‘wildfire’ by peggi bell (made from welded scrap metal)

The Pioneer Gallery features the type of stagecoach used on The Butterfield Overland Mail route from St. Louis to San Francisco (a 25 Day Journey) starting in 1858. Mud Wagons were used on rougher, unpaved terrain. there are local farming and household tools on extended loan from the Collection of Bob Stockwell. The Pioneer Gallery showcases a 1936 McCormick-Deering tractor that runs on both diesel and gas. You will also see weaving looms, old surgical chairs, a collection of railroad date nails, and various other items used in everyday life in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The Archaeology Gallery features Native American ceramics from the early Mogollon culture and Mesa Verde Ancestral Pueblan ceramics to historic period pottery from Acoma, San Idelfonso, San Juan, Santa Clara, Santo Domingo, Zia, and Zuni Pueblos. There are also locally collected Native American projectile points, textiles, and other artifacts. Although not local material, we have the Heinamann Collection of Peruvian Antiquities, donated in 1992.