Shoshoni street scene

A recent street scene from Shoshoni, Wyoming.

The lumber and furniture stores are closed, and the mural of an Indian family, on a building in this tiny town which borders the Wind River Reservation, is not only probably offensive but clearly from a bygone era.  The bar remains open. The big red building used to be the legendary Yellowstone Drug Store, famous for its malts, but its relocated down the street in a location that borders the highway.  I haven't been in it since it moved.

Geronimo Mural, Shoshoni Wyoming

To say that the small Wyoming town of Shoshoni has seen better days would be to be exaggerating to the positive.  While the town hangs on, the old downtown district is a mess.

I don't know the vintage of these declining and fading murals, but they're well known to Wyomingites. They're flaking off and the buildings are collapsing, truly existing in a highly dangerous state, so these scenes will undoubtedly disappear soon.