Would you take a bath in this?

Pictured is an antique cast iron and wood bathtub pioneers
bathed in. Water was heated in pans on coal-burning stoves
and poured into the tub. It must have taken a lot of pans full
of water to fill that tub!

Can you imagine taking a bath in a tub like the one pictured on the left?

How about traveling in a covered wagon, cooking on a cast iron stove, sleeping on a feather tick mattress or one stuffed with hay?

Back in the 1800s when easterners decided to pack up and move, hoping to improve their fortunes in the west, they gave up most comforts offered in civilization.

They left behind families and friends, most times never seeing them again. Would you be brave enough to do that? I don't think I would.

I recently paid a visit to Encampment, Wyoming, where some of the richest copper mines could be found at the turn of the century. It was a booming time and people settled in the region, working hard to make a living.

My husband's family went there back in the day, and he has a rich history of how they settled the land and proudly raised their families.

If you ever have a chance to visit the Grand Encampment Museum, located in Wyoming's Carbon County, you will see amazing displays featuring the pioneers' plows, buggies, clothing, eating utensils and plates, cabins and other items.

You will get plenty of exercise exploring this place while visiting the museum and touring the grounds, which feature restored buildings. Here is the museum's website if you want more information: http://gemuseum.com/

What are some of the historical sites you have enjoyed visiting?

                          At the Grand Encampment Museum, barns and cabins have been relocated
                          from communities throughout the region to represent a thriving frontier town.

A replica of a two-story outhouse, which was needed when
deep snow coated the mountains, burying the lower level.

Most homes were of the one-room, log cabin variety.

A few comforts from home could be found.

Settlers managed to bring finer items to the frontier.

Cast iron coal-fired stoves gave food a smoky flavor.

Before trains, wagons carried families west to seek new fortunes.

A tiny, one-room school house built for a rancher's children
to be taught in

The arial tramway's 800 buckets could each carry up to 700 pounds
of copper ore from the Ferris Haggerty mine.