University of Wyoming
Noah Wallis was born in 1842. Jane Wallis was born in 1841. The couple came to Laramie in the late 1870s. Noah Wallis's businesses included a furniture store in downtown Laramie in the 1890s. Their first home was near the present site of the intersection of Grand Avenue and 30th Street. That house was later razed. They also had a home on S. 8th Street. The Wallis Ranch was homesteaded around 1886 on the north end of Sheep Mountain.
Noah and Jane Wallis had four children: Bert, Minnie, Oliver, and Martha. Minnie married George Crawford. Their son, Leslie Crawford, was born in 1897 and passed away in 1990. The four Wallis siblings operated the ranch until sometime around the late 1940s when they sold it to George Forbes, at which time it became part of the Forbes Ranch.
The collection contains negatives from circa 1879 to 1949. Included are images of Laramie, the Wallis Ranch, and members of the Wallis Family. Laramie scenes include parades, the Holliday Building fire in 1947, Laramie High School and University of Wyoming scenes, Albany County Fair rodeos and horse races, and construction of the second Dale Creek Bridge on the Union Pacific Railroad circa 1879. The Wallis Ranch scenes include haying operations, livestock, ranch buildings, ranch hands, and scenes of a winter storm. Also included are area scenes of the Medicine Bow National Forest including Sheep Mountain, logging operations, tie drives, and fishing and hunting scenes. There are some miscellaneous photographs including a trip to Estes Park, Colorado, circa 1920s. Also included in the collection are business records of the Wallis Live Stock Company and other businesses operated by the Wallis family.
There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes, and the collection is open to the public.
The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.
There are no known other archival collections created by the Wallis family at the date of processing.
Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Collection Name, Collection Number, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
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