SUPERINTENDENT INFORMATION ABOUT FORT LARAMIE.

Thor Borreson, Custodian, 1944-1946
During the three months custodial gap between Jess Lombard's departure and Thor Borreson's arrival the vacuum was filled by Canfield's assignment of Jack Moomaw "to hold the fort." Moomaw, a colorful grizzled veteran of the Rocky Mountain Park ranger force, had previously sustained a heart attack, but the Superintendent thought he was capable of coping with random visitors. Being from a well-forested National Park, Moomaw couldn't stand the sight of the barren parade ground with its pathetic scraggly saplings. His principal concern, therefore, was nursing along the quadrangular perimeter of anemic cottonwoods and green ash, setting new plantings, and utilizing lengths of condemned Rocky Mountain Park fire hose and an old condemned asthmatic pump to tap the Laramie River for irrigation. He also declared war on rattlers, which still infested the ruins, started a botanical list for the area, and augmented the park museum collection by industrious scrabbling for surface artifacts and twisting the arms of visiting neighbors to part with their alleged Fort Laramie relics. Jack, who had some reputation as a minor poet of the Rockies, also found time to write historical poetry for the Goshen County News, including this specimen pertaining to imaginary lovers at an emigrant camp at Register Cliff:
. . . Yet they carved their names and made their vows, and kissed and loitered here,
For their love was stronger than weariness, or poverty or fear. . .
Equally poetic were his monthly reports, one of which included this gem:
.. the whispering of wind in the grass and the call of a meadow-lark has long replaced the tramp of marching feet. . . Instead of the bugle's call there is only the sad-sweet moan of a turtle-dove.
The sentimental ranger returned to his beloved Rocky Mountains when Borreson arrived on the scene August 9, 1944. Borreson had actually accepted the custodianship vice Lombard in March, 1943, but wartime manpower regulations prevented his release at that time from a job as ship carpenter with the Todd Shipyard, Dry Dock, and Refitting Company, Erie Basin, Brooklyn, New York. So Lombard lingered on, and Borreson could not pry himself loose from his patriotic shipping business for a whole year.

Borreson was a self-educated Norwegian emigrant who had the finely honed practical skills of a true craftsman. He developed a reputation as a historical restoration specialist at the Fort Niagara State Park in western New York, and in 1938-1940 he had been the principal technician in extensive earthwork and redoubt restoration at Yorktown Battlefield, Colonial National Historical Park, Virginia. In theory he was a splendid choice for a Fort Laramie Custodian, with his orientation in military architecture and ordnance, and his restoration skills. In practice his remarkable talents were somewhat wasted, in part because the remains there bore little resemblance to the European-style military complexes he was familiar with, but mainly because of war-time restrictions which prevented any meaningful restoration work. The bitter irony of Borreson' a brief regime was that, despite the emphasis by his superiors in planning for the anticipated postwar boom, Borreson had to contend with existing war-time realities. He got bogged down in caretaker duties, and he suffered a succession of misfortunes, both personal and official, climaxed by his own most untimely death in December, 1946.
Thor had no sooner settled his sizeable family into the Cavalry Barracks makeshift quarters, complete with dry-hole unheated privy in the rear, than he was visited by Chief Historian Herbert E. Kahler, in company with Mattes and new Coordinating Superintendent John Doerr, successor to Dave Canfield who had got himself a commission in the Navy. Before 1944 was out he was also honored by the visits of Regional Director Lawrence C. Merriam, Regional Engineer W. E. Robertson, and Regional Architect Halsey Davidson, all full of ideas on the Fort's future, and prodding Borreson to apply his genius to restoration plans. They also urged him to devote more time to visitors, devising ways and means of making them happy. Assistant Superintendent George Miller and fellow Custodian (and Fort Laramie Historian) Merrill J. Mattes, being closer to the mundane realities of the here-and-now, protested that Borreson, all by himself at the area, had to contend with monstrous difficulties in the way of area maintenance and protection, that the conscientious Custodian was overstretched to the point of exhaustion, and that it was unfair to expect him also to perform planning miracles or to give each and every chance visitor the full personalized tour.
Conditions at the Fort in 1944-1945 were aggravated by severe weather conditions, with an excess of rain, making the county approach road "a first-class example of a corduroy road." The incidence of leakage of historic roofs was on a sharp upcurve, and the weeds ran amok. Thor plaintively inquired of Doerr in a September 9, 1944 memorandum if he should think of himself as an administrator, a historical technician, or a laborer. "So far we have no choice but to be an out-and-out laborer. The quickest way to develop hay fever is to move to Fort Laramie. We need to have this weed patch looking like a National Monument." Thor waited for over a year for the delivery of a Jari power scythe and other equipment; meanwhile he had to combat the situation with hand tools and his own muscle power. Everything, it seems, grew wild except the parade ground trees which, despite the ample rain to reinforce the pump, somehow seemed to wither and die, no matter what!
Meanwhile the Goshen County Commissioners, with problems of their own, turned a deaf ear to the Custodian's plea to grade the county approach road. The shallow well next to the Cavalry Barracks, with a wheezy electric pump, served as the post water system despite misgivings about its bacteria count by the State Inspector. Then, in 1945, occurred a series of natural disasters. The Borreson family was hard-put to find ways and means, somehow, to survive, and plans for the glorious future somehow became irrelevant.
In early April there were "ruinous blizzards" and Borreson had to add to his repertoire of manual chores the shoveling of tons of the lovely white flakes by hand, in the complete absence of any mechanical equipment, in order to enable his vehicle to reach the plowed county road. Then things got worse. Apologetically, he wrote on April 14 to the Superintendent: "I am sorry but this is going to to be a bad news memo," and he proceeded to describe "a real Wyoming blizzard," with drifts shoulder-high, power- and telephone lines down, and railroads and highways up and down the Valley all blockaded. Through the generosity and cooperation of neighboring ranchers, the beleaguered Custodian managed to break a track into town where he was able to borrow lanterns and water buckets. Since his electric pump was knocked out, Thor resorted to another old well, the one behind Officers Row, and installed a hand-pump at his own expense, to carry water through the drifts in the manner of old country peasants. "We have certainly gone back to pioneer days," he wrote, not omitting the fact that the water had to be boiled to prevent typhoid or other dread diseases, while all manner of little creatures flapped and scurried around in the Cavalry Barracks attic, a haven from the blizzard.
Things were finally put back into shape, at the Fort and in town, thanks mainly to "Gleason at Guernsey," the Bureau of Reclamation manager who called the shots on local power distribution, and some token emergency funds from Washington, D.C. [41]
On July 30, 1945, Thor had to report "a second unfortunate incident to the Fort Laramie power line." On the 29th a violent windstorm snapped a tree, forcing the 33,000 volt Bureau of Reclamation line into contact with the Park's 2300 volt line, blowing out wiring and appliances in the Cavalry Barracks to the accompaniment of a spectacular series of flashes and outpourings of black smoke. Providentially no one was injured and the Barracks did not go up in flames, but it was a close call. "Sparks from the overhead wires set the grass afire," according to Borreson's report, and it is not clear why with all that wind to fan the sparks it didn't do likewise to the ancient and highly combustible roof. (One is inclined to credit the Providence that had preserved this and other Fort Laramie structures for over 50 years, despite all hazards, human and natural.) Again the "water system" was knocked out, and again Thor had to put the old historic well back of Officers Quarters E into service. Then the hand pump itself went out of commission, and what happened next is worth quoting from his memorandum of August 1:
Evidently it was not sufficient damage to put all electrical appliances out of commission, but on Sunday evening when we started to use the hand pump over behind the Officers Quarters, this too refused to work. . .
Since labor is scarce in this part of the country, a welcome sight appeared on the horizon at 9:30 AM in the person of Mr. Merrill Mattes. Having no time to confer on historical matters, he and I joined in a good day's work. Between two amateur well and pump workers, we succeeded in removing the pump and cylinder and installed a new valve and leather pump shoe by 5 PM. The Borreson family could drink water once more (previously Merrill and I had only beer). . .
Mr. Mattes returned home that evening happy in knowing that he had done his good deed for the day, and with the Custodian's praise and hearty appreciation ringing in his ears. . . The cost of the parts was $3.1
Thor failed to collect for this expense or others incurred in the April and July electrical breakdowns. Chief Clerk Hodson at Rocky Mountain took the position that permission to incur such obligations had not been obtained in advance. The fact that telephone connections were also as usual kaput and there was no way to obtain such authorization failed to sway the regulation-minded guardian of Fort Laramie's meager funds.
Despite all the hardships and preoccupation with bare survival, Thor was able to make one important contribution to the Fort Laramie planning process, but it is first necessary to give the background of this. Before his leave of absence to help win the War, Dave Canfield had championed a Master Plan which would place all new facilities on the right bank of Laramie River, near Deer Creek, to be approached by a road on that side requiring an extension of Monument boundaries, the new complex to be connected with the historic parade ground area by a pedestrian bridge. Despite the fact that this plan was in harmony with basic principles laid down in 1939 by Washington officials Lee and Carnes, there were misgivings now about the plan by others in the Director's Office. While the esthetic idealism of the Canfield Plan was recognized, its practical aspects were questioned, partly because of war-inspired cost consciousness, and partly because of a feeling that compatible uses of the historic buildings themselves should be seriously explored. The first expression of this approach is a memorandum of March 3, 1944 from Mattes to the Coordinating Superintendent. During most of Borreson's custodianship Mattes continued to do double duty as both Custodian of Scotts Bluff and "Historical Technician for Fort Laramie." (As a matter of fact he did triple duty, since during the War Regional Director Merriam designated him as "Acting Regional Historian" and had him come into Omaha frequently.) In February 1944 Mattes did a stretch in the Director's Office, and in his memorandum he set forth the collective thinking at that time of Carl Russell and Ned Burns of the Branch of Natural History, and Herb Kahler and Dr. Charles Porter of the Branch of History, relating to the location of a headquarters arrangement for Fort Laramie. This is summarized because it demonstrates that efforts to think through all "viable alternatives" go back over 30 years time:
1. The "historic approach" to Fort Laramie from across Laramie River would be nullified by the presence of modern headquarters buildings; conversely, the presence of these buildings would spoil the view to the east from the Fort area which view is now essentially unspoiled.
2. If there is merit in separating the Fort buildings from modern buildings, why not go further and eliminate modern buildings altogether by adaptive use of Fort buildings?
3. Maintenance cost of historic buildings will be heavy. Utilization of the Cavalry Barracks as museum and headquarters and the Commissary as equipment shed, for example, would cut the cost of Fort Laramie upkeep tremendously.
4. There was some thought that Officers Quarters A, E and F could be used as residences, but most felt that the historic integrity of the historic parade ground sector should be preserved inside and out.
5. Acquisition of the Foote land on the Fort side of the river (a) to include lands which were integral parts of the historic building picture and which might yield priceless archeological results; (b) to allow for a decent margin or buffer strip; and (c) to allow for possible building of one or two residences in the vicinity of the Cavalry Barracks. Such residences might simulate restoration in situ of certain extinct fort buildings.
6. External historical appearance of the Cavalry Barracks need not be disturbed by incorporation of a modern museum and office. In fact, if used, the chances are it would be much better preserved. Utilization of this building for our purposes would not preclude restoring a portion of the interior as Cavalry Barracks.
7. Development of modern improvements in the Cavalry Barracks and the Commissary building would not hinge on land acquisition. We would be in a position to start the museum-headquarters alterations at any time funds were available.
8. The permanent approach road to the Fort would be direct from the county road which adjoins the area to the north, probably through the Foote land when it is acquired. This approach would eliminate the present roundabout approach from the west and ensure a pleasant first view of the parade ground sector. [44]
Subsequently, in his completed report on "Historic Approaches to Fort Laramie", by documentation and mapping Mattes demonstrated the chronological sequence of emigrant and Army trail approaches to the Fort. Broadly speaking, emigrant approaches were either from the north, by crossing of the North Platte via the Mormon Trail or Council Bluffs Road, or from the east-northeast by various crossings of the Laramie, via the main Oregon-California Trail. Earlier fords and ferries were replaced by bridges across the Laramie in the 1850s, and across the North Platte, 1875-1876. The late-period Army approach, following the Cheyenne-Black Hills Trail, was on the north-south axis. From these research findings it was possible to see merit in the Canfield Plan as one that capitalized on the historic "Oregon Trail approach." On the other hand the alternative of coming in from the north would be more valid from a late-period military viewpoint, which would be the viewpoint consistent with the surviving buildings, themselves predominantly of the 1873-1890 period.
