Weekend TV Worth Watching! A full episode of Today's Wild West!

coming up on today's Wild West we'll celebrate Shon and Arapaho culture in Lander Wyoming where we'll spend the night in a historic flower Mill we'll visit the Wind River Mountain Gold Rush ghost town of South pass City if someone were to come back in a time machine they would recognize this town plus we'll go riding at Montana's historic sweet grass Ranch and you'll meet the acclaimed Wyoming sculptor preserving native history in bronze another exciting episode of today's Wild West is [Music] next the Wild West it's still out there and we'll show you how to find [Music] it this is today's Wild [Music] West it's a summer evening in Lander Wyoming where the the eagle Spirit dancers are celebrating and sharing their culture the Museum of the American West the power of the drum that drum has a spirit that drum is good medicine every Wednesday evening in the summer shash and arapo group members proudly wear their regalia and perform the dances that are an important part of their tribal heritage saw this as an opportunity for me to get closer to my culture and that's exactly what it's done looks like it's a good workout too it is the native dancers are the star attraction but during the evening they share the stage and invite everyone young and old to participate in their own way Five Daughters all dance are no just like dance just love to dance okay I got the spirit in me we like to share this part of our culture which is the paow way of life there's even a competition Emma is a champion the Chicago silver dollar is awarded to the winners Emma is a champion the evening ends with a spirited friendship dance the old people tell us that when we are given the opportunity to share the gift of song and dance that we should do so and in this way we bring blessings of strength and happiness to the people we like to break down the barriers and we like to openly share who we are to cut down on the misunderstandings and the stereotypes and give people the opportunity to meet real Native Americans Lander is an inviting small western town at the base of the Wind River mountains in beautiful Wyoming with a very intriguing place to stay The Mill House I hear stories there's so many many people still here that remember coming to the mill because back in the day the mill was the town meeting space like everybody ended up at the Mill at some point and everybody hung out at the Mill so everybody has stories about the mill built in 1888 the old Lander flower Mill has been transformed into a boutique hotel it took a lot of work together by Jill Hunter I think the floors took the longest they had to sand and resand it's not her first rodeo over the years Jill has started run and sold several Lander businesses an ice cream shop a burger and pizza joint and finally a restaurant and bar starting out as a single mom with a 2-year-old daughter she was scooping ice cream now she cleans rooms she's got good work ethic she's helped out quite a bit her last restaurant was right across the street from the mill on days where I was getting over long shifts I just look across the street and daydream I just love the building it and it needed a lot of work but had a good reputation with the contractors who'd worked on her other businesses everyone was excited to be part of this unique project it's amazing some of the stuff that I have here is from contractors coming in and saying hey I found this and I thought it look really good in here and so a a lot of the stuff in here was an effort by many different people that brought things in that thought that it would fit in well with what I was doing there's lots of cool touches I have a friend who actually takes down old Barns and so I basically bought all the Barnwood that he had for the ceilings the original brick an old graveyard fence and a grain rake on the wall that was found in the basement plus the wooden window sills that piece of a horse cribbed on so it's kind of gives it character with lots of money going out and none coming in there was a sense of urgency to get the job done and she did transforming the mill into the millhous in just a year but it wasn't easy during the process sometimes it's really hard and frustrating but then when it's it's done and you see it finished it's it's always worth it I love this building this is my favorite it's got a really good feel to it and it makes me happy that people get to stay here and see it among the art displayed in the MH house is the sculpture of Richard Greaves who has a very unique home of his own you'll meet him when today's Wild West continues they are the faces of another time the people of a way of life that no longer exists they're the Native Americans Lewis and Clark met on their legendary exploration of the then unknown American West a people in culture from long ago brought back to life by the talent of award-winning Western sculptor Richard Greaves when I get to meet Lewis and Clark am I going to give him a scolding why in the devil didn't they bring an artist with them gries home studio in Wyoming features a museum quality gallery of dozens of his sculptures you can take that date and go into the journals and you'll see see where that piece came from inspired by the Journey of Lewis and Clark a subject the artist has focused on for years and first fell in love with growing up in St Louis where the Expedition originated in 1804 and returned 2 and A2 years later I grew up right near the cultural center of St Louis which is in the center it's an area called Forest Park and that's where the museums are at St Louis is home to a museum dedicated to Lewis and Clark that was first known as the Jefferson Memorial as a teenager grief spent so much time there the institution gave him a job as a gopher that meant that I had free reign of the museums with no supervision whatsoever I could get into the archives and I they even got Clark's Furniture there by the time I got 15 I was busting