Gina Clingerman: Saving Wyoming’s Historic Mining Heritage

BLM Abandoned Mine Lands Program Manager

People Saving Places

Behind every restored building or protected acre of historic trail are committed advocates planning and fundraising. One such advocate is Gina Clingerman, the devoted abandoned mine lands archaeologist who single handedly brought together the Bureau of Land Management, the Alliance, the Atlantic City Historical Society, countless volunteers and HistoriCorps to restore the Lemley Mill and other historic buildings in the South Pass and Lewiston Mining Districts. Clingerman is passionate about the historic resources under her care. She knows all about their history and significance, how they operated and what it will take to restore them. 

As Clingerman explains, preserving historic properties like the Lemley Mill is part of BLM’s overall mission to protect resources under its management and make them available to the public. BLM has a cooperative agreement with HistoriCorps to stabilize and restore 13 individual and unique mining structures in the Mining Districts. In addition to the BLM, the Lemley Mill project is supported by the Alliance for Historic Wyoming and with funding from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund.

Register for the Alliance’s Unbarred Tour of the Lemley Mill and Miner’s Delight, Saturday, June 17.

You can meet Gina Clingerman and HistoriCorps volunteers, see the work performed to date and get a preview of what’s to come at the Alliance’s Unbarred Tour of the Lemley Mill and Miner’s Delight, Saturday, June 17. You can also listen to a story on the project produced by the Public News Service and watch a video from Wyoming PBS. If you are interested in joining Clingerman and volunteering for future stabilization and restoration efforts please contact HistoriCorps to volunteer.