CARBON COUNTY
MTGenWeb

A New Yorker by birth,
prospects for gold may have led Grosvener W. Barry to take a shine to Carbon County’s, South Fork of Trail Creek, a tributary of the Big Horn River. Here, Barry also known as “Doc,” and wife, Edith along with stepson, Claude St. John, settled in at what they called Cedarvale.
By the early 1900’s, Barry thirst for gold led to his eventual formation of three gold mining companies and raised funds for shipment of a $50,000 gold dredge to the confluence of the Big Horn and Trail Creek. The dream never panned out for not enough gold was extracted to recover costs of the dredge.
The determined Barry then turned to other possibilities; he recreated his spread into a dude ranch. Through an arrangement with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, his guests were picked up at the railhead of Kane, Wy. then boated down the Big Horn River to Cedarvale (often called Hillsboro due to establishment of a post office in 1915). To promote this venture, Barry and company navigated the 16-foot motorized craft called Edith (named for his wife) from Cedarvale down the Bighorn, Yellowstone, Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. They departed May 31, 1913 and arrived in New Orleans, full of stories on August 1.
The Cedarvale complex included many outbuildings to support the dude operation; ice-house, root cellar, blacksmith, guest cabins, corral and stables. Each dude supplied a guest horse, may have triggered Barry to form with partners John Kelley and Jeff Brewer, the Embar Horse Company. The hopeful trio committed to raising/ buying cattle and sheep, was also open to any “mining, mechanical or chemical business.”
After Barry’s death in 1920, Edith and her son continued the dude operations, then evolved solely to cattle and horse ranching. The ranch operated until the late 1950’s and today is listed as a National Register of Historic Places, under auspices of the National Park Service. The NPS boat ramp, Barry’s Landing, coined after Doc Barry has on display Barry's boat, the Hillmont.
The Barry home was destroyed by fire during the winter of 1947-1948.