WHAT TO SEE
- National Bighorn Sheep Interpretive Center
An educational and enjoyable experience for everyone, the center is a joint effort of the Wyoming Game and Fish, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Town of Dubois and numerous organizations and individuals. The purpose of the center is to provide a learning experience about the successful wildlife and habitat management techniques used at Whiskey Mountain; to highlight the biology and history of bighorn sheep; and to show how people working together can manage a place for wildlife in today’s world.
- Dubois Museum
Originally sponsored by the local Lion’s Club and dedicated by the “Old Timers” of the area on July 4, 1976, this project was aided with a Bi-Centennial grant. The displays are unique to the Dubois region and feature a large collection of Tie hack tools and photographs; a diorama and history of the Sheep Eater Indians, who lived in the area; full mounts of the bighorn sheep family in their natural setting and many other interesting items.
- Headwaters Community Arts and Conference Center
Built in 1995, the 17,000 sq. ft. facility is for the use of the Dubois community and to encourage conventions, seminars and symposiums to come to Dubois. With one large conference room (48’x 100’) built to divide into three meeting rooms which will hold 30-1—people each or accommodate 350-600 when left open. The building is also home of the Wind River Valley Artists’ Guild Art Gallery with a permanent art collection of over 60 original works of art. For further information on the Center call 307-455-2687.
- Dubois Fish Hatchery
Situated at the base of the Whiskey Mountain bighorn sheep winter range on the east slope of the Wind River Mountains, the state of Wyoming maintains a fish hatchery. The Dubois hatchery can be reached via a short drive south of U.S. Highways 26/287 just five miles east of town of Dubois. A fish rearing station was in use at this location in the 1930s, this was abandoned in 1937, and the present hatchery replaced it in 1940. In 1944 it was further expanded with 44 cement ‘raceways’ providing outdoor homes for developing fish. Two natural springs, together, supply more than a million gallons of water a day to the hatchery. The springs are located 1 ¼ miles from Jakey’s Fork Creek, and numerous land grants, easements and long-term leases were procured by the Wyoming Game and Fish commission in order to pipe the water to the hatchery facility farther down the canyon. Due to it’s location, the Dubois hatchery facility serves an extremely important function by caring for eggs taken from the cutthroat (native) spawning operation each spring at Lake of the Wood in the Union Pass area, 30 miles southwest of Dubois. This spawning operation furnishes a major portion of the cutthroat eggs for the entire sate of Wyoming. The Dubois hatchery also cares for rainbow, golden, brook and brown trout. Visitors are welcome.
- Tie Hack Memorial
Dubois has long been connected with the timber industry. Beginning in 1924, the Wyoming Tie and Timber Company ran tie-cutting operations near Dubois, supplying ties to support the CB & Q railroad. With the combined efforts of the Wyoming Recreation Commission, the Wyoming Highway Department and the U.S. Forest Service, a memorial dedicated to the hardy tie hacks was built. This memorial is located 18 miles northwest of Dubois on Highway 26/287.
- Tie Flumes and Old Campsites
Many old logging camps stand as mute testimony to the tie-hacking days. Little remains of the logging camps due to weathering of the old buildings. However, many artifacts of the tie cutting days are still to be found at old sites. The oldest camps were established in 1914. Up until 1913, colorless glass was manufactured with an impurity that resulted in its turning purple after years of exposure to sunlight. The earliest tie camps can be dated by fragments of glass that have turned purple form 90 years of exposure to the sun on the trash heaps near the camps. Other artifacts to be found in the tie camps are cross-cut saws and broad axes. Most people are familiar with cross-cut saws as they are still occasionally used. But, the broad axe has long since passed from use and become an antique.
- Union Pass Historical Site
Continuing on from the bridge on Warm Springs, the road on Union Pass is very scenic. Approximately 15 miles farther is the Union Pass monument. This includes a history and monument of Three Waters Mountain (Triple Divide Peak); Ramshorn Peak, Union Peak, Roaring Fork Watershed Vista, Cattleman’s Drift Fence, Bacon Ridge and logging roads.
- Shoshone National Forest
On March 3, 1891, Congress set aside roughly 1.25 million acres east of Yellowstone Park to ensure protection and wise use of the region’s rich natural resources. Just sixteen years later, a major portion of this reserve became the Shoshone National Forest, the nation’s first national forest, considered a model for the national forest system. Filled with more than 1,000 miles of rivers, 1,300 miles of inventoried hiking trails and 1,500 miles of roads, this spacious wildland offers diverse avenues to rustic tranquility. Compared to other national forests in the Greater Yellowstone region, the Shoshone contains the largest amount of summer range for bighorn sheep, elk, and deer. It also has more moose habitat than the six other national forest combined.