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Cross Country Vacation Sept./Oct. 2025-Post 29

Posted on January 26, 2026 | 6 comments

Wyoming Territorial Prison – Part 4

Prisoners worked in the brickyard, the stone quarry, tie hauling, gardening, cutting ice blocks from the Laramie River to store in the ice house for sale during the summer months and other outdoor work.

Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site

*Clicking on a photo will give you a closer look!

In order to supply indoor work, other than the kitchen, laundry, cigar and candle making, the Prison Industries Building at the Wyoming Territorial Prison was built to raise revenue, manage the prison population, and maintain a workshop year-round.

“The health of the convicts demands that some arrangement be made for their employment, particularly during the winter season when such expedients as outdoor drill & are not practicable. Under existing circumstances there is no available room suitable for shop uses: therefore, that such accommodation may be secured at small expense to the State I make the above proposition. The experience of the past year have shown conclusively that steady and moderate employment is absolutely essential to good health of the inmates of the Pen. It is therefore humane to furnish them a place and the means of occupation.” – James Marsh, former warden

Using mostly prisoner labor, the building cost $618.19 to build and was completed in about 1 month. The first floor was for manufacturing and the second floor was for storage. From 1895 to 1903 the factory operated under a lease agreement as the Laramie Broom Company.

Broomcorn is related to the sorghums used for grain and syrup. The coarse, fibrous seed head has been used to make brooms and brushes for several hundred years.

Spinning Thresher:

The Broom Tying Machine:

The Broom Sewing Clamp:

The Broom Trimming Table:

The equipment was purchased from the D. E. Morrison and Magee Company of Beatrice, Nebraska. Morrison and Magee were the broom factory managers.

At the height of broom production there were eight tying machines, one trimmer, ten sewing clamps, a dozen broom knives and hatchets, and one dyeing tank. Prisoners made kitchen, whisk, and small or half size handle brooms. Prisoners manufactured about 3,100 items per month. Each broom sold between $.09 and $.23.

Typically two shifts of 25-30 prisoners made brooms.

Furniture handcrafted and assembled by inmates at the Wyoming Territorial Prison.

The finish on this gorgeous bench was achieved by rubbing the wood with mayonnaise.

This ends my Wyoming Territorial Prison at Laramie series. If the Wild West is your jam, I encourage you to visit if you ever have the opportunity!

See the world around you!

Cross Country Vacation Sept./Oct. 2025-Post 27

Posted on January 19, 2026 | Leave a comment

Wyoming Territorial Prison – Part 2

What makes visiting historical places so interesting is the people that lived during the times of these places. Wyoming Territorial State Prison Historical Site, also known as ‘the big house across the river’, does a great job of sharing their stories. I am sharing a few in this post, so if you want to stick around, you might want to get yourself a cup. The photographs of the convicts are taken from their actual mug shots and are on display all over the walls of the penitentiary (from the word penitent).

Dr. May Preston Slosson was a very accomplished and gifted woman. In 1880, she became the first female doctoral graduate from Cornell University, as well as the first woman in the U.S. to earn a PhD in philosophy. She was an author, an educator, a painter, world traveler, and a suffragette.

In 1898, Slosson was chair of the prison committee of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and she organized lectures for prisoners at the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Laramie. Prison Warden N. D. McDonald submitted her name, and Slosson was appointed Prison Chaplain on July 7, 1899, becoming the first female prison chaplain in the U.S.

Dr. Slosson aimed to build up the prisoners’ sense of self-respect and provide education that she believed would assist in an orderly transition from prison life to life outside the walls. Beyond leading religious services, she continued the lecture series, provided study programs, counseled prisoners, provided church services, arranged social programs, and served as a librarian and record keeper. In prisons of silence chaplains often acted as the voice of the prisoners. Warden McDonald supported her work because under her guidance as Chaplain, the prison punishment rate dropped by fifty percent.

“I enjoyed the work . The place was tragic, that is true.” – May Preston Slosson

Let’s meet a few of the prisoners who occupied cells like this one:

*Clicking on a photo will give you a closer look!

Out of 1063 prisoners at the penitentiary, there was a total of 13 women, with one of them serving time twice.

The women’s quarters offered no special amenities to the women. However, they did have relative privacy as their quarters were set well away from the male prisoner’s quarters. They had their own bathroom as well.

The women were not allowed out of the cellblock during their stay except to go to chapel. They did have use of the library. The wardens were determined to keep the women totally segregated from the men. They did not wear uniforms, nor did they have their heads shaved. Female convicts were perceived as a nuisance by male administrators throughout the West.

The women prisoners were not required to do heavy labor. They made and mended clothing for the male and female convicts.

Minnie Hulett Snyder and her husband, Peter, ranched in the Big Horn Basin region of Wyoming. They were having troubles with S. W. Aldrich, a neighbor.

An unknown person fired into Aldrich’s window one night and he claimed it was Minnie. Following horse tracks, April 3, 1898, led Aldrich and his men to the Snyders’ home. The Snyders and the Aldrich group set off to talk to Judge Benedict on Bull Creek. At the crossing of Belknaff Creek, near present day Cody, someone opened fire, and everyone took cover and pulled weapons. When the shooting was over, John Rooks, a friend of Aldrich, was dead and several believe Minnie fired the fatal shot with a Winchester.

The Snyders called it an ambush. Aldrich and his men claimed Peter was cattle rustling. Minnie told the jury that Aldrich was making advances and she wanted him to stop. Aldrich had been known to make unwanted advances towards women. Some said Aldrich wanted the Snyder ranch. In the end, the Snyders were convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to terms in prison. Aldrich was never implicated in any wrongdoing.

Letters from friends requesting her pardon attest to Minnie’s innocence. Minnie kept houseplants and a pet canary; she couldn’t be a killer. Opponents called Minnie debased, lewd, and ‘having no womanly instincts’.

95-pound Minnie kept her silence and endured years behind bars. The whole time, she and Peter were never allowed to speak to each other. Aldrich got the Snyder ranch, but, in the end, the entire Marquette area where these events occurred went underwater with the construction of the Buffalo Bill Dam and Reservoir in 1910.