On this basis "the Oregon Trail approach" could still be viewed in relatively unspoiled condition while looking eastward from the parade ground area, and actual Oregon Trail remains on the east bank could be made accessible for viewing on guided interpretive tours. A grand approach to the late-period remains by an early-period route seemed illogical as well as far more costly. (Such at least was the prevailing thought among Service historians in 1944.)
In a June 1944 memorandum Chief Historian Kahler reinforced the above view by urging that "using historic structures would help preserve them and obviate the need for modern buildings which would be intrusions." He thought that visitors could better visualize the Oregon Trail approach without the aid of a modern highway. By way of consolidating the Washington position Acting Director Tolson suggested to the Region, on June 8, four cardinal principles:
1. That the Cavalry Barracks be used for museum and headquarters, which would aid in its preservation.
2. That some of the remaining structures be utilized for living quarters or other purposes,

provided there were no alteration in their outward appearances.
3. That lands be acquired east of the present boundary and west of the Laramie River for the possible location of all living quarters and utility buildings, the structures to be built in harmony with older structures that once occupied the site.
4. That consideration be given to approaches to the Fort from west and north, as well as east. Travellers approaching from the east would not see the Fort as it was in Oregon Trail days; likewise, if he were to look back over the eastern approach, he would see modern structures in the foreground
Borreson's Master Plan comments of January 20, 1945 are of interest because of his historical perceptions as well as the fact that his independent conclusions happened pretty much to coincide with the concepts then prevalent in the Director's Office. These were his salient points:
1. Development across the river would be prohibitively expensive because of new construction of roads, bridges, buildings and utilities. It would also be impractical because of seepage from the big canal plus Laramie River overflows.
2. The three Oregon Trail branches approaching the Fort from the east identified by Mattes-Borreson research, should not be intruded upon by modern development. "Fort Laramie sits within a natural bowl of sandhills" that have remained unspoiled except for the well-camouflaged canal. "It should be our effort to retain them at that same stage," wherever the approach of emigrant and military trains could be envisioned. Modern buildings, roads, parking area and a swarm of automobiles on the east bank would spoil the interpretive illusion.
3. The Commissary Storehouse should be used as utility and storage, the Cavalry Barracks as museum, library and administrative office. Both would be restored first externally. The several buildings around the parade ground would be fully restored, inside and out.
4. The modern approach should be from the north or northwest, along the edge of the second bench, or else across the first bench to a parking area north of the two converted buildings. Borreson questioned that reconstruction of vanished buildings in the extinct Quartermaster area, except as museum or trailside exhibits, would ever be justified. However, complete archeology of this section would be required.
5. In Borreson's view, preservation of trail remains, and the visitors view toward the eastern trail approaches, was at least equal in importance to the restoration of the historic buildings themselves. In fact he felt that there were only two buildings Old Bedlam and the Sutler's Store that offered "any special notice of antiquity or [distinctive] architectural features. It is only their associations that make them valuable."
Not everyone would agree with all of Borreson's views. Master Plan thinking has since veered back to the idea of placing all or most modern facilities across the river from the historic complex. But no Master Plan.
or Environmental Plan thinking,now or in the future, should ignore Borreson's most valid emphasis upon the need to have proper understanding and respect for the Fort's historic setting as well as its buildings. Over the decades the persistent efforts to plant parade ground trees which never existed during the "period of maximum importance," and to defend the post-1890 cottonwood grove along the river from any historical vista clearing, as well as general support of the Canfield Plan involving construction work opposite the Fort, suggest that Park Service planners and managers have never been overly concerned with the sanctity of the historical setting. [46]
In 1945 an alternate Master Plan, agreeable to the Kahler-Mattes-Borreson concept, was prepared by Associate Director Howard Baker and Regional Architect Halsey Davidson. Since the full flowering of either plan required additional land both north and east, Borreson was elated when Lee Foote offered to sell to the Park Service his 200 acres, downriver from the Fort, for $10,000. In an urgent memorandum of November 27, 1945 he pointed out that this would include all the historic Quartermaster area, the site of the original telegraph line and station, the late-period military road, the old Army dump, and other archeological riches. It was his opinion that it could all be had for a mere $7,500. The proposal was vigorously seconded by Mattes and Canfield but, of course, nothing came of it because the Washington Office had no land acquisition funds, boundaries had not yet been settled upon, and in any event Congress would have to pass a new bill authorizing any additions. While the Park Service debated for the next 15 years about the precise ideal development and boundary extension needed, the price of land would rise dramatically and, when authorization was finally given in 1960, and purchase subsequently consummated, only a portion of Foote's original 200 acres was bought for around $50,000. Now (as of 1978) the Park Service would like to have all of the land between the river and the county road, which present owners have no interest in selling at any price. "For the want of a horse-shoe nail the battle was lost." An opportunity to buy all or most of this historic ground for a trifle, in 1945, using National Park Foundation or other philanthropic funds, was passed by in favor of keeping up a running argument about fine points of the Master Plan
When Canfield returned from his Navy stint he was upset by the preoccupation of the Omaha and Washington offices with the alternate plan, to make modern use of historic buildings and an approach road from the north. He demanded another field conference, to which Mr. Merriam acceded, and in May 1946 there was another grand get-together at the Fort, with more debate about the merits of the respective plans. In addition to Canfield and Borreson, the Regional Office was represented by Regional Historian Hagen and Regional Landscape Architect Jerry Miller. It was Merriam's idea that the eminent scholar and Fort Laramie historian, Dr. LeRoy R. Hafen, might be able to supply words of wisdom as a consultant, so he too joined the conference, coming up from Denver where he served as Director of the State Historical Society of Colorado. As it turned out, Hafen was simply bewildered by all the arguments about putting the headquarters here, there, or some other place. The only thing he was interested in was something the Park Service hadn't ever proposed the reconstruction of Fort John, the adobe trading post of 1849, and no amount of explanation could dissuade him from this highly impractical suggestion. In fact it was downright unthinkable in view of the long-standing opposition of the Park Service to conjectural re-constructions. Aside from that, such reconstruction would require the demolition of Officers Quarters A on the site, the 5th oldest building on the premises, not to mention the creation of a monstrous anachronism, with a resurrected adobe fur trade structure which had disappeared in the 1850s standing in awkward proximity to buildings and ruins of the 1880s.
As might be anticipated the NPS conferees split down the middle between the two plan alternatives, with Miller supporting the Canfield plan and Hagen supporting Mattes and Borreson. And there the Master Plan stood, in a schizophrenic state, for a decade. It turned out to be all academic anyhow, since the only important money that turned up during the ensuing 30 years all went into the preservation of historic structures. The Park Service could afford the luxury of indecision about permanent modern arrangements because it was saddled with a moral obligation to first preserve and restore the historic buildings, no matter how long it took.
In March, 1946 Merrill Mattes was transferred, first to the temporary Chicago headquarters of the National Park Service, then in July to Omaha as Missouri River Basin Survey Historian. Before going he transferred to Omaha for safekeeping extensive Fort Laramie research files. During his incumbency as Fort Laramie Historian, 1942-1946, he completed three major works: a card file Fort Laramie bibliography of over 2,000 entries, later typed up in bound report form; the final draft of the Mattes-Borreson report on "Historic Approaches to Fort Laramie; and (with the help of Secretary Louise Ridge of Scotts Bluff) several volumes of transcriptions of "Fort Laramie Journals", consisting of overland journals from the Newberry Library in Chicago, which he had extensively researched in 1944. Among other research chores, some in concert with Borreson, were interviews with Johnny O'Brien, foreman for the Rutherford sisters, who was a Fort Laramie original, having witnessed construction of the 1876 iron bridge; extensive correspondence with G. O. Reid of High River, Alberta, Canada, onetime civilian wagonmaster (which correspondence was reprinted in Annals of Wyoming); and securing a promise from L. G. (Pat) Flannery to turn over to the NPS the John Hunton diaries, a promise never fulfilled.
Another stab in the right direction was a plan initiated by Borreson to identify and hopefully to acquire furnishings and furniture in the possession of former Fort residents or their descendants and friends living in the vicinity or elsewhere, all looking toward that happy day when the restored buildings could be made historically liveable as well. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Borreson's plan here was the germ of the idea to furnish the historic buildings, a project which would not find fulfillment for another 15 or 20 years.
In 1946 things seemed for a while to be looking up for Thor Borreson. The County Commissioners finally got around to grading the approach road, and the battle to batten down the buildings and eliminate obnoxious weeds seemed to go favorably for a change, with the employment of Art Darnall as part-time Laborer for the area. But then everything went bad. Rampaging winds racked the buildings, blowing off the carefully constructed chimney covers, and raising dust clouds that afflicted the Borreson family with lung trouble. On a trip to Rocky Mountain for supplies, the "hard luck Custodian" was caught with other autoists in a record blizzard between Fort Collins and Cheyenne, and had to be dug out of his pick-up with frost-bite and a mild case of carbon monoxide poisoning.
The litany of Borreson's troubles reads like the book of Job, who was sorely tested by the Lord, but Job survived and Borreson did not. The family horse died from rattler venom and, while in Scottsbluff, his boy, Thor James, was struck by a Texaco oil tanker and hospitalized for weeks, with some permanent impairment of his leg. Then on December 4 Thor Borreson himself died suddenly from a coronary occlusion, plunging the Fort Laramie and concerned Park Service communities, as well as the family, into deepest sorrow. Dave Canfield, Chief Ranger Herschler, and Custodian Budlong of Scotts Bluff did what they could to ease things
for the family, and arrange for Mrs. Borreson's departure with Thor's remains and the children to her parent's home in Niagara Falls, New York. [51] Between trains in Omaha they stayed overnight with the Mattes family. This tragedy was undoubtedly a record low in the fortunes of any and all Park Service families associated with Fort Laramie.
Thor Borreson was not a large man, but he was rugged, muscular, and apparently healthy. The writer believes that his extreme conscientiousness, coupled with an impossible physical workload, and a series of worrisome incidents, contributed to his premature death
5. David L. Hieb, Custodian/Superintendent, 1947-1949
Dave Hieb was Custodian/Superintendent of Fort Laramie National Monument for eleven full years, from May 1, 1947 to May 31, 1958. He had been Park Ranger at Scotts Bluff National Monument, so it was a short trip to his new assignment. The Hieb family occupied quarters in the Cavalry Barracks throughout their tenure, this being the longest on-site residency of the Old Fort by any one family after the pre-park John Hunton period. Dave left the Fort to become Regional Chief of Boundary Studies in Omaha, and later served as Superintendent of George Washington Carver and Wilson's Creek Battlefield, in Missouri, and Herbert Hoover Birthplace in Iowa, before retiring to live at Estes Park, Colorado, scene of his earlier employment, beginning in 1930, as a Rocky Mountain National Park ranger. [52]
On January 1, 1949 the title "Custodian", as applied to the manager of a "national monument" created by Presidential Proclamation under authority of the Antiquities Act of 1906, was changed throughout the National Park system to that of "Superintendent." The duties were the same as always, but the new title conferred a degree of respect that did not always go with the ambiguous "Custodian", a term more commonly applied by the general public to those with merely caretaker or janitorial functions. Whereas "Superintendents" were formerly only those in charge of big scenic national parks, now everyone in charge of any kind of an area in the National Park system parks, monuments, historic sites, memorials, battlefields, whatever was suddenly a "Superintendent."
It was during the Hieb incumbency that Fort Laramie finally blossomed out with an effective rehabilitation! restoration program that made the public sit up and take notice. This success, of course, was primarily the result of a general loosening of Government purse strings, but the Service could not have picked a man more ideally suited to implement the Fort Laramie rehabilitation program. Dave Hieb was the model of a conscientious, energetic, and skillful project manager. He was a well-informed and alert historian, a highly competent master of many building crafts, an effective leader of work crews, and a talented and tireless writer of essential memoranda and valuable technical reports. During a period of intensive construction activity, the results of which brought uniformly high praise from his associates and superiors, Dave also found time or made time to make many significant contributions to historical research, long-range planning, and community public relations. He was a Superintendent, construction supervisor, and research man all wrapped up in one package, actually doing three jobs for the price of one.

