Historic generosity

Representatives from the Crook County Museum District and Sundance State Bank convened outside Old Stoney on Thursday so a $25,000 check could exchange hands. The funds complete the bank's promised $50,000 donation towards the renovation project.

"We've always been a big supporter of the community and we felt like this project was a key component of this community's success going forward," smiled Andy Miller, President of Sundance State Bank, as he handed over the check.

"Having this kind of space and attraction and keeping people in town longer is important for our businesses; it's important for people who live here; and it's important for the history of this community, so we wanted to make sure this project happened and we're glad we could take part in it."

The bank committed to the contribution early on in the process after it became clear that Old Stoney would fall short in funding despite a grant from the State Lands and Investments Board.

"The first half we made last year as the project kicked off and this year we're happy to do the other half of that and see it finished off. It's a gem for the community," Miller said.

"We're happy to do it and we're grateful for the community we live in."

Museum Director Rocky Courchaine summed up the district's gratitude.

"The bank has been full support forever – for the community, for this project," he said. "We appreciate everything they have done for us, it's been amazing."

After leading bank representatives on a tour to show off the progress that has been made, Courchaine listed the many items now being scratched from the project's to-do list.

"They are sheet rocking, they are mudding and taping, the painters will be here next week to do the first coat of the interior," he said. "They are tiling the bathrooms. At the back door to the archival storage, they had to put a new stairwell in because it wasn't up to code."

The interior will be mostly painted white, but Courchaine is mulling over the idea of using a more "institutional" color in the school exhibit room. "I've got to have that in there," he grinned.

For the last few months, the elevator has proven an ongoing challenge after it was discovered during the excavation process that the building's footers only go down two feet at the edge of the building –17 feet above the depth the elevator needs to reach. It's still a work in progress, Courchaine said, but plenty of other work is going on in the meantime and Old Stoney looks more like a functional building every day.

At the present time, the completion date is expected to be June 14. This may change depending on the situation with the elevator, but Courchaine is confident it will be complete this summer.

Because summer is the busiest time for the museum, Courchaine is planning to make the move to Old Stoney in the fall, once the tourist season is winding down and fewer visitors are hoping to tour the museum. At that time, 14,000 artifacts will need to make the transition into their new home.

The museum director will be looking for help from the community when that time comes, and will be hosting a night of classes for potential volunteers. Though the two locations are close to one another, they might just as easily be a thousand miles apart, Courchaine said, because every artifact will still need to be prepared properly and transported with care.

Almost all of them are fragile, from silk sofas to old furniture. Rules such as lifting something with the palms of the hand rather than the fingers are second nature to Courchaine after so many years working with historic items, he said, but may not be so obvious to volunteers.

"We will have an expert from the Wyoming State Archaeology coming in to show us how to properly prepare the skulls and Native American artifacts to move, we'll have somebody to talk about the books and how to properly box them up and how to properly wrap crystal," he lists. "It's going to be a long process; it's not going to happen in a weekend. It will be ongoing over a couple of weeks."

Dates for the class and moving activity will be announced nearer the time.