Tammie: So you have to tell the story of the people that [had the] circus animals, that gas station north of town, and they had the monkeys and stuff. 

Randy: Oh, that was north of Rock River. And they called it the monkey farm. 

Misty: A monkey farm?

Randy: It was just a tourist site attraction.

Tammie: In the fifties? 

Randy: Early fifties. It had a curio shop, you know, selling knick-knacks and a small café. And in the south addition, they had all kinds of animals that weren't native to this country. They had mountain lions, rattlesnakes, and all kinds of exotic animals that were not native to this country. 

Misty: Were they in cages?

Randy: They were in cages. We always called it the monkey farm.

Misty: And where was the monkey from? 

Randy: It was about six miles north of Rock River on Highway Three. It's gone now. There's nothing there. 

Misty: But how big was this place?

Tammie: It was just a side attraction on the side of the road. 

Misty: Lincoln Highway, roadside attraction. Come see the monkeys!

Tammie: Hey, somebody was looking to make a dime.

Misty: I guess so. If you think about that era, I'm sure there were no permits. 

Randy: Then it caught on fire and burnt down, and some of the animals escaped and then, I don't know who it was, [but] some law enforcement had to shoot a couple [of] mountain lions and some fox[es] and stuff because they couldn't survive. 

Nancy: Is that the same fire that you mentioned earlier?

Misty: With the feed store?

Randy: This was a different fire. The one that happened [at] Rancher’s Supply. [It was] October 1st. I can't remember what it was. No, it was October 2nd. It was my birthday. A propane guy pulled up to deliver propane, to fill a tank up, and [it] had a leak [in] some way, and filled the building full of propane. And in one corner of the building there was a propane water heater with the pilot lights still going. And, when the gas hit it, the building exploded. 

Misty: Wow. What year was this?

Tammie: It was a year after 9/11. Wasn't it? 

Abdalrahim: 2002.

Tammie: Because we could hear the explosion here at the school. 

Misty: I bet it was really scary. Were people hurt? 

Randy: Nope. Just one lady that would work there, she came running out, singed her hair and stuff. 

Tammie: Sam was our custodian here and he just happened to be over there. I heard it had thrown them from the building to the highway. Then we stood here and watched it burn. Just all that black smoke 'cause they had tires in there. The black smoke that just rolled out of that building. Yeah, they lost the whole building. 

Randy: Joe, one of the partners, he was in Cheyenne getting a load of fertilizer. And he said when he came over to the summit, he could see the column of smoke from the summit outside Laramie. 

Misty: Wow. Little did he know it was his livelihood. 

Randy: So when he got to Rock River, he called his wife and Joe parked his truck just outta town and Pam brought down Joe's bunker gear and turn out gear and stuff. We just had a small volunteer fire department. Then Laramie showed up and Centennial showed up and the fire warden showed up and it was an all day deal. 

Misty: Yeah, I bet. I bet it burned for a long time.

Nancy: Did it threaten to catch any of the other surrounding buildings on fire? 

Randy: Ted's house was right across the alley there and it pretty well scorched the side of it. 

Note: The transcript above has been condensed from its original audio recording to improve the flow and readability of the story.