There were two phases of maximum intensive rehabilitation/restoration at Fort Laramie, one under Dave Hieb and the other under Charlie Sharp. During the Hieb period, 1947-1958 rehabilitation or restoration work was done in some degree on all Government-owned historic structures and ruins including Old Bedlam, and Dave made important contributions to research and planning for that project, completed later by others. To fully understand and appreciate this period it must be treated as a chronological unit or continuum. Therefore we must first look at Hieb's period of orientation and preparation, 1947-1949. This period was characterized by administrative innovations, intensified maintenance of buildings and grounds, new break-throughs in research, and efforts to firm up long-range planning.
Art Darnall of Fort Laramie town, who was "Acting Custodian" for the few months in 1947 before Hieb's arrival, continued on as a "6-months laborer," and there was a succession of part-time clerk-typists, so the personnel situation began to improve under Hieb, however so slightly. Despite an upswelling of attendance from a war time low of 1,300 in 1943 to 12,000 in 1946 and 19,000 in 1949, there were yet no rangers, historians, or technicians, either permanent or temporary, to assist Hieb in handling visitors. Although he was always available to answer questions, visitors were pretty much on their own with a rudimentary self-guided tour aided by a leaflet and markers. Of course no historic buildings interiors were yet open except for the small lobby of the Cavalry Barracks, with token exhibits.
When Hieb arrived, conditions were still on a primitive level. Gradual improvements were made to the liveability of the quarters and administrative facilities in the Barracks, even to the extent of bringing in television from Cheyenne and Scottsbluff, but these quarters at their peak of improvement could never be described as luxurious. The thick walls ensured cool conditions in the warm summertime, but there was no way to insulate against penetrating cold, particularly during frequent high winds. While the weather at Fort Laramie can be balmy at times, when it gets rough it seems to focus all of its fury on that spot. In June, 1947 occurred "the wettest June" on record. In June, 1948 came "the worst hail in 40 years," shattering over a hundred window panes. And January, 1949 was the time of the "Great Blizzard," which isolated towns and paralysed highway and railway traffic throughout the Northern Great Plains. As to its impact on the Fort, Hieb reported on January 6 to the Coordinating Superintendent at Rocky Mountain:
Fort Laramie and its equipment and personnel seem to have survived with only minor discomfort and damage. An alarming quantity of fuel oil was burned in a not too successful effort to keep warm as evidenced by the fact that on Monday night pipes froze in our bathroom in spite of a warm fire going in the living room. . .
All the government vehicles are safely barricaded in the garage with a five foot drift of snow outside the doors and a two foot one inside. However, we managed to dig out our personal car yesterday and after four hours of shoveling made it to town. . .
Art Darnall made it out to work this morning after more shoveling and we are engaged in clearing snow out of the buildings where it was driven in at every crack by the high winds. . . Drifts around the buildings are from 4 to 8 feet in height and very solid. Just south of our entrance gate a drift 10 feet high blocks the road, but a detour through the fields can be made around it.

Shortly after his occupancy of the Barracks, in May, 1947, Hieb was treated to the same fireworks that afflicted Borreson, when a heavy wet snow broke down the Monument power line, bringing it into contact again with the Bureau of Reclamation's 33,000 volt line. However, this time the Regional Office agreed that drastic correction of the dangerous set-up, with wires on the same poles "so susceptible to entanglement", was needed to safeguard the historic property as well as life and limb. Funds were conjured up from somewhere and by December 1947 there was a changeover to a new and safer R.E.A. powerline. Another change for the better was the 1948 installation of a new casing for the well at the south end of the Barracks which restored running water for domestic purposes after intermittent use of an old pitcher pump which froze up regularly in the winter. While the new system was being installed the Hiebs went into the pioneer routine, being obliged to obtain their water from the historic well back of Officers Row, which they carried in buckets. Yet another giant step forward, so to speak, was the incorporation into the quarters of a modern bathroom, complete with tub and flush toilet (for which Hieb, for lack of help, had personally to install the sewer tile). Previously the occupants had to rely on the "outdoor plumbing" of a screened satellite privy, an inconvenient and unsanitary as well as uncomfortable arrangement, particularly under conditions when the chill factor fell below zeroIn 1947 there were extensive repairs by the County on the Old Army "bow bridge" across the Platte, involving new braces, tie rods, stringers, and planking. The ancient structure had been in such condition that Fort personnel, as well as visitors and neighboring ranchers, rumbled across it at their peril. During these repairs it was necessary to close the bridge to traffic and, since there was no other bridge in that vicinity, traffic was routed across the river by means of an improvised ford. This was possible during the summer months because the channel flow was at low ebb and could be diverted through a series of parallel culverts heaped over with bulldozed gravel and dirt. This, too, enhanced the pioneer experience of visitors that year, as did the rough dusty approach road to the Fort which now resembled "one long sand dune." A promise by the County to grade and oil the road went unfulfilled when bids submitted for the project were too high. Finally, in 1948, for the first time, the road was graded and oiled.
Before Dave Hieb assumed office, in February 1947 Canfield visited the Omaha office in an effort to resolve the Master Plan in favor of his preference for a separate south side modern facility, with a pedestrian bridge to the Old Fort. In his April 7 summary of the office conference, Howard Baker stated that "the approaches to the Monument from either the North or the South side of the Laramie River seemed to have about equal value from the historical point of view." He then indicated that both alternate plans would be drawn up in detail, including all development costs and, in both cases, "minimum and maximum boundaries." By memo of April 10 Canfield expressed indignation that the proposal for a northside approach, with its adaptation of historic buildings, was still being given equal treatment. "It was my impression," he wrote, "that everyone at the conference with the exception of Mr. Merriam was pretty well of a mind that the approach south of the Laramie River was the preferable one." He denied that there had been a consensus to continue serious study of the northside approach. He protested that, "the consensus as presented in the summary from your office reads mighty lukewarm to me." In his reply of April 23 Merriam explained that, though the Master Plan "was pretty well crystallized back in 1941-1942," certain questions had been subsequently raised by officials of the Washington Office. "In view of the support which the alternate scheme has had," he wrote, "I do not feel that we are in a position to disregard it or cast it aside until the analysis is complete."
In February 1948, after Dave Hieb had a chance to get his feet wet, there was another heavy planning session in the Omaha office, with both Canfield and Hieb present. The weighty conclusions of the Regional planners are summarized by Regional Historian Olaf T. Hagen in a March "Memorandum to the Files." First of all, it was the consensus that preservation must have priority over any development, and that it would take at least five years and $100,000 to perform the essential preservation work, before any plans for modern development could be implemented. (Little did Hagen or any one else realize that 30 years after 1948 they still wouldn't have been implemented in any visible way!) Nevertheless, in rehashing Scheme A (the south approach) versus Scheme B (the north approach) he reported that "the conferees were unanimous in preferring Scheme A." This was a moral victory for Dave Canfield, thanks in large part to Hieb's thoughtful agreement in principle with Scheme A. The engineers calculated that both development schemes would cost about the same, $350,000, since the careful adaptation of the historic buildings would cost about as much as brand new ones. It was the conclusion of the conferees that historical significance or orientation was not a deciding factor either, partly because of the scrambled cultural topography over the last century, and partly also because of the preponderant survival of late-period buildings. However, Scheme A offered the superior advantage of interpretation of the historic buildings unsullied by modern alterations and segregated from modern roads and buildings. Finally, Hagen proclaimed that it was also the group's concern that "the object of stabilization and restoration should be to hold to the general appearance of the Fort as nearly as possible to that presented at the time of its abandonment, when all the surviving structures existed contemporaneously." However, he fuzzed up this basic principle by stating a further principle that, "Restoration of structures to an earlier period might be justified in special cases," without offering guidelines as to what would constitute a special caseBoundary status reports on file for 1947 and 1948 reflect consideration of both development schemes, each of which required boundary extensions of 300 to 400 acres which roughly coincided. Subsequently A. E. Demaray, Associate Director, expressed himself force fully against Scheme A on the grounds that visitors would have too far to walk, and as late as November 1949 Mattes was objecting to Jerry Millers deletion of Scheme B as an alternate on the Master Plan, on the grounds that a decision had been made that neither plan would be finally settled upon for a period of five yearsIn 1953 the debate would be revived, although it would remain academic throughout Hieb's incumbency in the absence of funds for new development.
Far more pertinent for the moment was the interim treatment of the old buildings until sizeable funds were appropriated for some meaningful and enduring restoration work. In June 1947 Hieb played host to a delegation consisting of Canfield, Hagen and Mattes, plus Landscape Architect Chuck Krueger and Architect Halsey Davidson of Omaha, and Chief Architect Dick Sutton of the Washington Office. This group was convened not to dream about long-range plans but to make recommendations as to just how to spend a pitiful $4,500. available in Fiscal Year 1948 for buildings and grounds. It was difficult to choose priorities in view of the generally "sad state of maintenance" inherited by Hieb. In addition to the bare essential improvements to provide creature comforts for the Custodian and family, the delegation gave highest priority to repairs to the boundary fence, replacement of Old Bedlam siding, "repairs to the repairs" of the Old Bedlam porch, and re-glazing or shuttering of cracked and missing windows generally. As to the Sutler's Store, pessimism prevailed among the architects that anything could be done to the original structure in view of its advanced state of decay, so nothing was recommended other than keeping it shored up for the time being. (Sutton flatly predicted that it would be necessary to dismantle the ancient building, saving what few pieces were worth saving, and then constructing a replica of the original). Another small chunk of around $5,000 was included in the 1949 budget. With these modest sums Hieb was
able to undertake a few rock-bottom repairs to the most precarious of the historic structures, in addition to the fixing up needed to make his office and quarters more habitable.
The most urgent and most important repair work was performed on Old Bedlam, pertaining to exterior siding and front double porch or verandas. The perennial problem of upkeep on the vulnerable Fort Laramie structures is pointed up by the fact that within eight years, 1940-1948, the Canfield-Lombard treatment of the Bedlam verandas, including most new wooden components, was itself now askew and rotting, so that levelling, re-setting and selective replacement of specially milled and dimensioned lumber was required. In 1939-1940 it was felt that the original lapped siding or weatherboards of pine on the structural block, even though dried and curled, was too preciously original to be tampered with, so few boards were replaced, and it was mostly a case of re-nailing and application of preservative. By 1948, however, the boards had disintegrated so hopelessly that there was no choice but to remove them and replace them with new siding boards of equivalent special cut. White lead paint was applied liberally to the new work. The supposedly precious old siding was stored in dead space in the Cavalry Barracks. Finally, despite the new foundations installed by Lombard, Old Bedlam developed an alarming tilt, due presumably to deterioration of interior structural framework and the pressure thereon of prevailing winds from north and west. Thus it was necessary to rig up timbers as bracing for the southeast (or right hand side, facing front) wall to ensure against the distinct possibility of total collapse in the next violent wind.
Other repairs undertaken during 1948-1949 included replacing late-period board siding on Officers Quarters A dormers with correct contemporary horizontal lapped pine siding, and some elementary repairs to and replacement of rotted joists under Officers Quarters E. In the absence of a basement to this building it was necessary to excavate a temporary specially designed crawlway for access. Also, the rear wings, porches and entries of both Officers Quarters E and F were re-levelled and re-shingled, and missing elements substituted.
In March, 1949, Hieb reported that the Old Bakery, a roofed structure of hybrid brick and lime-concrete, was near collapse, and that all he could do was to fence the building off to prevent injury to stray visitors. In May, after abnormally heavy rains which brought the Laramie River to flood stage, the lime-concrete section of the Old Bakery did suffer partial collapse. In 1948 Hieb, Hagen, and Mattes had evolved a working formula or schedule for the rehabilitation/restoration of Fort Laramie historic structures (as distinct from mere repairs or emergency stabilization) which had as its highest priority the restoration of the Old Bakery walls and roof. While this was by no means the most important surviving building on the post, this priority was assigned in part because it seemed to be in the most precarious condition of all, but mainly because the hard practical experience acquired in its restoration, including any technical trial and error, would increase the chances of doing the best possible job of restoring the high-priority Sutler's Store. (Notwithstanding the pessimism about this building prevailing among Omaha and Washington, D.C. architects, Hieb and the historians had no intention of doing anything but to restore the building intact, if that was humanly possible.)