at the seams with all this knowledge of about all of that and touching and everything so that's what prompted me to want to come West long before gev's artistic talent was clearly evident very early in life and perhaps even sooner I started that while I was waiting in line to be born I think you inherit more than the color of your eyes raised in an artistic Irish Italian family with Venetian roots on his mother's side Richard still owns some of the work he created when he was just 5 years old so the theme is the same as today yeah I get a kick out of looking at him now the same year he started helping his Godfather repair the broken fingers of statues at the local church when they found out I could build that stuff oh man I mean I just they put me right to work an uncle who owned a marble shop gave him small blocks of the stone to work with and another uncle gave Richard sculpting clay from the local Brickyard where he operated the Kiln take it home and sculpt things i' take it to my uncle he'd stick it in the corners in the kils and fire it for me so I I just been working on stuff forever geves never went to Art School well not self-taught it's my tribal Heritage and never went to college my sister who came after me said there were some drawings on my mother's womb so how can you miss when you got that kind of good Jean Pool you're coming from at 15 Richard went to a travel show in St Louis where at the Wyoming Tourism Booth he met a shason girl the teenager invited him to visit her family's Ranch on the Wind River Indian reservation I came up for the Roundup and that it was to here to Fort was so I mean that's it been here ever since y yeah see a sculptor is different than uh a painter a painter uh puts his image on an existing surface a sculptor put something in space that did not exist so he he has to be a builder that's my inventory just piled up there gavves can build most anything his unusual studio is a rambling set of connected rooms filled with all kinds of tools for Woodworking and other projects including the restoration of the 1968 Toyota Land Cruiser he drives to this day Victorian sculpture Don keyote this renaissance man is interested in virtually everything I'm a bookaholic as you can tell from his vast collection of books books are good friends I mean you can visit them whenever you want to every corner that you can store books in I got them there are collections of masks and oldtime Saddles at one time I had a complete collection of all of the military Saddles from the Civil War to when they muster out in 1942 a certified Marksman and Hunter gaves can tell you all about the Wyoming prong horn which is not an analou an antalope to be a true antalope they have to have solid hair our prong horns have hollow hair Richard also owns a collection of authentic Indian artifacts that he uses as models for his art are these real bear claws here yeah there is so much stuff to get interested in world isn't there just everything turns me on what turns on the Western Art world is his amazing talent gavves is won most every major award at the nation's top Western art shows his sculptures are prized by collectors around the world and his Monumental sized Works Grace art museums and other institutions it's all inspired by Grieves love of the West its history and his neighborhood I just happen to live in the Rocky Mountains and and among Indians and that's the only subject matter I got see so now in his mid 80s Richard doesn't even know how many sculptures he's created but this happy and contented man who loves his work has no plans to retire I've been really fortunate to be able to make a living in what I like doing and not many people get to do that you know not many people get to do that so I I've had a I've had really a good life hi Mark Bor today's Wild West is in South pass City a Wyoming state Historic Site that's an authentic slice of the old west we'll show you coming up on today's Wild West the oldtime saloon piano plays again in South pass City just like it did more than 150 years ago if someone were to come back in a time machine they would recognize this town now a Wyoming state Historic Site the wild west mining town is home to two dozen authentic buildings including three saloons with lots of fascinating artifacts we don't try to disguise that we use replicas but if it looks old and it looks authentic it likely came from this very town like the furniture the bar that kind of thing uh date back to the early years of the town too there were 14 saloons here where a few customers probably spent a night or two at the original Sweetwater County Jail not a place you'd want to stay yes that's what a real jail was like the town sprung up after gold was discovered in 1867 this is the place and there's mine workings as small as this that are in upwards of 90 ft deep historically at its peak 2,000 people lived here in the remote Wind River mountains at an elevation of 8,000 ft 35 Mi south of present day Lander Wyoming and the site is just 8 mil North of the famous South pass of the Oregon Trail where you can still see the ruts of the wagon trains that carried half a million Pioneers West in the 1800s back in 1869 South pass city was the second biggest town in Wyoming territory but the Gold Strike that triggered the boom soon went bust and it wasn't long before South past city was as deserted as it is [Applause] today but thanks to new mining technology South South pass City boomed again in the 1890s you could tour the Hard Rock mining operation that in today's dollars produced nearly $300 million worth of gold and I usually start with a bunch of ominous type warnings about a Bandon mine sites the underground mine went bust again then boomed again in the 1920s and again in the 1940s before finally shutting down for good in the early 50s leaving behind the last generation of equipment of it operable I mean this is great people don't know what they're missing if they haven't had a chance to take this tour and see