Recently, SCLT installed signs along the Tongue River Water Trail which highlight historic events, themes, and figures nearby. On this #TBT, we launch at our farthest point upstream on Big Goose at Leopard Street.
Just three miles west of Sheridan along Big Goose Creek was a farm called K.N. Garden. The owners of the farm were Japanese immigrants Kasaburo Okazaki [later Kimura], Jiro Kaii[zumi], George [Gengoro] Nishi[zaki] and J. Yamashita. The estimated timeframe for the operation of the K.N. Gardens was from the early 1900s to 1919.
K.N. Garden was known for vegetables and in 1917 at the Wyoming State Fair in Douglas it won first prize for its red onions, table squash, and turnips.
According to Sheridan Enterprise publications, in February of 1919 the K.N. Garden owners announced their decision to quit farming and have a public sale of livestock, farm equipment, and household goods. The four partners went their own ways and onto subsequent business ventures.
A couple of the men stayed in Sheridan. Kasaburo (Kay) Kimura, purchased the Hotel Rex in downtown Sheridan, George Nishizaki opened the Star Grocery under new management in the Sheridan Inn, and Jiro Kaiizumi moved to Colorado to establish a photography studio.
We’ll see you next week on the other side of the oxbow as we continue our drift through the history of the Tongue River Water Trail.