Accordingly, the Old Bakery was set up as the prime target for the 1950 Fiscal Year (which began July 1, 1949), the most important project in a respectable budget of around $8,000. At the same time, in the absence of specific guidelines from Washington on techniques of historic restoration, it was agreed that Hieb would prepare an "Orientation Report, Treatment and Use of Surviving Structures" for each building hereafter tackled, beginning with the Old Bakery. Accordingly, in June 1949 Hieb submitted the first formal technical report for any Fort Laramie building which prescribed the proposed treatment, and which could first be
reviewed beforehand by all offices. Upon approval of the report by the Region actual work on the project, called "Stabilization of the Old Bakery", began in October, 1949 with the removal of fallen and unstable concrete wall sections, and the manufacture of experimental lime-concrete to determine the best formula for material replacement.
In the process of removing the old footings evidence of human artifacts were found which pre-dated the structure of known 1876 vintage. Accordingly all work was suspended and Regional Archeologist Paul Beaubien was called in to examine the site. While the artifacts in question were not too diagnostic, he did uncover two pre-1876 trash pits beneath the corner of the wall. The existence of these voids of unknown origin accounted at least in part for the collapse of the walls. No further work was done on this building in 1949 but the partial restoration of the Old Bakery the following year would be the beginning of Fort Laramie's first big Restoration era.
During the 1947-1949 period of getting squared away there was much to occupy the indefatigable Hieb beside work on historic buildings, though that was assuredly his No. 1 concern. Actually he plowed new ground in several other directions, pioneering and setting trends in many departments of area management. For example, he recognized that fire was the biggest threat to the old buildings, so he cajoled the Region and the Coordinating Superintendent into supplying a pumper fire truck antiquated but workable and 1700 feet of fire-hose. In the Laramie River he had an inexhaustible supply of water, and the truck and hose could be maneuvered anywhere in a hurry. Except for Art Darnall, who lived in town three miles away, Hieb himself constituted the entire protection force, except that Hieb had the promise of neighbors and the Fort Laramie town volunteer fire department to help if they could get notice of a conflagration over the undependable country phone line, and if they could get to the Monument before everything was consumed. Anyhow, during this undermanned period "Fort Laramie Luck" held and, except for a small grass fire or two, the apparatus remained on standby.
The fire-truck, dump truck, and passenger cars were housed in a 5-stall shed constructed during the 1939-40 ERA period. The only other extraneous building north of the Cavalry Barracks at this time was a masonry chicken-shed of the Joe Wilde post-1890 period which was converted to use as an oil storage facility. West of this cluster was the garden which had been used by Lombard, and which Hieb continued to use for several years.
One trend that Dave tried to buck was the Lombard program to plant and nurture parade ground trees. Since most of these dubious saplings were now dead or dying, despite ample rains, Dave removed them and, being of the Mattes-Borreson school of thought that such trees were unhistoric (except for the unimportant late 1880s) he was happy to leave it that way. Also, contrary to his predecessors he did not become alarmed by the incursion of dam-building beaver population along the Laramie, figuring that (a) they were legitimate reminders of the early fur trade era and (b) they helped to thin out the cottonwoods that were not there in the peak military period.
A positive step that Dave did take in the landscaping department was to set up a volunteer project to root out the prickly pear cactus which infested the parade ground, and were definitely unhistoric. Another threat was the invasion of the area by grazing sheep, through the inadequately designed and constructed State boundary fence. Dave remedied this by extensive mending and reinforcing with hog wire.
It was Hieb who finally settled the old controversy as to the extent of the Government's share in the Fort Laramie Ditch Company. This irrigation ditch serving about 200 acres altogether had been developed around 1894 when the Fort was split up among several owners. When the NPS assumed responsibility in 1938 it was aware that it had water rights but since it was not primarily in the irrigation business (except for the watering of the temporary vegetable garden behind the Barracks, and some irrigation of the parade ground area) it did not fully exercise these rights. Although there had been annual meetings with other stockholders, the extent of the NPS interest was not resolved concretely until the meeting in January, 1948 when Hieb settled for 43 shares in the corporation and paid for five years of water assessments. He later took on the job of Secretary-Treasurer of the company to insure that the government interests were better protected.
In April 1948 Fort Laramie was offered the benefit of joining the Rocky Mountain Nature Association. This was a non-profit cooperative of the type authorized by Congress which made it possible legally to sell interpretive items to the public. The device was to set up an association with a largely non-official membership (mainly citizens of a nearby community) but its executive officer was usually a park official, such as the Park Naturalist or Historian. Books were kept and annual meetings were held to elect officers. Profits were to be applied to park research and interpretive projects. Since the Rocky Mountain Nature Association was already set up, all that was necessary was to bring the Fort under its umbrella on a pro rata basis. One of the first sales projects was Fort Laramie postcards, with some first class pictures taken by Ray Littler of Torrington. Another project was the fabrication of small frames from the discarded lumber of Old Bedlam, with a photograph of the building enclosed, which were sold as souvenirs.
An important public relations move on Hieb's part was to take an active role in the North Platte Valley Associated Chambers of Commerce and an offshoot, the U. S. Highway 26 Association. Both of these organizations were keenly interested in boosting tourist traffic up the Valley, with emphasis on those Easterners heading toward Grand Teton or Yellowstone, with historic features along the Oregon Trail as the inducement. While Scotts Bluff and Fort Laramie National Monuments were the stellar attractions, there were many other intriguing landmarks, such as Courthouse Rock, Chimney Rock and Register Cliff. The organization met monthly, often at Torrington or Guernsey. Dave Hieb, as an officer of the Fort Laramie Community Club, was an active member.
As early as 1947 Hieb, Hagen, and Mattes were acutely mindful of the fact that 1949 would be the Centennial year of Fort Laramie's establishment as a military post. Jointly they evolved the idea of a three-point program: a Fort Laramie Centennial postage stamp; a commemorative historical publication; and a celebration of some kind at the Fort itself. The stamp idea did not jell despite the urgings of Hieb, community officials, and state representatives to the U.S. Post Office to come out with a Fort Laramie stamp in 1849. After all, this was a full-blown national monument, not some frowzy little local shrine. With commemorative stamps issued for so many other imaginable reasons, including poultry raisers and butterfly collectors, it is difficult to comprehend why historic Fort Laramie wasn't deemed worthy. One feels that those who make the selections simply didn't get the message that this was the Centennial of the Number 1 historic site on the western frontier.
The commemorative history that emerged was a booklet entitled Fort Laramie and the Forty-Niners, researched and written by Historian Merrill J. Mattes, voluntarily, on his personal time, its production paid
for by the Rocky Mountain Nature Association. It focussed on the year 1849 when, in the middle of the great Gold Rush of that year, the Army bought out the American Fur Company, occupied the old adobe trading post, laid out a new parade ground, and started some new buildings of their own, notably the Sutler's Store and Old Bedlam, which still survive from that fabulous year. It made use of quotations from emigrant journals as well as military records from the National Archives. The booklet sold at the Fort through the mechanism of the Rocky Mountain Nature Association for $1.; the supply was sold out within three years. (Copies that still exist today are worth $10. or more on the collectors' market.)

Centennial recognition also took the form of a Fort Laramie pageant sponsored by the Fort Laramie Community Club of which Hieb was President at that time, and the Lion's Club of Lingle, on August 9. It was decided that grounds near the town of Fort Laramie were more suitable than those at the Fort itself, so the pageant took place in an open field immediately west of town. There were 150 performers, all enthusiastic local volunteers, and countless horses, cattle and dogs. The pageant consisted of ten historical episodes in the history of the Fort, from the slaying of Jacques Laramee by Indians to the abandonment of the military post, about seven decades of thrills, spills, and the wild discharge of firearms. Despite drizzly weather, a crowd of 3,000 turned out to applaud the spectacle. Among those present were the Director of the National Park Service, Newton B. Drury, Regional Director Lawrence C. Merriam, and Howard R. Driggs, President of the American Pioneer Trails Association. [63]
Another significant Centennial had been observed in 1947 with the Re-enactment of the first Mormon trek from the Missouri River to the Great Salt Lake, sponsored by the Sons of Utah Pioneers. In 1847 the original group of 148 was led by Brigham Young from Winter Quarters near Council Bluffs westward in search of the Promised Land. The company of self-styled "Saints" had appeared on the north bank of the North Platte, crossed in a collapsible boat brought for the purpose, and proceeded to explore and measure the ruins of Fort Platte and the still active Fort John. They then continued westward along the south side of the North Platte to found one of the most famous of western American settlements. The 148 trekkers of 1947, all descendants of early immigrants to Utah, arrived at the Fort on July 17 in a caravan of 72 cars tricked out like covered wagons. The occasion is recounted in the official record of the expedition:
Ft. Laramie looked as though it might have been a set from a Hollywood epic which was left standing after the movie company had pulled out. The old buildings, with crumbling walls and sagging roofs, looked as if they were the workmanship of some Hollywood artisan. It was almost beyond imagination that this peaceful, grassy spot, bordered by the Laramie river, was once the scene of much frontier turbulence, and one of the busiest places in western America.
The circle was formed in a lowland area west of the main fort buildings, which was large enough for a complete circle with no cramping. David Hieb, the park custodian, had obligingly arranged to have the high grass cut in the area where the cars parked so as to eliminate as many mosquitoes as possible. . .
The Sons of Utah Pioneers quartet sang, "An Angel From on High," following Elder Kimball's address. . .
Mosquito repellent was used in abundance that night by the trekkers, for they knew they were in the land of the "Mohawk", a nickname given to the formidable Wyoming mosquito.
In token of their appreciation, the caravaneers presented Custodian Hieb with an exact replica of the official hand-crafted odometer used by the 1847 company to make the first accurate record of distances up the Platte River Road. (Hieb in turn donated the replica to the National Monument collection.) Another donation to the Monument at this time was a blue spruce planted in the Laramie River bottoms near the campfire site. Subsequently Hieb replanted this behind the Cavalry Barracks where today (1978), thanks to irrigation, it has grown to impressive height.
In 1948 the Fort was visited by Dr. Howard Driggs and other dignitaries of the American Pioneer Trails Association and the National Park Service following their participation in services at Scotts Bluff National Monument dedicating the new William H. Jackson Memorial wing. Jackson, famed pioneer photographer and water colorist of the Old West, had been a frequent visitor to Fort Laramie beginning in the 1920s with Bob Ellison and others; his last visit to the Fort was in 1940 at the Old Bedlam dedication. He had long been one of the foremost advocates of preservation of the Fort under Federal auspices. His sketch of Fort John (after Fremont) and his own photographs of the military post in its heyday are among the most vivid of Fort Laramie pictorial records. Clarence S. Jackson, his son, was present at the Scotts Bluff services and the Fort Laramie visit in 1948.
Other visitors of unusual interest during 1947-1949 were the novelist A. B. Guthrie, Jr., who dramatized the Fort Laramie trading post in his best-selling novel, The Way West; Mary Jackson English, daughter of Major English of the 7th Infantry, who lived as a girl in Officers Quarters A and E; Emil Bordeaux of White River, South Dakota, son of James Bordeaux who had been the bourgeois or manager of the trading post in 1846 when Francis Parkman visited there; and Charles Sitting Bull, grandson of the Sitting Bull of Little Bighorn fame who was killed by Indian police at Standing Rock, North Dakota in 1890. Mr. Sitting Bull complained to Dave Hieb about "the white man's theft of his valley", a somewhat irrational accusation since there is no evidence that the Hunkpapas, the northern Sioux band to which his grandfather belonged, were ever in the Fort Laramie neighborhood.
There were a few visitors who not only had colorful connections with the Fort but who were able to contribute valuable historical data and photographs which Hieb incorporated into the files. Prominent among them were Henry C. Bretney (1947) of Jacksonville, Florida, son of Captain H. C. Bretney of the 11th Ohio Cavalry who figured in several historical episodes; Colonel Louis Brechemin, Jr. (1948) of Deer Harbor, Washington, son of Captain Brechemin, Post Surgeon of 1885-1889, who proved to be a veritable mine of information; and May Nolan Morrison of Torrington, daughter of a post Sergeant of the 1880s who also came up with valuable photographs and recollections. Meade Sandercock of Fort Laramie, whose mother had owned Officers Quarters A, continued to provide valued information.
