JAY EM – On Saturday afternoon, descendants of Lake Harris, one of the most prominent people of the town of Jay Em, gave a tour of the town and its historic buildings. 

Tyfani Sager, the great-great-granddaughter of Lake Harris, spoke to the Telegram about why they do these tours. 

Sager shared how the town is so rich in history and the family, being very knowledgeable, wanted to share the history and inform people on why the town is there. There are very many people who love history so they thought it would be nice to do tours to explain the old buildings and their past. 

They started giving fully public tours around five years ago but before those tours, they gave more private tours to local schools and scout groups. They would bring big groups from schools, retirees, and cities nearly such as Lusk into Jay Em for these tours. 

The tours began with the granddaughters of Harris, Marjorie Sanborn and Hazel Mudgett. As they have gotten older, the younger generations have come into town to learn the tour in order to take it over in time. Sanborn assisted in last weekend’s tour. The granddaughters knew the tour well as they got to see much of it in action and they know the history of each building.

In order to prepare for these tours, they like to post online, they put out signs near the town, and they use word of mouth. In the future, they would like to find more methods to inform potential visitors of the tour. Most of the time, their tours come from someone passing by and stopping to see what the buildings are about. Sometimes people get fascinated by the buildings from pictures posted online. 

They are working on getting someone to stay in the town more often in order to give more frequent tours. This was a more recent development, and it is still in the works. 

Most of the time, tours are given by Majorie Sanborn, Lynette Sager (daughter of Marjorie), Tyfani Sager (daughter of Lynette), Hazel Mudgett (sister of Majorie), and Mudgett’s daughter Brenda. It is safe to say the business stays in the family. Pretty much all of them live out of town so they sort of cycle through who will give tours. This weekend, we were treated by Sanborn and Mudgett’s siblings, Harold McVay and Beth Stryker, also attended the tour. McVay shared he learned just about as much as everyone else on the tour. 

Sanborn, Mudgett, McVay, and Stryker were around while the town of Jay Em was still running. It was very interesting to listen to them reminisce on times with “Grandpa” (Lake Harris). Sager (Lynette) also got to experience a little bit of the town before it closed down. Harris retired in 1973, they leased out the main building from 1973 to 1975, and after there was someone else in there for a couple of years before it shut down. 

Sager shared how Harris accomplished many fascinating things in his lifetime. She shared how Harris attending the University of Wyoming, he rode on the Pony Express and was a postmaster, and he was an architect, business owner, business manager, and he ran pretty much everything in Jay Em, and he even helped numerous displaced people. This was a big part of the tour. She described Harris as a very generous person. 

The family is done giving tours for the year, they will likely open back up in the spring. This is when they do a lot of field trips and whatnot. 

The tour was amazing. The guides really make people feel as though they are not only part of the experience, but also part of the family. The tours are interactive and very detailed. For people interested in such a historic town it truly is a wonderful experience.