Agreement reached on historic ranch in Campbell County

GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP) - The state is taking over the historic LX Bar Ranch in northeast Wyoming and investing $280,000 to help preserve its neglected buildings.

The remote 50-acre ranch in Campbell County dates back to 1910 and once belonged to John Kendrick, a U.S. senator for Wyoming and the state’s ninth governor.

Domenic Bravo, of the Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails Department, said the state could begin work as soon as this fall to stabilize and weatherize the ranch’s main structure so it doesn’t deteriorate more than it already has.

Plaster has fallen off the ceilings and shattered on the floor. The walls are peppered with bird and bat guano. Windows are broken, stone bricks cracked and part of the roof is sheared off from decades of wind. Repeated flooding had led to parts of the foundation needing repair as well.

At the ranch stables, years of accumulated cow droppings have raised the floor, requiring excavation to prevent acids from wearing away at the sides of the structure.

If the state ever decided to bring the ranch back to its original luster, the bill could fall anywhere from $450,000 to $3 million, depending on many factors, Bravo told the Gillette News Record (https://bit.ly/1yHtMZw ).

Private landowners in the area have spent years trying to broker a deal with the state, and an agreement has been reached for the current owner, James Guercio, to donate the entire property to the state, Domenic Bravo, administrator for the Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails, said.

The title to the LX Bar Ranch should be transferred by 2016, Campbell County commissioner Micky Shober said.

The state is working with owners of a neighboring ranch to secure access to the property, since the only access road passes through their land, Bravo said.

The Campbell County Commission worked with the Legislature to acquire and preserve the ranch, and the 2012 state Legislature allocated $280,000 to the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources for the ranch.

Beyond basic repairs, the question remains of what to do with the ranch. A historical, museum-type property is one possibility for the site or perhaps setting up self-guided tours.