While it would be pointless to attempt to identify here all relics of alleged Fort Laramie provenience which were brought in by visitors, a few of the more typical and conspicuous items may be mentioned. Harold Cook, rancher of Agate, Nebraska, donated an Army dump cart and other items collected by his father, the noted scout James H. Cook. Jake Gompert, a rancher of Mitchell, Nebraska who once bought some buildings from John Hunton, thoughtfully returned some old beat-up furnitureto its place of origin. A Steinway square grand piano that once graced a Fort living room was returned from Platt, South Dakota.
Mayflower van. A set of engraved invitations to Fort Laramie social functions, dug up by one-time Fort owner Thomas Waters of Omaha, was returned to the museum collection.
While there was no formal specially funded Fort Laramie research program during this period, certain topics were pursued voluntarily by Hieb and Mattes. The latter, who became Regional Historian in September, 1949 following the untimely death of Olaf T. Hagen, published two items of interest, in addition to the Centennial offering, Fort Laramie and the Forty-Niners. One was a piece entitled "Fort Laramie Centennial" which appeared in the Chicago Westerners Brand Book in 1948; and a documented article on "Robidoux's Trading Post at Scotts Bluffs and the California Gold Rush", published in June, 1949 in Nebraska History, the latter pertaining to the rival trading establishment about 50 miles east of the Fort. He worked with the Wisconsin Historical Society in an effort to identify an artist of 1849 who made some remarkable sketches of Fort Laramie and other Trail landmarks (since identified as James F. Wilkins). At the National Archives he found the Medical Records of the Fort written by Surgeon Schell and others, with original drawings.
Dave Hieb corresponded with visitors, to follow up on the acquisition of photographs and documents pertinent to the Fort's history. O. M. Rasmusson of North Platte assisted in a project to identify the dead buried in the old post cemetery underneath the Hospital ruins. In a rare book, Glittering Gold by E. A. Curley, Chicago, 1876 Hieb discovered a wrongly labelled picture of the Fort Laramie Sutler's Store of that period, revealing architectural details long-vanished, pertaining to roofs, rear additions, and general atmosphere. However, the biggest research effort of this period, a search for Fort William, the "first Fort Laramie", proved inconclusive.
Serious scholarly effort by the National Park Service to determine the true location of Fort William began with a question posed to chief Historian Kahler by Bernard DeVoto who in 1945 was working on his book, Across the Wide Missouri (New York, 1947). Mattes advised him that it was thought to be on the west bank of the Laramie downriver about a mile from the parade ground, at the known earliest crossing of the Laramie, by fur traders. However, he conceded that the exact site hadn't been identified by conclusive historical or archeological proof. Soon thereafter, when the problem came up as to where to put the future park headquarters it became important to know the pattern of historic trails approaching the Fort. Before he left Scotts Bluff in March 1946 Mattes had taken on the project of researching and writing up a report on "Historic Approaches." Since the location of Fort William certainly must have had a bearing on earlier trails, Mattes addressed himself to the Fort William question. In his heavily documented report he concluded that Fort William was probably at the location previously hypothesized, that is, west of the Laramie and just upstream from the county road bridge (the same locale as the present new concrete bridge across the Laramie). We will refer to this as site FW (A).
After Dave Hieb had a chance to review the Mattes report in detail, in January 1948 he wrote to the Region criticizing some of its conclusions, but particularly the one about Fort William. He felt, on the contrary, that Fort William was right near the later Fort John, somewhere in the immediate vicinity of the Army parade ground. We will refer to this alternative as Site FW (B).
Mattes and Borreson had spent several days hiking every foot of wagon trails that still survived in the unbroken prairie, particularly the trails from the east, and Mattes was convinced from the topographic evidence that the earliest trails had come in along the Platte River bottoms, which would bring them right to

the lower crossing. In addition to photographs of remarkably well preserved trail remains, including evidence of places where wagon trains had descended from the stream margin to the fords, Mattes had copious references to journals which he believed in combination tended strongly to prove that Fort William was at FW (A), downstream from the later Army post, because there was evidence that this was also the earliest Laramie River crossing of pre-Oregon Trail days. He believed also that the Fort William sketches of A. J. Miller of 1837 tended to confirm his theory mainly because of topographical details swamp-like terrain in the foreground which had to be on bottomland, not on the benchland of the military parade ground. He placed much reliance on the reports of Assistant Surgeon Schell and Historian Coutant that the Fort William pickets were rotting, believing that such rot would be caused by the annual Laramie River overflow, dictating a new location on higher dry ground.
Mattes also believed that the sandhills in Miller's background bore uncanny resemblance to those seen today when viewing the same scene east to west. Hieb denied that Mattes' given documentary and pictorial evidence constituted valid proof of his thesis. He felt that it was rather a case of reaching a preferred conclusion and then organizing all possible evidence in that direction. Hieb simply believed that it would have been more logical for Fort William to be on the high ground near the later Fort John to start with probably right next to it. In addition he felt that the testimony of Reverend Samuel Parker in 1835 and F. A. Wislizenus in 1839, describing the stockade as on a slight elevation, about a mile from the Laramie River's mouth, strongly supported his theory.
Nobody had any archeological evidence for either theoretical site. FW (A) was bottomland which had been scoured out and re-silted or regravelled by frequent Laramie River overflows before artificial controls by canal and ditch builders. Also, it had been plowed and replowed by farmers. There wasn't the ghost of a tangible clue of any building sites above ground, and the feeling was that it would have been so vulnerable to floods that the probability of any deep remains was next to nil. As to FW (2) the parade ground area has been so used and adapted and scrambled by repeated grading and construction by the Army that the possibility of finding any fur trade evidence there seemed about as bad. Archeology seemed to hold out little hope, not only because of negative terrain factors, but because no one could even pinpoint where to begin. (Amateur archeologists who claim to have used mine detectors in the general area of FW (A) reported that all their efforts were negative.)
As it turned out, both Hieb and Mattes had scholarly allies. Dr. LeRoy R. Hafen, author of Fort Laramie (Glendale, 1938), was evidently as convinced as Hieb that FW (B) was the probable location, primarily because he never thought of it as being anywhere else. In support of the Mattes theory for FW (A) were Oregon Trail historians Tom Green of Scottsbluff and Paul Henderson of Bridgeport, Nebraska, Mae Reed Porter of the American Pioneer Trails Association, and collector of Miller drawings, and Bob Rymill of Fort Laramie town. Henderson alleged that FW (A) conformed to statements made to him by John Hunton, Fort Laramie resident from 1867 to 1923, and Ed Kelly, another pioneer whom he interviewed when he was a young railroader exploring the Fort on his own before 1920.
Because of the intensity of interest in the subject, and hoping to resolve the issue, the Regional Director authorized a meeting at Fort Laramie on October 25, 1948. Among those present were Hieb, Mattes, Green, Henderson, Canfield, and a small group of curious on lookers and reporters. The Miller drawings were examined in detail from every angle. Those who favored FW (A) remained convinced that these drawings constituted proof, while Hieb took the position that the drawings reflected artistic license and proved nothing. Quotations from the Mattes report were cited but Hieb insisted that his citations were more conclusive. It was a stimulating but frustrating afternoon because nothing was settled. A few weeks later there was a land-levelling operation here by the owner, Herman Nolke, and the exposures were carefully observed by Hieb and Archeologist Beaubien. To the surprise of no one, nothing was found. The Fort William issue, like that of the Master Plan, remained unresolved.           

6. David L. Hieb, Superintendent/Restorationist, 1950-1958
Fort Laramie has been fortunate in the Custodians/Superintendents assigned to it over its first 40 years (1938-1977). All of them have exhibited, in high degree, the dedication and energy which proper management of a major historic site requires. However, Dave Hieb is the only one who has shouldered a long-range comprehensive restoration program while actually performing the heavy end of the work himself. That is to say, he originated the programming, planned in detail the work to be done, lined up materials, equipment and work crews, supervised the work on a daily basis, and reported in meticulous detail what was accomplished. His role in enduring restoration work at Fort Laramie was unique for he was the only Superintendent who undertook the equivalent of both full-time jobs at once Superintendent with a very limited staff, and restoration project supervisor and that for a period of over eight years (beyond substantial accomplishments also in the previous three years).
It would be misleading to give the impression that Hieb had the entire responsibility. In effect, he was a member of an informal programming and planning committee of three, the other two being Regional Historian Mattes and Regional Architect Frances Roberson, otherwise known as "Skipper." At the risk of belaboring the point unduly, Mattes was the man in the Omaha office who was the coordinator for all Fort Laramie matters, and there is a lengthy series of letters, memoranda and reports which attests to his continuing involvement in programming and planning, as well as research. Roberson was more immediately involved in reviewing actual details of architectural work to be accomplished and work in progress. Regional Director Baker (who succeeded Merriam in 1951) and others in Omaha had broad administrative control, and there was an occasional high official from Washington visiting the Fort, but it was basically Dave Hieb's personal restoration program, with the exception of the initial consultation in each case with Mattes and Roberson, and their intermittent review on frequent field trips. (It should be noted here that early in 1951 Fort Laramie was removed from the jurisdiction of the Coordinating Superintendent at Rocky Mountain National Park, and achieved independent status, so there was no further "review and approval" needed from that quarter.)
While this arrangement, by 1978 standards and procedures, seems in retrospect rather high-handed and freewheeling, it was the only workable one available during the decade in question. It was unorthodox but it worked exceedingly well to judge from numerous compliments of record Dave received from time to time, from both the Region and the Director's Office. The restoration work performed during this period is also judged today by architects and historians to be both historically accurate and architecturally sound. Inevitably, in the course of time some deterioration of Hieb's work has occurred and has had to be further rehabilitated or restored but Hieb's restorations, by and large, have endured because they were undertaken not only with skill in technical execution but with full regard for the same standards of research and restoration which apply today. Actually these standards have not changed over the years. Procedures have changed and funding has become more liberal, so that we can now afford to hire more people, at higher pay, to turn out more plans and reports, and we have more inspections and "supervisors of supervisors" of work projects. The same work program in 1978 would probably cost ten times as much in terms of programming, planning, re-planning, approvals, contracts, materials, labor, and supervision, but it is doubtful that it would be done much differently or any better as far as end results are concerned.
Of course the governing fact was that in 1950 the Fort Laramie historic structures were going rapidly downhill. If there had been a rigid insistence on orthodox procedures, with detailed plans on paper by professional architects, to be certified at all levels before construction work, such work to be performed by a qualified contractor with the lowest bid, and subject to all kinds of ifs, ands, and buts and if it had been necessary therefore to wait for the construction funds necessary to meet these requirements the buildings would have deteriorated disgracefully, despite indefinite bracing and patching, and everything that has been achieved since 1950 would have been delayed 10 or 20 years. The only intelligent course that it was possible to take in 1950 was to take advantage of the new Park Service program of "deferred maintenance" or "rehabilitation of physical facilities" or, more specifically in this case, "Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Historic Structures." During the stern economic conditions of the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, when the 1978 level of Federal spending with a near-trillion dollar indebtedness was unthinkable, new construction funds were scarce. This was particularly true of an off-beat historic monument when Yellowstone Park and other glamorous scenic areas with high attendance box scores were in desperate need of new facilities. But Director Wirth had sold the Bureau of the Budget and Congressional sub-committees on the idea of concentrating on the repair and rehabilitation of existing facilities. So without any twinges of conscience whatever the Superintendent and the Region teamed up to apply for all the funds they could get to straighten up the Fort Laramie buildings. If it was necessary to indulge in a little sophistry and call the procedure "maintenance and repair" instead of "restoration" no one in Omaha or the Washington Office was going to quibble, and the Bureau and the Congress were not fussy either. So in effect the area's major restoration program was finally launched, though disguised on paper as something elseThere were funds for materials and the low-cost labor of the day, but what made the whole thing click was the fact that the Superintendent happened also to be the equivalent of an experienced architectural technician, and he was perfectly happy at starting grade GS-6 at $3,000. p.a., to take on this lonely and formidable project. As time went on he got four promotions up to GS-11 with progressively higher pay, but throughout his tenure the work was performed on a largely personal basis, with only the limited assistance and moral support indicated above. That is to say, after consultation with Mattes and Roberson in each case, Hieb would prepare a "Survey Report" or "Orientation Report" to indicate the problems and their solutions, with some narrative and photos. Since many of the architectural or structural problems could not be defined until the fabric was exposed, this left Hieb free to improvise as new findings dictated. There was no rigid confinement to detailed and formally approved plans, and no need to hold up work to obtain permission to revise plans. The "working drawings" in effect were in Hieb's head, subject only to occasional double-checking beforehand and ex-post-facto review by the Omaha officials. Since this was technically only "maintenance" and not "construction" neither the Washington Office or the Western Office of Design and
Construction (WODC) in San Francisco got into the act during the Hieb period. At or near the end of his incumbency the rules changed and WODC started to get involved, but that would be another story. (Actually, funding for Officers Quarters A, Hieb's final project, was via the construction rather than the maintenance funding route, but Hieb completed most of this building unmolested by outside experts.)
