Preservation: An Artistic Renovation
By: Mark Boardman 09/25/2009
An Artistic Renovation
In 1940 Olaf Wieghorst found his calling as a Western artist. Born in Denmark in 1899, he emigrated to the U.S. in his teens. His works now grace some of the top museums in the country and were owned by U.S. presidents and cowboy stars, including Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. His pal John Wayne gave him small movie roles in McLintock! and El Dorado.
In 1999, 11 years after his death, Wieghorst’s home in El Cajon, California (near San Diego), was acquired by the Olaf Wieghorst Museum Foundation and moved to another location in town. For the next decade, the group renovated it to preserve it as a museum. Volunteers donated countless hours, supplies and funds—an estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth.
At the grand dedication of the museum this March, attendees viewed Wieghorst collectibles, including his custom cowboy boots and the last painting he worked on. Now you too can visit and see art by the Danish-American original.
619-590-3431 • WieghorstMuseum.org
Movin’ to the High Country
In 1933, the Civilian Conservation Corps built a U.S. Forest Service ranger station near Bridgeport, California. In 1962, the service moved it to Nevada’s Reese River Valley. In 2008, the building was relocated to Bend, Oregon—and in July, the renovated station reopened there as part of the High Desert Museum.
The museum’s Curator of Western History Bob Boyd and volunteer Les Joslin, who actually worked in the station in 1962, led the effort. Other folks provided free work on the structure. Businesses and Forest Service retirees also donated materials, equipment and 1940s-era artifacts. The move and renovation cost about $25,000. Professional estimates had put the price tag at $100,000.
The High Desert Ranger Station tells the story of the Forest Service and its contributions out West, which goes way beyond prevention of forest fires. Rangers manage herds of mustangs, oversee grazing allotments to cattle ranches and create campgrounds.
541-382-4754 • HighDesertMuseum.org
Where is Zeb Pike?
Contrary to what you might think, American explorer and soldier Zebulon Pike is not buried at the Colorado peak named for him. Members of his clan are searching for his burial site.
Pike was a major figure in our country’s early history. In 1806-07, he explored and mapped Western areas not covered by Lewis and Clark—including Colorado and New Mexico (which got him in trouble with Mexican authorities). He “discovered” Pike’s Peak, although he never made it to the summit. In 1811, he served at the Battle of Tippecanoe, an important Indian fight in U.S. history. Two years later, he helped American forces capture the Canadian town of York—present-day Toronto—in the War of 1812. He died when British troops blew up a munitions depot; his body was shipped across Lake Ontario to a military cemetery in Sackets Harbor, a burg just west of Watertown, New York.
His remains (and others) were moved at least once in the early 1900s, leading to confusion over just where he lies. A 2003 archaeological study, using ground-penetrating radar, discovered a coffin consistent with Pike’s.
Some of Pike’s descendants in the Pike Family Association want a peek at the remains to confirm the study. They also want to take a DNA sample as part of an ongoing family genealogy project.
Sackets Harbor Mayor Eric Constance and some townsfolk are leery of the proposal and wonder who will pay for it. As of this writing, town officials and family representatives have talked about meeting together, but no official arrangements have been made.
315-646-2321 • PikeFamily.org
Autry Expansion Shot Down
The Autry National Center of the American West’s proposed $175 million expansion is dead. The cultural center in Los Angeles, California, dropped the plan in early August in the face of opposition from supporters of the off-site Southwest Museum of the American Indian, the city’s oldest museum, which the Autry owns.
The project would have more than doubled the center’s exhibition space and moved its parking lot underground.
The opponents feared the expansion would lead to a move of the Southwest’s collections to the new facility, effectively closing the museum. They demanded a signed agreement from the Autry, promising to keep the Southwest going “in perpetuity.” Some city council members—who had to okay the expansion—agreed.
Autry President John Gray says such a promise would be irresponsible since the Autry relies on inconsistent revenue sources. Scrapping the plans was the only option, says Gray, adding, “I don’t know what else we could have done.”
323-667-2000 • AutryNationalCenter.org
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