Shell Falls on the Bighorn Scenic Byway.
Sheriff Walt Longmire waves to the crowd during Longmire Days in Buffalo, Wyoming.
Durant, Wyoming. It was written by local author Craig Johnson who based his stories on the town of Buffalo! At the same time the Longmire Days celebration was going on, there was a fabulous car show in town, too. We spent a happy few hours admiring antique cars and muscle cars and some wonderful old pickup trucks. One fellow showing off his beautifully restored 1946 Dodge pickup explained that his dad had used it on the family farm for a few decades and then it sat in a barn for a while. He had lovingly brought it back to life and it now looked brand new. How rare to see a restored antique vehicle that had been in a single family since it rolled off the manufacturing line. Buffalo is full of spirit, and everyone in town loves a parade. Not long after the Longmire celebration we found ourselves swept up in a completely different kind of festival honoring the traditions and history of the Basque sheep herders who settled the area over a century ago. The Basques immigrated from their homeland in the Pyrenees mountains along the border between France and Spain, and many of their descendants live in the area today. Sheep herding was a lifestyle the Basques knew intimately in their homeland and it was also a cheaper
business for new European arrivals to start than cattle ranching. We were fascinated to learn that the heart of the sheep herding lifestyle was the rolling wagon the shepherds used as their mobile home base out on the range. Shaped like an old covered wagon, these Basque wagons were basically a horse-drawn RV complete with bedding, cooking facilities, and storage for food, clothes, tools, and more. At night, to fight off the cold, the Basque shepherds could fire up a cast iron oven or woodstove to keep warm. One Basque wagon after another rolled past in this wonderful parade, some pulled by horses, some by antique trucks, and a few by modern vehicles. After the parade ended, the drivers circled the wagons in the city park and opened them for visitors to peer into. Ranging from barely renovated since its original use a century ago to fully modernized inside, each Basque wagon was a source of great pride to its owners and offered an absorbing glimpse into a special and little-known facet of Wyoming's history. Sheep farming is still important in Wyoming. At a later date, we attended a special 4-H event at the Johnson County Fairgrounds where kids showed off sheep they’d raised while modeling woolen clothing they’d made themselves. Buffalo has an inviting main street, and the town is
MOUNTAIN HIGHS AND LOWS
COAST TO COAST SUMMER MAGAZINE 2019
22
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog