The Lighthouses of The Rockies

In 1943 several thousand Prisoners of War from Germany and Italy were taken across the US to the tiny farming and ranching town of Douglas, Wyoming. This episode shares oral histories from people who remembered the camp and what they learned about the people held inside.Click here to see how you can arrange a visit to the remaining Officers' Club.#WorldWarTwo #POWs #Wyoming #CampDouglas

In 2017, Dallin Cooper left Riverton, Wyoming to live in China. While there, he ate strange things, slept on hard beds, and upon returning home, had an explanation about why so many toilets in Yellowstone get broken.35 Chinese Translation FailsWhen East Meets West, Toilet Seats Take a Beating - Mike KoshmrlAs Asian Tourism Soars, the Mystery of Broken Toilet Seats Has Been Solved - Tom HowardWhat Diseases Can You Get From Sitting on a Toilet? - Dan Brennan MDWhy Do Chinese People Love Taking Photos with Western Tourists?Book Dallin to SpeakBuy Dallin's BookDallin's PodcastDallin's YouTube

In June of 1942, Japanese forces invaded two small Islands that are part of Alaska's Aleutian Islands.  We listen to two men who were there when the invasion started and one who fought to take it back. Please check out:The Battle of AttuEven More About The BattleAleut Evacuation & Internment during World war IIJoseph Sasser's Full InterviewCharles House's Full InterviewNurses' CampsAttu Boy (Nick Golodoff's Story)Last Letters From Attu (Etta Jones' Story)

In 1980, George C Scott (Patton) stared in a horror movie about a haunted house called The Changeling.  Even though the film was set in Seattle, it was based on a story written by Russel Hunter who claimed to have paranormal experiences in his home near Cheesman Park in Denver, CO in 1969. (See Photo)We talk with Katie Rudolph at the Denver Public Library about her research into Hunter's story and compare it with the movie while trying to see if there is any truth to his strange and freighting story. Katie's Research: A Denver House That Inspired a Horror Film

Bill Betenson is Butch Cassidy's great nephew and says that his great grandmother insisted that Cassidy came back to visit his family in Utah in 1925, seventeen years after his supposed death in a Bolivian shootout. While myths of outlaws surviving their supposed deaths are common, Bill and his great grandmother share a very convincing story and DNA evidence also makes the time and place of Cassidy's death highly questionable. If you enjoy this episode, you might like this one about Butch Cassidy meeting with his lawyer in Piedmont, Wyoming before the Montpelier Idaho Robbery.Butch Cassidy, My Brother by Lula Parker BetensonButch Cassidy: The Wyoming Years by Bill BetensonButch Cassidy was described as "cheery and affable" on wanted postersDNA Testing of Cassidy and Sundance's alleged remainsMore on DNA and Cassidy/Sundance

Lois Christiansen & Wendy Peterson still live within walking distance of the Ghost Town of Piedmont, Wyoming where Butch Cassidy met with his lawyer to help a friend facing a murder trial. In 1869, angry railroad workers forced dignitaries headed to the Golden Spike Ceremony in Utah off the tracks and held them there until they were paid.  We ask our interviewees what it's like living and growing up in this remote spot so close to a ghost town that played a big part in Western History.By Bill Betenson's Book Butch Cassidy: The Wyoming Years here Bub Meeks' Robbery of The Guild Store in Fort BridgerLetters from Douglas Preston to Butch CassidyWebsite to visit The Charcoal Kilns

In the early 1980's, my older brother, Mark Petersen, started volunteering at a radio station in a log cabin with grass growing on it's roof near North Pole, Alaska. Known as King Jesus North Pole (KJNP), it broadcast religious messages to native people in Alaska's interior and even into the Soviet Union. Mark tells us what it was like working at a station where he butchered his own meat and sent  on-air messages to trappers and gold miners in Alaska's remote regions.Photo of KJNP Courtesy of Carol M HighsmithKJNPMark's YouTube Channel: Local Highlights

In 1993, Lisa Nicolle Hamilton's family moved into an old LDS church building built just after the American Civil War. She talks about what it was like growing up in the old building and how her family adapted the building into a home and the community's reaction to the church's new use. Lisa's YouTube ChannelThe Old Grantsville ChurchTwinpectol (Lisa's brothers' band with the song about living in the Church)Hey Kim and Katie (Lisa's relatives' podcast)

A strange tale involving Spanish explorers, Mormon pioneers, a spiritualist, possible former members of Butch Cassidy's gang, and a school teacher from Wyoming's Bridger Valley who barely made it out of the Uinta's with his life.Note: This Episode's icon is a photo of a known mine near Park City, UT and is not of any lost mines.Sources Cited:-Footprints In The Wilderness: A history of The Lost Rhoades Mines-Faded Footprints: The Lost Rhoades Gold Mines & Other Hidden Treasures of the Uinta's-The Gold of Carre-Shinob-The Dominguez & Escalante Expedition-Territorial Evolution of Mexico-Deseret News Article About Spanish Mission in Utah-Mormon Gold Coinage-Lee Davidson's 1989 Article about Amasa A Davidson's 1920 near-fatal hunt for the gold-Deseret News Article About Two Men Arrested While Hunting Gold

In a lonely spot along the Wyoming/Utah Border in the Uinta Mountains is a place called "Suicide Park." On this episode I try to find out how it got its name.Sources:History of logging in SwedenVideo of man walking on logs in a river (starts about 6 mins 19 sec)What and how much did lumberjacks eat?The icon for this episode is a photo of logging from 1939 in Wisconsin courtesy of The National Archives.