Lee Bailey Photography

06/02/2026

Flowers...a reminder that God knows beauty, and though it is fleeting, it remains in our memories

05/31/2026

The Duncan Mine, Atlantic City, Wyoming was established in 1868, and no records of gold production exist. The Beck Mining Company which was active in the 1910-1930's in the Atlantic City area reactivated the mine, but ceased production in 1932. William Boulette who worked at the mine is recorded in Wyoming Archive Oral Histories, that he worked there. A man named Swenson took the last bullion produced to Denver, never returned and the men never got paid. The mine was assayed in 1955 and MRDS entry lists “Production Year: 1955” with assay data showing 6.34 oz/ton Au and 0.08 oz/ton Ag for sampled material. The mine (approx 250 feet deep with several drifts and stopes) was capped by the AML (Abandoned Mine Land) to mitigate injury.

05/27/2026

This is what remains of the B&H/Empire Gold Mine in the Sweetwater Mining District. In 2012 contractors placed timbers over the open 110 foot deep vertical shaft to prevent injury. The headstock structure is down, though you can see the remains of the cabin . Compare to the earlier image of the mine in 1956 that I posted.

05/27/2026

I love old maps. This shows the end of the railroad line at Lander, Wyoming where I lived back in the late 1970's. This diagrams the postal mail routes from 1910 to Dallas, WY and on to Atlantic City and South Pass City at elevations above 7,000ft. The carriers had to bid for a government contract, and the US was obligated to accept the lowest bidder. The contractor on this "Star Route" usually used a light enclosed coach on rough dirt roads and snow. This is the 35 mile route Sara Gillespie drove for at least 18 months as reported in the Wyoming State Journal in March 1918. That was one tough lady, at age 37.

05/27/2026

The B&H mine, later named the Empire Mine, located between Atlantic City and South Pass City, produced between 500-800 ounces of gold. This image was a badly damaged slide from the Library of Congress taken in 1956. I restored using Lightroom and Photoshop. We have great tools now restore images.

05/25/2026

I worked with chatGPT to restore this image from the original newspaper pic from 1912. Pretty amazing! This is Sara Gillespie, Wyoming pioneer, who "proved" up her 160 homestead after her husband abandoned her. Sara ran "Star Route" mail from Lander to Myersville (which no longer exists) approximately 50 miles! For 3 years! That is a hard two day run and probably twice a week.

05/25/2026

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/gillespie-place-c9da8b63fcec473f89be66688a2f2af4
This will let you "see" the remains of Sara Gillespie's home built in 1910. It is being restored by HistoriCorps this summer using a lot of volunteer labor. This was also used as a "hotel",even though it was a two room cabin.

Gillespie Place is one of several publicly accessible historic sites administered by the Bureau of Land Management, Lander Field Office in Wyoming. Gillespie Place was a hotel and mining camp constructed by Sarah F. Gillespie around 1910. Gillespie was a homesteader, entrepreneur, stagecoach driver,...

05/24/2026

This remarkable woman, 1918 amassed a fortune between $25,000-$30,000 dollars...in today's dollars? About $551,000 adjusted for over 2000% inflation.

05/23/2026

I was researching the 1912 Wyoming State Journal for information on Sara Gillespie, when I came upon a notice: A man named Gavin Duncan from CIRCLE, Wyoming filed homestead claims. Never heard of CIRCLE, Wyoming. Not on any maps I could find. The Wyoming Archives gave me postal route maps, the bottom is 1910, and the top is 1927. CIRCLE disappears in 1927, possibly replaced by Wells Ranch. CIRCLE was probably never platted as a town, but was a postal drop off point for the rural population. Circle and Black Mountain disappear, and Burris, Tipperary, Wells Ranch, and Double Diamond Rand appear. Unfortunately the 1927 map has no rivers platted, but it does have mileage documented. It appears that the Double Diamond Ranch on the 1927 map only had mail service June 1-Sept 30, not in the winter. Receiving mail would have been a BIG deal!