After the advance field session, the historical and archeological research, the investigation of fabric for clues (architectural research), and the informal preliminary reports to the Region, in each case Dave would prepare a Bill of Materials and when the funds were forthcoming he would buy what was needed glass, cement, iron work, millwork, lumber, and whatever, which often had to be special-ordered to conform to historic design. His small, competent and enthusiastic work crews, all local men, would work while weather permitted, without regard to season. Dave personally directed the work, spending as much time as possible on site. (Some supervisory authority was delegated occasionally to Maintenanceman Jeffries, First Carpenter Charles Wells, or F. L. (Jack) Johnson.) Finally, upon project completion, Dave would prepare a fairly detailed narrative report, with excellent photographs of work progress, for the enlightenment of the Region and Washington Office. These informative and technically high-calibre Completion reports are now valuable library reference works for the benefit of future managers, maintenancemen, architects, and historians. The funds available for the program annually, over and above the small recurring appropriation for administration, protection and routine maintenance, ranged from $7,000 to $15,000. These appropriations were on a fiscal year basis beginning each July 1. Some projects took more than one calendar year, and sometimes work was going on simultaneously with two or more projects. Details of restoration work are contained in Hieb's final reports on the respective buildings. Following is a brief summary of the work performed during this first major restoration program, in approximate chronological order:
Old Bakery, 1950: West wall and northwest corner completely reconstructed of lime-concrete on new reinforced concrete footings. Restoration of west window, with iron grill; reconstruction of chimney, omitting flue; plastering to match original. Sectional concrete footings under outside of brick-and-stone wall. Brickwork repaired or repointed. Stone part of east wall rebuilt. Frame east gable restored. Roof structure repaired with some new rafters, joists, ties and sheeting. Ventilator reconstructed. Roof reshingled. Eaves and cornices restored. Doorway restored, with replacement of original door. Cost $3,600
Sutler's Store, 1951-1954: This building is actually three buildings welded together: the adobe Sutler's Store erected in 1849-1850; the native stone addition of 1852; and the large lime-concrete addition of 1883. (The evolution of this structure, and aspects of its human history, is given in the Mattes article, "The Sutler's Store at Fort Laramie," Annals of Wyoming, 1946.) After intensive architectural analysis of the decrepit ruin, and conflicting advice from Skipper Roberson from Omaha and Gordon Vivian from the Southwest Region, Hieb's initial philosophy was, in effect, to "jack up the roof and put new walls under it," which if put into practice would have borne out Chief Architect Sutton's prediction that the old pile would have to be razed and rebuilt. On the contrary, when it came down to cases, Hieb managed to save, intact, about half of the wall area. In summary:
All exterior walls stabilized or restored on new concrete footings, with substitution of approximately 50% of lime-concrete, adobe, and masonry mud mortar. Interior concrete arches removed and central partition wall
 (original 1850 exterior) reconstructed of adobe. All sash and doors and trim repaired or replaced. Extensive roof repair and reconstruction with new elements, including shingles, corrugated iron, gutter, and downspouts. Chimneys restored with brick replacement. Floors repaired with substitution of materials matched to original, including joists and planking. New floor complete in adobe store section. Interior trim repaired and refinished with matching paints and varnishes, some substitution of wainscoting, moulding, door casings. Safe restored on replacement masonry hearth. Fireplace in store restored with replacement hearth of old bricks. All walls refinished to match originals with mud or lime plaster, paint, or whitewash. Cost $16,000. Cavalry Barracks, 1953-1954: Two-storied verandas, large portions missing, completely restored from substituted concrete foundations to shingled roof and upper deck railings, using moveable double-deck platform or scaffolding. Some original timbers and railing sections re-used. Primed with white and finished with gray paint. Plaster around all windows and doorways repaired, wall cracks pointed or filled with lime-plaster. Some doorways restored to original with some substitution of frames, casings, sills, sash. Windows restored with re-glazed old sash or new sash substituted. Repairs to exterior trim, all painted Venetian red. Cost $12,000. [73]
Commissary Storehouse, 1952-1954: West endwall stabilized with concrete buttress footings. All post-historic doorways and other apertures filled with lime-concrete. Cracks pointed with lime mortar. Interior walls of office rooms repaired, with some substitution of lath and replastered to original. Interior walls of clothing storeroom restored, all new. Roof reshingled. Two chimneys restored, with all new brick. Floor in west warehouse section restored, all new T & G. Floors in balance of building patched. Some replacement of joist scabs. All windows restored. New sash and outside casings and trim required except two basement sash. All original doors repaired and rehung. One new interior door and some hardware replaced. Interior trim gray. Exterior gray for door and window trim. Venetian red for eaves trim. Loading docks reconstructed of treated native pine. Hoist in east warehouse restored. Cost $4,000]
Magazine, 1954: Complete restoration in accord with description in letter of September 25, 1855, Geo. T. Balch, Ordnance Corps to Major O. F. Winship. Recent window openings filled with masonry. Interior cracks repointed. Floor restored at deduced level on new concrete footing blocks of native plank on treated joists. Late shed roof removed. Historic roof reconstructed with heavy timber joists, double overlapping sheeting on slight curve and pitch with curb board to hold layer of earth, plus layer of brick and mortar. Heavy roll roofing layer over sheeting. Single door restored to pattern. New window sash and shutters. Cost $1,200. [75]
Officers Quarters F, 1954-1955: General restoration to 1888. Front porch railings and lattice work reconstructed. Rear porch late floor removed, new floor on concrete foundations. Posts and trim repaired with some substitutions. Rear hall sills treated and levelled on concrete foundation. All windows and outside doorways repaired with some substitution of sills, sash, cord and stops. Repair and replacement of dormers and roof. Floors in main section lower floor replaced with substitution of concrete foundations, treated joists, native pine sub-floor and yellow pine flooring. Three coats Valoil. Interior walls replastered or old plaster repaired and painted white. Exterior plaster patched. Matching spindles substituted in stair rail and varnished. Other interior woodwork cleaned of old paint and given two coats of red mahogany varnish-stain, with red enamel. Exterior woodwork repainted Venetian red or lampblack gray.
Cost$5,000.
Officers Quarters E, 1955-1957: Major external work on this duplex included repairing and resetting many door and window casings, with some substitution; patching and replastering with lime-concrete many sections of outside walls; re-pouring four lime-concrete chimneys from the roof up and repairing three others. Restoring the wooden flooring, posts, railing and lattices of the front porches and repainting all exterior woodwork to match original remnants. Interior work included raising, repairing and supporting with auxiliary footings many sections of flooring. Replastering of interior walls on cleaned and renailed lathe or patched lime-concrete. Removal of post-military paint from woodwork and refinishing to match remnants of original finishes. Refinishing all repaired floors with Valoil and matching paints or varnishes. Cost $6,000]
Officers Quarters A, 1956-1958: Removal of loose plaster, ceiling or other broken lath. Closets and original stairway restored to original form, as double-set quarters. Tin shingles inserted and repairs to ridge boards. Metal lath applied to original adobe-filled walls, and plastered. Replacement and renailing of wooden lath on ceilings and partitions. Period 1916 porch removed, concrete foundation blocks poured. Framing on five dormers repaired and strengthened. Original foundations of missing rear wing excavated for cellar, and this wing reconstructed with native pine. Plastering of main lower floor, lime white coated, over old work. Surviving floor sections of porch re-floored and west side porch restored. Double lean-to entry to rear between kitchen wings restored. Outside walls and eaves painted white. Reconstruction of stair railings and wooden dividing partitions, upper and lower halls. Newel post at foot of staircase restored. Floor repairs sealed with Valoil and refinished with floor varnish in English walnut. Lattice for porch patterned after Officers Quarters F. Eave troughs on porches and rear wings. Inside woodwork removed, then primed and repainted with white enamel tinted with burnt umber and lamp black. Stair railings finished with dark walnut varnish stain. Sand finished plastered walls painted with white water mix. Cost $8,000Old Guardhouse, 1955: General restoration to 1888. Floor of lower prison room restored with new native plank on joints on concrete footing blocks. One solitary cell restored and surviving original repaired with new planking, metal stripping and other hardware. Original door repaired. Altered doorway restored with some new brick, masonry, frame and new door. Window sash replaced. Upper southeast window frame and bars repaired. Ventilator shaft reconstructed, ceiling restored with new wainscoting and painted to match original fragment. Upper plank floor repaired with new elements. All inside plastering repaired, major patching and white-washing. Woodwork repainted or whitewashed. Upper doorway repaired. Original door of Magazine period rehung on new hinges. Outside stoop conjectural. Masonry-filled windows and doorway repaired. Drainage around building corrected. Cost $1,200.]
Ruins stabilization, 1954-1956: General repair and reinforcing (buttressing) of lime-concrete walls of Administration Building, Officers Quarters B, C, and D, and Non-Com Officers Quarters, removing rotting wood joist inserts, filling cracks and voids. Clean-up of Hospital, New Bakery and Sawmill ruins. Old Bedlam, 1957: Completion of "Survey Report for Restoration and Rehabilitation of Historic Structures, Building No. 1, Old Bedlam" with historical data, structural analysis, and recommendations. Region recommended approval but this was withheld by Washington Office. Restoration deferred pending switchover to construction responsibility by Western Office, Design and Construction. A wealth of new historical and archeological data was acquired during the 1950s through the efforts of Hieb, Mattes and Paul Beaubien. The latter, under the Regional Historian, conducted a series of archeological investigations, partly as salvage in connection with restoration jobs, partly in the quest for basic information on fragmented or lost historic structures.
Having reached a dead-end in the search for Fort William (the first Fort Laramie), curiosity mounted about the nature and extent of the actual remains of Fort John (the second Fort Laramie), known to be at the south end of the parade ground as shown on early military ground-plans and, in fact, determining by its alignment the orientation of the parade ground. Aware of the extensive construction of now vanished Army buildings on the site of the adobe ruins (in addition to existing Officers Quarters A), including land-levelling, cellars, outhouses and the resultant obliteration of fur trade period evidence, not much was expected of this investigation, and indeed not much was found. There was considerable evidence of trash from military adobe and frame officers quarters and outbuildings of the 1854-1870 period but almost nothing that was of the distinctive fur trade establishment of 1849. Trenches and squares dug on a sample basis across the hypothetical fur trade rectangle of 121 by 167 feet (as measured by the Mormons in 1847) failed to yield any recognizeable structural features of Fort John. In the southeast corner of the area Beaubien found a few jumbled adobes unrelated to the military era, with trade beads, gunflints, bullets, brass ornaments, and a so-called snow snake or game piece, all judged to be of probable pre-1850 vintage. Altogether the prospects of finding much more than this, even if the entire site was peeled off, is now judged to be slight. [82]
Somewhat more productive was Beaubien's test excavation of the original pre-1867 post cemetery (probably also the site of the fur trade period cemetery), on which was superimposed the 1873 lime-concrete Hospital, with no evidence that the affected burials had been relocated, then or later. Four military graves were readily found, with remains intact. Since the assumption had been confirmed, the graves were back-filled. (Other human remains had been noted earlier when the irrigation ditch was pushed through a part of this cemetery, in 1892-1894.
In 1951 Beaubien worked four intermittent periods, April 16 to October 21, around the Sutler's Store, then the prime restoration target. The first objective was to sift an old storage cellar under the post-office and poolroom section, which was thereafter gravel-filled as it threatened the collapse of nearby mud mortar-masonry walls. Secondly, searches were made at the perimeter of those failed sections of adobe and lime-concrete walls which had to be reconstructed. Thirdly, the ground to the rear or west of the 1883 portion of the structure was carefully excavated for evidence of appended structures of the earlier periods which are indicated in successive military ground-plans. Positive evidence was found of log structures, of indeterminate elevation, of the 1867-1876 era, along with the abundant artifacts of that middle period.

