreation area for the inmates. They had a baseball field, horseshoe pit and basketball courts.  The in,ates would play baseball against the local teams.  They were pretty good until the catcher had to serve his death sentence.  He was their best player.  After that, they never won another game.

Next stop was the death house.

This is what the gallows looked like.  It was pretty convenient that they would hang from the second floor and fall to the first floor.  All the gaurds had to do was cut them down and put them on a stretcher and wheel them around the corner to the infirmary.

The picture below shows the hook that the noose would hang from.  They would face the inmate towards the window so they could see the mountain before they died.

The death row cells were just a few feet away from where the inmate's death sentence would be carried out.

Here is the famous gas chamber.  5 men were put to death in this very chamber.  Connor wouldn't get in it. Isaac and Kiley were excited to.  Connor was pretty excited to pretend to pull the handle to gas Isaac though.

Here is Kiley looking like a little villain!

They end the tour back in cell block A.  They leave you with a story of murder and commerodary.  The story goes like this.  Ther was an old woman who and a nephew in the prison.  She lived just down the street.  Every time she would visit him she would bring treats for him and the other inmates.  They all liked this old woman.  This one inmate was released on parole and didn't know of any other place to go than the old woman's house.  He did some horrible things to her and left her for dead.  She died a few hours later.  He was caught quickly.  The local police didn't think he would be safe in the city jail.  They thought the citizens of Rawlins would come and murder him.  The police thought he would be safer back in the prison.  They snuck him in the prison in the middle of the night in hopes that the other inmates wouldn't find out.  Well, they did.  In the morning when they were being let out for breakfast, the inmates overpowered the gaurds and took all their weapons and keys and locked them the the cells.  The inmates then went and grabbed that guy and hung a noose around his neck and threw him off the 4th teir in cell block A.  After the inmates were done with their revenge, they let the gaurds out, gave them back their keys and weapons and they all went to breakfast.  The gaurds left him there to hang while everyone ate breakfast.

4th teir in cell block A

Area where he was left hanging.

It was such a fun tour (if you couldn't tell, I loved it).  We had a great weekend feising and touring the prison.

Success at the Cowboy State Feis!

This weekend we made the long trip to Casper, Wyoming for Kiley and Connor's second Feis.  They did a lot better.  They were more relaxed and knew what to do and expect.  They did such an awesome job!  I was impressed at how good they did.  

Here are the kids with Miranda before they started dancing.

They are so ready to compete!

They did awesome!  Here are the results.

Connor:  Reel - 2nd place (orange ribbon)

               Single Jig - 2nd place

               Light Jig - 4th place (dark green ribbon)

Kiley:  Reel - 2nd place (orange ribbon)

          Single Jig - 3rd place (white ribbon)

          Slip Jig - 4th place (dark green ribbon)

Congrats on the hard work paying off!  You guys did great!  Next stop, Crossroads Feis in Lehi, Utah!

Middle school, here we come!

Today was Isaac's first day of 6th grade.  He is now in middle school!  When did that happen?  He was a little nervous.  I think I was more nervous than he was.  The school he goes to has about 1200 kids from 6th-8th grade.  It only has about about 100 less students than one of the high schools in the valley!  Holy cow!  I was pretty worried about him all day.  When we picked him up after school he said it was great!  It was a lot better than he thought.  That made me feel good.  I'm so glad he is off to a great start.  It was only the 6th graders today.  We will see how it goes when the 7th and 8th graders are there on Monday.  Hopefully it goes as good as it did today.  One day down, the rest of the school year to go!  Good luck Isaac!

First day of school

Today was the first day of school for Kiley and Connor.  They were both pretty excited.  Kiley is in 5th grade now and Connor is in 2nd.  This year the school district is offering free breakfast for all the kids.  They looked at the breakfast menu and decided that they wanted to eat breakfast at school today.  They said it was really good. They also told me that they needed to get there earlier to eat breakfast.  They only had a few minutes to eat and get to class.  We will see how often they want to do that.  After school they both said they had a great day!  I'm glad they loved it.  Hopefully they will keep that attitude through the whole year.

Pumpkin in a pot

A couple of months ago Connor had a pumpkin seed that he wanted to plant.  So we planted it in a big pot.  I didn't think it was going to grow much, but boy was I wrong!  It has grown like crazy!  When I got home this morning I looked at it and saw 2 flowers on it.  Who knows? Maybe we will end up with a couple of cute little pumpkins this Halloween.

Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday

August is always so busy for our family.  On August 7th was our 15th wedding anniversary.  Time has flown by so fast.  We have been together as a couple for 18 years and married for 15 of those years.  I was talking with Cordell and told him I have been with him for as long as I had lived with my parents, and he has been with me longer than he had lived with parents.  That is crazy to think about.  We have had a lot of great times together.  Of course we have had our struggles, but we have pushed through them and come out way ahead.  Then on August 12th was Kiley's 10th birthday.  That time has flown by.  It doesn't seem possible that my sweet little baby girl has turned 10.  She made the comment that she is finally out of the single digits.  We have been blessed by Kiley. She has the kindest, sweetest spirit.  She has always been a good influence on her friends and family.  She is very creative in her art and writings.  She is also a natural Irish dancer.  She has done so well in that.  She had a great birthday this year.  We did cake and icecream and had cousins over for a swimming party.  They always have a great time when they are together.  Here are some pictures from grandma and grandpa's house.

Here is the cake that Kiley and Miranda made.  They did a great job!

Everybody has to have a chance to blow out the candles.

Here is Isaac trying to do something cool into the pool and ended up doing a face plant instead.

Here is Miranda helping Kiley with her new rollerblades.  She picked it up pretty fast.  We went to the fun park in Logan.  She used her new rollerblades and did great.  She loves them.

Our sweet girl when she was a baby.

Kiley turning 8 and excited to be baptized.

Our talented Irish dancer.