Rawhide Stage Station Being Torn Down

Once headquarters for the Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage Line, the old Rawhide Buttes Stage Station is about to be replaced with a modern modular home.

Bill Poage, a Torrington rancher, has bought the land on which the historical vertical stockade log structure stands and says the site of the station is the only location acceptable for a house.

Consideration was given to saving the station by the Niobrara County Historical Society, Niobrara Chamber of Commerce, and Mrs. Annabelle Hoblit, director of the Stagecoach Museum. “Because the structure would have to be removed from the original site it is now felt that it would lose 90 percent of its historical value and there is doubt that it would be worth moving,” said Mrs. Hoblit.

“However, if we had the available funds I think we would move it –- if it could be moved. Mr. Poage did offer to deed us a piece of property to put it on. Actually he has been very fair,” she added.

Like most historical societies, the Niobrara group works on a very limited budget. The Bicentennial Commission offered to help on a matching fund basis, but it was doubtful if enough could be raised locally to match the amount needed. Mrs. Hoblit did not know how much it would cost to move the building, but estimated two or three thousand dollars. It would then have to be restored. She said the ideal situation would have been if it could have been left on its original site and restored there.

According to members of the historical society, Mr. Poage plans to leave standing the blacksmith shop.

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