During 1954-1956 Paul Beaubien undertook brief precautionary searches for artifacts and hidden structural evidence associated with rehabilitation work in the ruins of Officers Quarters B, C and D, the restoration of the Magazine and Officers Quarters E, and the slope east of the Cavalry Barracks veranda which required grading to improve drainage. A volunteer project by Hieb himself, during an off-season, was a little "underwater archeology", to salvage a number of intriguing objects from the Laramie River, such as leg irons, broken sabre blades, and stove parts.
Artifacts from all these digs were incorporated into the growing Fort Laramie museum collection, which was
still without a museum curator. In his process of cleaning, numbering and accessioning these artifacts, Beaubien was the first person on the premises with professional capability in this area, beyond the limited contributions of Smith and Hendron. Occasionally Hieb was able to obtain limited inexperienced help with this early work on the collection. In 1952 Harry Wandrus was sent out from Harper's Ferry for a tour of duty at the Fort to do some preservative work on metal objects. That same year the storage collection was moved from Officers Quarters E to odd space in the Cavalry Barracks.
Again Hieb's research, aside from his probings of architectural fabric, was in the nature of extracting data from knowledgeable visitors and corresponding with them to help illuminate dark corners of Fort history. It is difficult to overestimate the value of this patient time-consuming work, which might have been lost altogether if a Superintendent less conscientious and motivated had been on the premises. The following checklist of some of the more fruitful contacts made by Hieb in this period is given to illustrate what was accomplished in this area, keeping in mind that there was usually only one opportunity to interview these people, most of them aged, with personal links to the pre-1890 Fort Laramie:
1950 Elizabeth Snow, Torrington, attended 4th grade at Fort school                       1877
Jake Gompert of Mitchell, formerly of the Imperial German Light Cavalry, who
purchased and dismantled Officers Quarters B                                  1890
Jake Tomamichael, Medora, North Dakota, son of Hospital steward, with photos and his
father's uniform.                                                        1880s
G. O. Reid, Alberta, Canada, son of Army contractor                             1880s
1951 Col. F. W. Allison, Salem, Oregon, son of 2nd Lieutenant who saw and reported "the Laramie ghost."                                                         1871
Mrs. W. V. McBeth, Oakland, California, with grandmother's diary                   1864
1952 Mamie Sandercock Robertson, Florence Sandercock McCormick, Stella Sandercock Bright, daughters of civilian engineer whose widow stayed on in Quarters A            1880s
Sanford Beecher, New York City, re: original mantel from Old Bedlam, recovered by his father, Bishop Beecher of Nebraska. Donated to museum collection
1953 Cornelius Knapp emigrant letter                                             1850
Kenneth Bordeaux, Kansas City, Mo., great-grandson of James Bordeaux, squaw-man in charge of Fort John                                                      1846
Reis Tuttle, Des Moines Fort Laramie emigrant letters                            1850
Mrs. John Oliger, Denver, "domestic" for Colonel Merriam, last post commander, data on
floor plan for Officers Quarters B                                           1880s
Philip St. George Cooke, Grand Island, descendant of Colonel Cooke of the Dragoons
under Colonel Kearny                                                    1845
Gustave Paules, Boulder, Colorado, born at Fort Laramie                          1886
Mett Shippee, Smithsonian Institution, J. W. Crane letter                          1849
1954 James Nolan, Torrington, son of Sergeant, 7th Cavalry, born here                    1882
Louis Wilde, Saratoga, Wyoming, son of Joe Wilde, owner of Cavalry Barracks and Commissary Warehouse. Details re: interior layouts and uses                        1890-
Mr. O. R. Ivin, Crawford, Nebraska, daughter of J. Bogler, operator of the Rustic Hotel.
Born here.                                                             1882
Bruce McKinstry, Chicago, Illinois, descendant of overland emigrant who helped pioneer north side route west from Fort Laramie. Copy of journal.                          1850
H. J. Bolin, Douglas, Wyoming, photos of Sutler's Store and house                   1877
E. L. Quivey, Mitchell, Nebraska. Ledgers of Subsistence Store sales                 1873
Corwith Wagner, St. Louis. Fort Laramie emigrant letters                          1849-1852
Mrs. O. M. Rasmussen, Manville, Wyo., daughter of Private George McNulty, 9th
Infantry - photographs                                                    1870
1955 Waddell F. Smith, San Rafael, California, descendant of William E. Waddell, co-owner of the Pony Express. Donate S. E. Ward post trader tokens.                           1860
1956 Dorothy Piez, Denver, William Dresser letter                                   1850 Mari Sandoz, New York City, dispute re: Charles King novels authenticity             1880
1957 John Hussey, Regional Historian, San Francisco, re: Tavernier painting of Sutler's Store interior at Oakland Museum                                               1867
W. Zander, Pittsburgh, Pa., Swiss emigrant J. Scheller diary                        1850
General Reynolds J. Burt, Washington D.C. son of Andrew Sheridan Burt, officer stationed at Fort Laramie 1870s and 1880s. Valuable photos and heirlooms
In addition to his personalized research based on "targets of opportunity" as indicated above, Dave Hieb demonstrated scholarly aptitude by authoring two articles which appeared in historical quarterlies: "An 1850 Gold Rush Letter from Fort Laramie by A. C. Sponsler, a Thayer County Pioneer," edited for Nebraska History, 1951; and "A Folsom Point from Southeastern Wyoming," in Southwestern Lore, 1950. The point was found by Louis Hieb, the Superintendent's son, on the terrace near the Old Hospital]
While there have been many gratifying and even dramatic gains in the field of Fort Laramie historical research by the National Park Service, there was one very dramatic, or rather tragic, loss involving Superintendent Hieb, Regional Historian Mattes, and the National Archives which must be recorded here. From 1948 through 1952 Mattes visited the National Archives in Washington, D.C. frequently to research records of abandoned Army posts which were to be inundated in Missouri River Reservoir projects of the Corps of Engineers. While working in the Old Army Records Branch of the Archives, on one occasion, he digressed to examine record books pertaining to Old Fort Laramie. Although he was prohibited from entering the stacks where these records were kept, the archivist in charge wheeled in to the study area a heavy truck load of original Fort Laramie record books, in bound ledger form. All he had time to do was to sample some of the contents and make a rough checklist of the volumes for future reference. Preoccupied with the critical Missouri River Basin Survey and Salvage Program, Mattes had no opportunity or funds to follow up with arrangements for their transcription. Appeals for research assistance by the Branch of History, Washington Office, brought no result, presumably because that office was short handed rather than indifferent to Fort Laramie's needs. An effort to scrape up $100. or so to pay the cost of microfilming these materials also came to nought. In that austere period money for such purposes was too scarce to permit this luxury.
Finally, in 1954, despite other heavy preoccupations, Dave Hieb felt a little more affluent and wrote a letter to the Region requesting the microfilm transcriptions of certain Post Records Mattes had listed. These included Orders, records of the Councils of Administration (which handled relationships with the Post Trader, such as setting prices and establishing regulations), Guard Reports, Morning Reports, Board of Survey, Clothing Books, Records of Deaths and Internments, Quartermaster and Subsistence Records, Passes and Furloughs, and letters and orders pertaining to the 6th Infantry, the 5th Cavalry, and the 1856 Sioux Expedition. The request was passed along by the Region to the History Branch, Washington, D.C. After a lengthy interval Roy Appleman of the History Branch wrote to advise that most of these records had been destroyed by the National Archives in one of its own little private records disposal programs, the kind that no one else ever knows anything about! It took Hieb and Mattes some time to get over their shock, to realize that one agency of the Government had thoughtlessly destroyed valuable historical records of another Federal agency. It was evident that the ivory-tower archivists were not aware of the existence of Fort Laramie and its research program. In fact, it developed that they had destroyed all such categories of records for all U.S. Military posts, many others of which were in or candidates for the National Park System!
The upshot of this dismal story is that when the Branch of History learned of the reaction back in the hinterlands, and the nature of the loss dawned on them, they contacted Dr. Wayne Grover, Director of the National Archives, and arranged a meeting in his office between him and his associates on the one hand, and Chief Historian Herbert Kahler, Dr. Charles Porter, and Regional Historian Mattes of the National Park Service. The meeting took place on a suitably gloomy winter day, January 24, 1956. There was tension between the two groups when the problem was discussed. Dr. Robert Bahmer, Assistant Director of the Archives, took the position that, "You can't save everything!" (We had naively thought that indeed everything was saved, or else the only thing that was disposed of was material considered by qualified experts to be of no further value whatever!) On the other hand Dr. Schellenberg, head of that department responsible for disposing of things, stated simply that, "We goofed!" That admission was distinctly heard by Kahler, Porter and Mattes, although later in a letter exchange with Mattes he reversed course, and questioned that anything of real value had been destroyed. Goof it certainly was, on a grand scale, but it was too late to remedy, for the records had been destroyed, with no effort by the archivists to microfilm or otherwise copy them beforehand. The evidence of their one-time existence, aside from Mattes' vivid and painful memory, is his 1956 checklist of missing items compiled from the 1951 National Archives "Index to Post Records," a total of 170 volumes lost forever! In addition, there are several items of correspondence on the subject which now repose in a research folder at Fort Laramie National Historic Site. While the loss may not seem exactly tragic to non-historians, and even some historians might disdainfully observe that it was a loss only of antiquarian details, it was a severe loss to Fort Laramie history, leaving a large hole in the historic record. Mattes' examination of the Guard Reports, for example, had shown that these not only included routine entries on prison inmates, their arrivals, punishments, and discharges, but the Captain of the Guard noted the exact time of arrival of every wagon train, every Pony Express rider, every stage coach and whatever else constituted civilian entrance to the Reservation, the nature of their business, sometimes the identity of the leaders, and the time of their departure. Can anyone with the slightest respect for history question much less measure the value of such information to historians, or the interest it could have engendered in the large segment of the public that reads American history? What a priceless asset these volumes would have been if they could have been returned to Fort Laramie for research by eager students and to put on display! Yet those to whom these records were entrusted didn't perceive their immense value, or else they were very callous in their treatment of them. Its almost as if they had wanted to get them out of
sight and mind before anyone could discover their existence. It seems improbable that anyone other than Mattes had ever taken a good look at them.
If the National Archives for whatever reason wanted to dispose of these records, they should have sent them to the National Park Service, or else to the state historical societies involved. Or they could have auctioned them off to wealthy collectors of Western Americana to help reduce the national debt! Or they could at the very least have transcribed them on microfilm. But the cold fact is that priceless Fort Laramie records were instead destroyed without a trace by those charged with responsibility for their protection.
It so happens that not all categories of Fort Laramie records were destroyed, only those above noted, which were primarily those in ledger or bound book form. Mattes also made an inventory of Post records which were not destroyed, and a program of transcription was started. At first these were microfilmed, and typists at Fort Laramie had to transcribe them. Later the Xeroxing method was developed, and direct page-size transcriptions could be made. Among records that were so salvaged during this period were Post Surgeon's medical histories, Letters Sent and Received, and Muster Rolls. In addition, certain sources other than Post Records were tapped, including records of the Adjutant-General's Office, the Quartermaster-General, The Department of the Platte, the Office of Indian Affairs, and the Bureau of the Census.
Outside of the National Archives, Mattes was able to line up such items as the papers of John Dougherty (onetime post sutler), the Fort Pierre letterbooks (of the fur trade era), and excerpts from the Missouri Republican, all in the files of the Missouri Historical Society at St. Louis; and the Lieutenant John Bourke Indian war journals at West Point. The colored Stanton Plan of the Fort in 1881 was discovered in Chicago (onetime headquarters for the whole western theatre of the Indian wars), and color copies were made. Lloyd McCann provided data on the Grattan Massacre, and a rundown of all trading posts in the Fort Laramie vicinity.
A "Fort Laramie Bibliography" was put together in loose-leaf notebook form, being somewhat more useful than the old 3 x 5 card file started in 1938. Finally, in 1950 all the Fort Laramie research records which had been accumulated by Mattes at Scotts Bluff and shipped to Omaha for his use there, were returned to Fort Laramie at Hieb's request. These records constituted the foundation of the voluminous research library that exists at the Fort today.
