October 4, 2023 |
Photo – Historian Dick Perue – Courtesy Dick Perue Facebook Page
Platte Valley archivist, Dick Perue, is preserving history one picture at a time.
At age 15, Dick Perue developed a lifelong love of history. Thanks to his desire to preserve the past, Perue helped establish both the Saratoga and Grand Encampment Museums. The history enthusiast has been able to contribute items from the earliest days of the North Platte Valley to all the local museums. Now in his late eighties, Perue said he has begun the process of digitizing the innumerable pictures in his collection. He calls it preserving local history one picture at a time.
When Perue bought the local Saratoga newspaper in 1968, he promised then owner Bob Martin that he would take care of the 40 boxes of old pictures left in the basement. Perue said he is keeping his promise.
Perue said by the time he got around to donating the pictures to local museums, his collection had grown to over 100 boxes. With so many historical items, Perue knew the museums couldn’t take it all. The local historian said whatever items Carbon County can’t take, he’ll donate to the University of Wyoming.
In addition to digitizing his collection, Perue has written a book about stagecoach travel in the North Platte River Valley. Perue said a journey from Walcott Junction to Encampment via stage would take around 10 hours.
This past Saturday, September 30th, Perue gave a presentation at the Grand Encampment Museum about his quest to preserve history one picture at a time. Perue said he’ll do the presentation again, along with a talk about stagecoach travel, at the Saratoga Public Library sometime next month.
Perue said it may have taken him 55 years, but he is keeping the promise he made to Bob Martin to preserve the history of Carbon County.
