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Show Browns Parle -; , ' szzrj - - - . r i f ( ? ' , . !- SI 0 . . ..rSfc fey it - -., ... I -V Vv.-.N If f, ill ! llMl Mil ! IWIOMM'lT 1 ..1 : ,r, K .V -m .S.B t- V REMINDERS OF the past adorn the wall of a stone building on the Jarvie Ranch in Browns Park. The colorful history of the John Jar-vie Jar-vie property in Browns Park is being uncovered by the slow excavation of what is believed to have been the center of his enterprising stewardship his store and house. Four BLM employees have been at the site this summer digging out two-meter two-meter square sections where the store house are believed to be. In 1878 John Jarvie moved with his new bride to Browns Park, then noted as a hideout for outlaws and rustlers. Jarvie, a scotman, ran a saloon in Rock Springs, Wyo. before he moved to Browns Park. He and his wife lived six months in a low ceiling dugout while they built their store and house. The dugout was built from railroad logs which washed down the Green River during a flood. The Jarvie property pro-perty is idealy situated about 100 feet from the north bank of the river. During its most popular time there were over 5,000 head of cattle in the Browns park area. Daily mail service to the park was a link between Vernal and Rock Springs. "They had better mail service then than we do now," said Ted Sinclear, care-taker and tour guide of the property. proper-ty. Because the Browns Park area was used, by famous outlaws as Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and Matt Warner, Jarvie is said to have been aquainted with them and his dugout was allegedly used as their hideout. The purpose for the excavation of the store is the desires of many people to create an on-site museum of the area, said Earl Smith, BLM. According to Pam Smith, archaeologist ar-chaeologist at the dig, progress in excavating ex-cavating the store is slow because of the hardness of the soil. During the summer two volunteer , workers and two archeaologist have been at the site. ' ,. S tMM " " - .j V. a o : ' , ; ,- i .; . "k. . ;: .. - . ' i S . ; t' - ,,.,.- " , " ' . , ... r ; .v . ' - -A-'i I , ..-. : Alt I I . v. - - ' v .--v.vv . . i x ' , 4 s . -' . t ; I MELISSA BINDER, volunteer, uses a geologist's hammer to loosen soil which has been hardened over the years. Her findings will be used to recreate the Jarvie store and house. ,, ..si-. j 'fv . j J - fc. , ... V THEIR FIRST house in Browns Park was a dugout where Jarvie and his new bride stayed for six months. Susan Zeller, volunteer, guides a tour through the dugout. "I wish we could say that we have found the pistol of Butch Casidy, but most of the artifacts we've uncovered have been small items," Miss Smith said showing some of the nails and a Levi pant's snap. Eventually the storehouse will be recreated as a living museum, said David Soupe, BLM recreation advisor. There are four graves on the Jarvie property. Two of the men were drown in the river. The other two graves belong to Jesse Ewing a prospector, and a Mr. Robinson who Ewing killed in a squabble over a mining claim. "Ironically Jarvies buried the two side by side," Susan Zeller, volunteer at the dig said. In 1909 Jarvie was murdered and his store ransacked by two transient workers from Rock Springs, Wyo. His body was placed in a boat and pushed out into the Green River. It was discovered eight days later just above the Gates of Lodore in the eastern end of Browns Park. He is buried in the Ladore Cemetery, and his murderers were never captured. In December last year, the Bureau of Land Management purchased the 35 acres which belonged to Jarvie and now conducts tours of the property, and excavation. The most notable of the structures on the property is the stone house built in 1888 by John Bennett, who learned to be a mason while in prison. Bennett was hung by vigilantes for his part in the murder of a local man. The plank from which he was hung is now in the stone house as part of a small museum. .Under the plank is a quote from the local newspaper reporting the hanging as being "jerked to glory." It's a two-hour-ride into Browns Park , which is accessable from Diamond ' Mountain, northwest of Vernal or from Dutch John. Tours of the Jarvie proper-t proper-t ty are conducted 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mon-' Mon-' day through Friday. v ,Y ; . .-..V-i'VI - , Y' v - . . . - ' -"4" 1 ' '. t ' w SOIL TAKEN from the excavation is screened to locate any ar- 3 tifacts taken from the dig at the Jarvie Ranch. i " |