how gold was really mind here after the tour you can wander the historic town if you're looking for the old west south P city is the real deal and it really represents an authentic situation this is not a a Reconstruction from the ground up people are looking at 20 historic structures on their original locations south past City is living history that you can experience for yourself in today's Wild West folks understand that I think when they leave this place that that was the real [Music] thing it's a place where the world seems very far away those words are from an old promotional poster but still ring true today as the horses are driven in in the morning at Sweetgrass Ranch it just has a a real sort of magical field from the first time I came I said well this is where I want to come back to every Summers Val Cravens has been coming to Sweet Grass most every summer for 30 years it's just a really really beautiful place here at the foot of the Crazy Mountains about an hour north of Big Timber Montana and 20 mi off the nearest highway you'll find a refuge where cell phones don't work you can escape the computer and discover a world of unspoiled country great horses and a beloved family whose Roots here date back to the 1880s my great grandmother came from New York City and so many people came out to visit the ranch that they decided that they had to start asking guests to pay and then borrowing on that idea it may be August but it feels like you're coming home for Christmas when you arrive on a Sunday afternoon the historic Lodge is buzzing with friendly conversation as returning guests or those here for the first time get a warm and friendly welcome from owners Shelly and Bill kosha each week is a new family reunion and a lot of guests choose to come at the same week each time each year so that they meet the people that they've met here before there's great hiking fishing and swimming but horses are the star attraction of this place with all kinds of country to ride in and since this is also a working cattle ranch guests get to live the Cowboy Dream working cows and driving cattle how was the cattle drive great yeah great experience glad I did it we've seen a bear and a golden eagle and about 45 elk it was awesome yeah really good yes so the back of Billy Bob the front of Billy Bob am I going too fast for anyone yet Monday mornings begin at the Corral with some good-natured basic training on horsemanship dos and don'ts how to stay safe never wrap anything please so don't do this when we're walking through the trees or at lunch CU if he takes off he might just take some digits with him sweet grass is wide open country and Riders can spread out and enjoy this is truly amazing like C said this morning all we have is wide open space whether you're a rodeo star or brand new to the saddle this is my first time riding a horse so the ranch has a horse and a ride that are a perfect fit for you wow and they gave you a pretty one yes Blondie Blondie and off we go the country is amazing Wrangler Jake leads us up to the High Country up up and up a mountain trail with a break now and then they let our horses catch their breath it's not long before we reach a spectacular Overlook the weather's perfectday nearly a th000 ft higher than the ranch [Music] below the horses do a wonderful job of letting people relax and really be themselves W there we go perfect awesome took like six good the whole place is pretty relaxed rules are few and the staff shares meals with the guests staff family and guests are all family there aren't any divisions and it's sometimes it's hard to tell who's a guest and who works here beautiful and when the staff does have free time they can settle up and join the fun like this happy group Wrangler will sogg leads the way riding bearback on a horse that needed a break from the saddle this is my fourth summer working here so it has to say something about how good it is these young Ranch hands can all ride and ride fast am I supposed to know Fun Bunch to hang out with you can spend all day on a horse but there are other attractions as well one of the things I really like about sweet grass Ranch is its rustic main Lodge really adds to the oldwest Ambiance of this place built about a 100 years ago ago it's now listed on the national register of historic places there's a cool stone fireplace a wolf hangs on the wall and a buffalo watches over the piano but a young guest brings to life you can stay upstairs in Lodge rooms that have their own Western flavor most guests will stay in a private cabin when the dinner bell rings we all head for the lodge dining room for delicious comfort food served family style because for one week We Are Family a happy one at that and there's no faking it it really is a special place you're here you're sharing their life with them you feel like you can be a part of it it's so flexible like with what you want to do what kind of rides you want to do if you want to ride or don't want to ride and there's hiking and fishing and it's a pretty simple formula good times good friends beautiful country great horses how are you good how was your day it was great and when was the last time you hung out on the porch and talked Simple Pleasures they really are the best Bill and shell set the tone and the tradition that the sixth generation of the family is now carrying on we're very very fortunate we're the luckiest people in the world we're very blessed with with the with the country that God gave us and with the family that we've raised and especially so many of them are here with us you're continuing the operation thank God that's it for now we're back next time with more cool stuff from today's Wild West I'm Mark bador we'll see you down the trail for more information on the people in places featured in today's wild west or to order show DVDs and books visit today's wild west.com funding for today's Wild West provided by the Leed foundation and the Chuck Wagon Trail Riders Foundation oh [Music]