This account of Fort Laramie research in the 1950s which began on a negative note ends in similar fashion. Despite pleas by Hieb, Mattes and Dr. Porter of Washington, D.C. that the John Hunton diaries be entrusted to the National Park Service, L. G. (Pat) Flannery of Torrington (one-time editor of the Fort Laramie Scout) elected to retain them personally. In his retirement he aimed to edit them for publication, and he did just that for the diaries through the 1880s. (Supposedly there are diaries for every year from Hunton's ranching days in the 1870s until his death in 1928). However, all the diaries, including those after 1890, came into the custodianship of Flannery's widow in 1964. As of 1978 these diaries are withheld from further publication or research use by scholars.
During Hieb's period attendance grew from 22,000 in 1950 to 35,000 in 1958. In the latter half of this period, despite his pre-occupation with research and restoration, Hieb was able to offer to visitors somewhat more than the usual self-guided tour of building exteriors. First of all, the visible process of restoration itself
intrigued many visitors who were glad to see finally a real restoration program at the Fort. Secondly, after the Commissary Storehouse was restored and space for a museum laboratory was provided in the Cavalry Barracks, the collection was moved out of storage in the Officers Row. Some of the larger pieces and the more valuable pieces that could be secured through locked cases were set up as a new exhibit room in the south end of the Commissary Storehouse, while all other items found a new temporary home in the Barracks. From time to time the exhibits in the Commissary would be expanded and upgraded; as of this date (1978) that same exhibit room is still in business, together with information desk and sales rack added later.
A third breakthrough by Hieb was an illustrated Fort Laramie Historical Handbook, similar to those successfully used at other historical areas in a published series by the Government Printing Office. After some revision and adjustments of Dave's draft in Omaha it was sent to Washington. It was published in late 1954 under Hieb's indicated authorship, and for over 20 years, it was a primary interpretive tool. Originally it sold for 25 cents.
Thought was given to the need for historical re-furnishing of at least a few rooms in the restored structures. The 1956 Master Plan contemplated such token treatment of the Sutler's Store, Old Bedlam, Officers Quarters F, and the Cavalry Barracks. The public was happy to see the structural restorations, but unhappy that they couldn't then enter the buildings. Obviously it wouldn't be sufficient to show them just the bare walls; the buildings had to be furnished and that was a gigantic order, requiring extensive research in a different dimension, not to mention the problem of finding authentic items of the various periods. Regional Director Baker expressed concern over this matter, and none other than ex-Governor Leslie Miller wrote to Director Conrad L. Wirth urging that he approach Rockefeller or the Ford Foundation or some such philanthropy about getting help in the matter of furnishings. However, nothing came of Miller's suggestion. As far as funding from regular Park Service appropriations was concerned, this would never come to pass, in part because the Park Service simply didn't have a rationale for funding historical furnishings (in the same manner as museum exhibits) until much later, and in part because in the 1950s what modest funds there were went into the structures that had first to be secured before restoration of their contents could be considered. In 1956 the Rocky Mountain Nature Association severed its connection with Fort Laramie. Accordingly Dave Hieb occupied himself with the formation of a new independent Fort Laramie Historical Association, spurning efforts to have him join either the Oregon Trail Museum Association at Scotts Bluff or the Eastern National Park and Monument Association. The charter and by-laws for this new organization followed the forms prescribed by law, with local variations. Many enthusiastic local citizens found a way to get involved in Fort Laramie activities by becoming charter members. At the first annual meeting of the Fort Laramie Association in December, 1956 it was disclosed that gross sales were $1,000. of which $150. went for museum equipment and library books. Under various Superintendents this Association has continued to grow to this day (1978).
One high-minded money-making project of the old Rocky Mountain Nature Association was derailed in 1954 when a ruling was handed down by the Washington Office that pieces of the original siding from Old Bedlam could no longer be sold as souvenirs, and that the stock-pile of same would have to be destroyed. The implied reason was that somehow the seeming commercialization of authentic original historic remains
was a desecration, and it would give visitors wrong ideas. Dave dutifully complied but in retrospect there seems to be something wrong with the decision itself. Why destroy all of this priceless evidence? This seems to be on a par with the National Archives destruction of original Fort Laramie records. How valid is a philosophy that original architectural pieces have such spiritual value that we are obliged to make them de-materialize, so that they may live only in memory?
For all of his tangible and enduring contributions Dave Hieb labored during much of his stay at the same grades (GS 6 and 7) as Superintendents of areas of the lowest administrative level, and below that of such areas as Devils Tower and Effigy Mounds. In 1952 Mattes protested this injustice and inequity, and the fact that Park Service management seemed unable to recognize the distinctive quality of Fort Laramie, or to reward a man with such outstanding performance. At the same time and in subsequent diatribes he deplored the Fort Laramie appropriations as "niggardly" in comparison with other areas of far less significance in American history. It is incredible but true that Hieb received only a single personal achievement award despite his extraordinary ability and accomplishments, and this was a magnanimous "Superior Accomplishment" award of $125. in 1953. Finally in 1954 he did receive a promotion to GS-9, and in 1956 he went to GS-11. However acceptable to Hieb, these promotions were not so much the result of Mattes' prodding or recognition of Fort Laramie's distinctive quality as they were of a general upgrading of all Superintendent positions everywhere. In May 1955, when Hieb was right in the middle of his restoration program, the Washington Office came up with the incredible idea of transferring him to Manassas Battlefield in Virginia! Shifting personnel around frequently for various administrative reasons is common practice, and eleven years in one place is unusual for a Superintendent. Sometimes that indicates that the fellow is so incompetent or mediocre that he might as well live out his life on the spot. However, in this case, whoever engineered the Manassas idea was oblivious to the importance of the Fort Laramie program, or that Hieb was indispensable to its completion within the funding framework then current, since no other man brought in willy-nilly as Fort Laramie Superintendent would be apt to have his capability of doubling as a restoration supervisor. When Mattes protested to high heaven against this exercise in bureaucratic obtuseness he was backed up by Acting Regional Director John McLaughlin who advised Washington that if Hieb were transferred by them arbitrarily, against his and everybody else's wishes, then the Region would simply then and there terminate the Fort Laramie restoration program. Even though money was available, in the absence of competent direction in the field it would violate the Service's own principles to pursue efforts at restoration. With that blast Washington backed off from the idea of shuffling Dave around just for shuffling's sake, although muttering something about moving him elsewhere "next fiscal year."
When Dave did transfer to Omaha in 1958, with a promotion to GS-12, it was in recognition that a new era had dawned, and restoration at Fort Laramie would hereafter be handled on a formal planning and construction basis by full-blown professionals of the Western Office, Design and Construction, San Francisco. By this time Dave had completed his personally planned and directed restorations based on fluid "rehabilitation" funds. And he and his family were quite ready to move to Omaha with its amenities after eleven years in the wilds of Wyoming.
During the 1950s the Director was real high on the idea of having biennial meetings of all Superintendents, nationally, at some compatible place in one of the national parks. The purpose of these meetings was
ostensibly to lecture upon and have work sessions on current Park Service management problems, though the practical effect was to bolster morale by giving Superintendents presumably all hard-working and underpaid the equivalent of a family vacation. Many sought to broaden their horizons by visiting other areas en route. Dave attended such sessions at Grand Canyon in 1948, Yosemite in 1950, Glacier in 1952, Great Smoky Mountains in 1955, and Grand Teton in 1957
During this period Fort Laramie staffing finally got some beefing up. In 1950 W. L. Jeffrey was appointed the first full-time permanent maintenanceman, with quarters in the Barracks, while Art Darnall went with the restoration crew. In 1955 Lois Woodard of Fort Laramie town whose father gave the invocation at the 1937 dedication services got the first permanent spot as clerk-typist. Lois had first worked at Fort Laramie in the early 1940s as a museum laboratory helper with the National Youth Administration, and Hieb had hired her as a "6-month clerk-typist" to follow Marilyn Brittenham. In 1957 Jim Petty became the first permanent Historian for the area. The seasonal historian force was inaugurated at this time also. Jim Bowers was there only briefly before going to Custer Battlefield as the first seasonal historian there (though resigning soon to go with the Denver Public School system). William F. Bragg, Jr., later a public relations man and college professor, was the second seasonal historian, serving two years. Among later seasonal appointees with Hieb was Jack McDermott (later to become permanent Historian) who became highly active in research projects and the affairs of the Fort Laramie Association, and eventually became a high official in the President's Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Another was Bob Munkres who became a Political Science professor at Muskingum College in Ohio, and another prolific writer on frontier history.
The 1950s were not a time for public celebration. The emphasis was on work accomplishment, and the time to celebrate such accomplishment would be in the future. There were, however, a few low-key observances. In June 1952 the area participated in ceremonies at the nearby grave of Mary Homesley, who had succumbed on the trail 100 years earlier. In August 1954 there was some fanfare in recognition of the Grattan Massacre Centennial. The Goshen County and Wyoming State Historical Societies sponsored these events. In July, 1952 the Historical Landmark Commission of Wyoming had a field day when they dedicated no less than three of their official markers just outside the Monument boundaries, along the approach road at the Old Army Bridge, near Fort Platte, and opposite the northwest corner of the Monument, a sizeable monument and plaque to commemorate "Portugee" Phillips ride of 1866 to Fort Laramie from Fort Phil Kearny to report the Fetterman Massacre. The latter seems to have been a Declaration of Independence by the Commission which was just a shade miffed because of Hieb's insistence on revision of the wording of the plaque they had placed in front of Old Bedlam in 1940.
Aside from the historical informants above mentioned there were some notable VIPs who turned up during this period. Among them were the novelist A.B. Guthrie, Jr. (his second visit); Wyoming's Senator Joseph O'Mahoney; Dr. Waldo Wedel of the Smithsonian Institution; Dr. James Olson, Superintendent of the Nebraska State Historical Society; Actor Raymond Burr, starring in a popular radio series called "Fort Laramie"; and (also a second visit) Waddell F. Smith of San Rafael, California, talking up the idea of a bang-up National Pony Express Centennial in 1960.
Probably the most distinguished visitor was Bernard DeVoto, in June, 1953. DeVoto, a man of letters of national reputation, was also a western historian of the first magnitude with such major works as Course of Empire and Across the Wide Missouri to his credit. By coincidence Regional Historian Mattes turned up
during his visit and, along with Hieb, there was some heavy conversation under the cottonwoods, mulling over fine points of the western fur trade. The following year Mae Reed Porter, owner of the now-famous A. J. Miller drawings of 1837 used to illustrate DeVoto's book, turned up in company with Dr. Howard Driggs of the American Pioneer Trails Association. This would be the last visit to Fort Laramie of either of these long-term devotees of Oregon Trail history.
In addition to his continuing involvement with the Highway 26 Association, Dave figured in two constructive public relations projects. First of these was to provide a haven for the old NPS exhibits at Lake Guernsey after notice that that museum had been vandalized in the absence of a caretaker. Those paintings which pertained to Fort Laramie and Oregon Trail history were put on display in the Commissary, while others were safely stored until protection could be ensured at Lake Guernsey. This move, made in 1955, was by mutual consent of the Bureau of Reclamation which technically owned the Guernsey museum, and the State of Wyoming, which intended to take over the place as a state park.
Another public relations job related to the Old Army Bridge, which had been turned over to the State and, in turn, to Goshen County. The County Commissioners finally gave up on this antiquated structure, which was hopelessly inadequate for the increasing numbers of visitors as well as local ranch traffic. In 1957, with State aid, they built a nice new 6-span concrete bridge over the North Platte, about 100 feet upstream from the old relic. Dave's role here was in talking to both State and county officials to secure their sworn guarantee not to demolish the Army bridge, but to just leave it alone until the NPS could get a bill through Congress to authorize extension of the Monument boundaries to include the bridge and its approaches so it could be properly preserved and restored as an exhibit. Hieb had been keeping track of the bridge problem for years, beginning in 1947 when it had first been necessary to detour traffic over a rough ford. He discovered through research the document by which this bridge (as well as another now vanished one over the Laramie) was originally turned over to Wyoming Territory, and that it contained a clause which stated, in effect that