In 1843 emigrants moving west often used the Oregon Trail, but by the 1850s traffic on the Oregon Trail was so heavy that another road leading westward was needed. To help alleviate the Oregon Trail traffic congestion, the government funded the 345 mile Pacific Wagon Road form South Pass (Wyoming) to City of Rocks (Idaho). The 256 mile segment from South Pass to Old Fort Hall is known as the Lander Cut-Off and was immediately very popular because it saved seven travel days on the emigrant's westward journey. The Pacific Wagon Road was the first government funded road project in the west and was constructed in 90 days at a cost of $67,873.
Today, US Highway 89 parallels the Lander Cut-Off south of Afton, Wyoming.
Afton was made famous at the 2000 Summer Olympics when home-town resident Rulon Gardner (considered to be an underdog) beat the Russian wrestler for the Gold Medal. Today, Afton is know as a premier hunting and fishing destination.
Located on the south side of Afton is a new LDS Temple that is under construction and scheduled to open in the near future.
Across the highway from the Temple is an interesting wood carving gallery. In addition to making large engraved wooden wall-hangings, they also sell individual hand-carved works of art.
Fate was not with me when I entered Afton because when I pulled over to the curb on Main Street to take a picture of the World's Largest Elkhorn Arch, I parked right in front of a quilt shop. After taking pictures of the arch, I had plenty of time to kill; so I walked up-and-down Main Street taking pictures of interesting buildings and statues.
Traveling north from Afton we stopped to take a picture of an old Rock Church in Auburn, and then on to Freedom (Wyoming).
Most people over 40 years of age will remember that "Dirty Harry" always carried a .44 Magnum pistol, which he said was the most powerful handgun in the World. Apparently "Dirty Harry" did not ever visited the Freedom Arms factory in Freedom, Wyoming.
In addition to the .44 Magnum pistol, Freedom Arms also makes the .454 Casull, the .475 Linebaugh, and for people that really like a little extra power, they manufacture a .50 Wyoming Express. The base price for their handguns starts at $2,743 and then goes up with size and options.
As a demonstration of power, the showroom has a 1/4 inch solid steel plate that has a small .357 dent, a larger .44 magnum dent, then a .454 hole that goes through the plate. Yes, it is the .454, or .50, that you definitely want to carry if you are going to be in grizzly bear country!
The entire factory lobby is filled with trophy wild game that has been taken with Freedom handguns -- and you don't want to miss the bathrooms!
Just north of Freedom, in the community of Etna, is the really unique Baker Log Cabin, which also happens to be the oldest surviving house in Star Valley.
During the winter of 1888-1889 Alonzo Baker, his wife Anna, and their seven children lived in a tent and overturned wagon box.
In the spring, Alonzo and his ten year old son found work in Montana, leaving Anna and six kids in Etna. Since Anna did not have anything to do during the summer, except take care of the farm and six kids (one of which was a baby), she decided to build a log cabin, assisted only by her 12-year old daughter May.
Anna hauled stones for the foundation from a canyon on the east side of the Valley and cut trees from the same area. She hand-hewed the logs to the proper size and thickness and then by hand she fashioned precise dovetail joints in each of the log corners. During this time period, all of the cabins in the area had dirt floors, but Anna wanted a wood floor, so she used uniform log poles for floor joists and then used planks for the floor. (This was the first log cabin built in the area with a wood floor.) When the cabin was completed, summer was not over, so she built all of the furniture for the cabin.
Anna lived in the cabin for 10 years, then died at 42 years of age while giving birth to her twelfth child. Alanzo remarried had had another six children.
As a testimony of how well-built the log cabin is, the cabin was moved twice (with no damage) -- once it was pulled two miles by a 12-horse team and in 1991 it was lifted onto a truck and moved to its present location.
Maybe I'll have my wife build me a log cabin next summer while I'm up in Montana fishing!
Leaving Etna, the road goes through the "Grand Canyon of the Snake River" and then over to Jackson Hole.
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