11 Aug - Camel Discovery, Yellowstone Gateway Museum, Livingston Depot Center Museum

11 Aug
Another busy day.  We started out by walking directly across the highway from our campground to the Camel Discovery.  They have about eight camels and they offer photo opportunities, camel rides and longer camel treks in the country.  They also offer lodging in cabins as well as teepee's.

This camel was visiting here from the Seattle zoo to get some social experience with riders and other camels. She was going home today!

 Doreen signed up for the camel ride, so we could send some pictures to daughter Jennifer since she sent us a camel picture recently from her deployed location.

Doreen getting ready to "saddle-up"!

And off we go!  This camel is "Jefferson".

Stopping for a photo op.

This two hump camel is from Asia and he was the only male that had not been "fixed".  He is not regularly ridden by customers.

The camel wanted to give Doreen a little "smooch".  Doreen was not so keen on this...!

This was the baby of the bunch.

 One of the trainers here gave us a ton of facts about camels and answered a lot of questions from us.  The United States quit importing camels in 1970, so there is a threat of in-breeding.

It's not even hump day yet!!

They have these huge pads or calluses on their knees and belly.  This protects them from the heat of the desert.

After Doreen's camel adventure,  we headed downtown Livingston.  We walked around a bit looking at the shops and stores and had some lunch.  Then we headed to the Livingston Depot Center Museum. 

 Livingston used to be a huge train center especially for those traveling to and from the west and northwest.  The first depot was a modest building that burned in 1888.  The second depot was built in brick and served the community until 1902 when this magnificent building was built.  It served as the Northern Pacific Railroad 's original access to Yellowstone Park.  It was the stop for passengers until 1979 when Amtrak suspended passenger service to southern Montana.   This depot was half way between St Paul and Seattle.   There was a huge maintenance facility here and the trains were serviced before they headed west through the Rockie Mountain passes.  After 1979 the building was abandoned and fell into bad repair.  Fortunately the City was able to purchase it and fully restored it as shown in these pictures.  It is only open May-Sept and then during the winter months it serves as a community center, for weddings, banquets, etc.  Here are some pictures:

Then

Now.  Little has changed

Communications back in the day

Original drinking fountain

Inside the agent's office.  Like they just walked away from it!

Control station inside the engine

Many artifacts displayed

Maintaining the tracks

Conductor uniform

Next we drove to the Yellowstone Gateway Museum, just a few blocks away on the north side of the tracks.  It is located inside an old three story elementary school building in a residential area.  The exhibits are native cultures, expeditions, pioneers, transportation and firefighting.

This was the North Side School from 1907 to 1970

 

A caboose located out front

The first display involves structural and wildland firefighting.  They put a lot of work into this display.

Various firefighting tools of the trade.

Old Firefighting equipment

An old gas pump and other automotive memorabilia

An old bicycle

Doreen posing inside the Northern Pacific rail car mock-up

Various railroad artifacts

An old sled pulled by horses in Yellowstone to transport freight

A kitchen area in a local home

Memorabilia from a downtown store

Doreen's new friend!!

Native American artifacts and local rocks

A "dugout" canoe

Old baseball uniforms from a local team

Native American displays including a teepee

Arrowheads

 Outside in the rear of the building they had fire apparatus and other old vehicles plus a blacksmith shop and a one room schoolhouse

Pretty amazing this 1936 American LaFrance engine was in service and used to provide fire suppression in the town of Livingston until 1984!  Wow!

An old horse-drawn coach used to transport tourists in Yellowstone

A very old wooden 50 ft ground ladder.  Notice the "tormentor poles" used to stabilize the ladder because of it's height.

Inside a covered wagon, complete with bed

The blacksmith shop building

Like they just walked away from it

Notice all the horse shoes hanging on the wall and the coal-fired stove to heat the steel

The Urbach School building

Inside the one-room school house 

For a relatively small town they are sure doing a great job of preserving their history.  We really enjoyed visiting these museums and learning more about the community and the people who lived here.

Tomorrow we plan to visit Yellowstone National Park one more time and do the walking tour of Mammoth Hot Springs Army facility and then visit the actual springs as well.