A Room-by-Room Tour
of the Saguache County Museum

The factual story of the past will be revealed as you wander from the 1860s kitchen, with the table set for dinner, and through six more rooms until you reach the Memorial room where past citizens of Saguache are honored.

In the kitchen you will see such antiques as the baby high chair/stroller. Simply release the latch on the chair and you have an instant stroller. Those old timers were pretty clever.  A beautiful handmade quilt adorns the north wall; the table is set with ironstone dishes; the wooden hand churn sits near a small rocker, so mother can rock baby and churn all at once.  The iron cookstove is nearby for warmth, as well as cooking. The teakettle was always on, with iron pots and pans nearby.  Cupboards contain bowls and crocks, flour and spices, and in one are many medicine bottles, most of them ninety percent alcohol.  All manner of useful items are in this kitchen, which was the main living quarter of our fore bearers!  (Remember there was no central heating, no electricity, and no running water.)

The schoolmarm is a replica of a teacher who taught in Saguache schools for many years (and who helped set up this school room in 1959).  Many adults step into the room and immediately  recognize "Bessie" the teacher!  McGuffy's readers along with early schoolbooks are encased in a glass cabinet.  Quill pens and fountain pens, which were filled with ink from a bottle, are on the teacher's desk.  Reading charts which are still helpful today with children who have weak reading skills, and pictures of many classes are on view, on the old pump organ in the room.


Next is the Spanish-Indian Room, filled with beautiful rugs, Indian finery, Sioux beadwork, Pueblo pottery, and basketry.  An early Santos hangs on the south wall, with the handsome family Bible, written in Spanish, displayed in a glass case.  Beautiful shawls, Spanish and Indian blankets, and very old local arrow points, artifacts, and pottery are in this room.


The Mineral Room was entirely the work of the late Helen Ashley Anderson Kempner of Bonanza.  Helen was the daughter of a mining man who taught her the joys of  geology.  She collected mineral samples from all over the world and they are all here for you to enjoy.  Miners' paraphernalia rests on the windowsills and hangs on the wall, some even on the floor.  The fluorescent collection in the darkroom is one of the special delights for visitors of all ages.


The "Wesley deCamp Room" has objects for gun lovers, barbed wire collectors and spur enthusiasts.  Spurs in this collection are from some of the earliest spur makers.  Western history dominates this room.  Huge branding irons, saddles, and trappings for horses, a farmer's scythe, horseshoes, and snowshoes are exhibited.


The Parlor is a favorite with all visitors.  You can believe you are in the 1870s with portraits and photographs of early Saguache pioneers.  The guide surprises you with music from the Corona reed pipe playing "My Darling Nellie Grey," or maybe "Drink to Me Only with Your Eyes."  The paper music rolls date back to the Chicago's World Fair, still in excellent condition.  Antique dishes resting on red satin are visible in the early wooden display.  Atop the case in the room is a newly acquired collection of fine china dolls with two gorgeous larger dolls atop the 1700s piano across the room.  Vintage family Bibles, family heirloom watches, gleaming silver tea sets and ladies dressed in their 1890s "vogue" finery who gaze demurely at the family portraits adorning the walls, are only part of the interesting items you will enjoy in our "Parlor."  A fine "Flo Blue" China bedroom toiletry set is encased beside historic saddles and braided leather whips and bridles, made by local ranchers for their daily use.  A unique German town Navajo rug looks haughtily down from the wall, still "remembering" that it once graced a local Grand Piano!  Also, in this room there is a special case in which a different display is featured annually - often honoring a recently deceased member of the community, or as is the case today, featuring a composite of four unique local collections.  Smaller collections, including pictures, give brief histories of persons of prominence in early day Saguache County.


The last room to visit is the Memorial Room, which was added in the 1970s to honor past residents.  You can visit Dr. Shippey's office.  He practiced in Saguache for 40 years as a doctor, dentist, barber and he was probably the coroner also.  Arrowheads from the Glen Curtis and Fred Syfried collections are in abundance.  (The comment "No wonder I can't find one, they are all in this Museum.")  The Shellabarger gun display of superb English and American guns is another favorite display.


The jail with the sign above the iron bar door reads "Saguache County Jail 1908."  Remember this date when someone tells you " Alferd Packer was actually imprisoned in this building."  Alfie was captured in 1874, but held in a dungeon outside of town, from which he did escape.  The jail holds an early ring-it-yourself telephone, the sheriff's desk, and bearskin coats, part of a still, photos of Slim Paul, the sheriff who raided a number of local stills.  The women's cell adjoining the front office holds a replica of Alfie, who sends a chill down the spine of visitors!  One gentleman said Saguache is the original home of "fast food" popularity, (as Packer was accused of eating his five companions while snowbound in Cochetopa Pass area west of Saguache).  The men's cell horrifies all who are "locked in."  Some visitors decline the invitation to step inside the heavy iron doors, and into the cells within a cell, and no one can imagine breaking out!  Graffiti covers the walls and the ceiling.  Many people visit to see if their name is still uncovered.  Saddles of local "cowboys", made by famous saddle makers are exhibited along the south wall, along with many other interesting relics of the 1800s.


The yard is another area to spend an hour.  The blacksmith shop, wagons, buggies, a whim, potato sorters, Mormon scrappers, an old well and all kinds of farming equipment are to be seen at your leisure.



The above descriptions are but a few of the items and displays you will see when you visit the Museum.  It is a virtual warehouse of the things folks used and cherished in the 18th century and early 19th century.