Cultural Wyoming

Art and history meet on the route from Bighorn Basin through Powder River Basin to Casper.

- CANDY MOULTON

Master artists have long been drawn to the scenic beauty and cultural richness of Wyoming.

In 1871 Thomas Moran took part in the survey expedition led by F. V. Hayden that explored the region that would become Yellowstone National Park.

Sketches and paintings by Moran plus photographs by William Henry Jackson were used to demonstrate to Congress the splendor and geological features of the area, leading to establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872.

Moran's painting, The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, in the style of the Hudson River School artists, is an idealized view of the spectacular canyon, but it certainly helped Congress understand the region and the importance of the natural area.

Congress bought that painting in 1872 for $10,000 (in 2025 money that is about $258,693) and displayed it in the U.S. Capitol. Since 1950 the painting has been part of the collection of the U.S. Department of Interior and is displayed at the department's museum in Washington, D.C.

The Occidental Hotel in Buffalo has charming Victorian rooms and lobby, and the saloon hosts a weekly music jam session on Thursday featuring a variety of tunes from bluegrass to the blues and Basque songs.

Albert Bierstadt, a contemporary of Moran and Hayden, another Hudson River School painter, also came to Wyoming and the West in the mid-1800s, later painting large landscapes that are known worldwide.

The Whitney Art Gallery at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody recently acquired Wind River Country, Wyoming, which Bierstadt painted in about 1860. It is part of a trio of works depicting the grandeur of Wyoming's Wind River Mountain Range. It is similar in size and subject matter to Bierstadt's