How To Use This Site




How To Use This Site


This blog was updated on a daily basis for about two years, with those daily entries ceasing on December 31, 2013. The blog is still active, however, and we hope that people stopping in, who find something lacking, will add to the daily entries.

The blog still receives new posts as well, but now it receives them on items of Wyoming history. That has always been a feature of the blog, but Wyoming's history is rich and there are many items that are not fully covered here, if covered at all. Over time, we hope to remedy that.

You can obtain an entire month's listings by hitting on the appropriate month below, or an individual day by hitting on that calendar date.
Use 2013 for the search date, as that's the day regular dates were established and fixed.

Alternatively, the months are listed immediately below, with the individual days appearing backwards (oldest first).

We hope you enjoy this site.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

June 5

1853  First hostile encounter between the Sioux and the U.S. Army occurred near Ft. Laramie.

1889  Wyoming appointed a resident to the United States Military Academy for the first time.  Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.

1917  Conscription starts for World War One.  Or, more accurately, registration for the draft commenced.


This was the first time that the United States had conscripted soldiers, in the sense in which the term is generally used, since the Civil War and it was only the second time in US history that the nation had conscripted.


The measure had been debated and was not without controversy.  Even the name of the process, which would stick for later acts of conscription, "Selective Service", reflected that, as the system was designed around the concept of men being selected by local boards, and it was hoped that it would seem, therefore, less of a pure act of compulsion by the national government.


While it was generally supported, it remained controversial in some quarters.  Having said that, the huge patriotic drive that was engineered by the Wilson Administration to support the war effort had a definite effect  and what was feared might be a deeply unpopular move proved not to be.


It perhaps should be noted, as a historical item of interest, that while this was the second draft in American history, Americans in 1917 were only about sixty or so years past the era of compulsory male militia duty, another type of military compulsion. That duty was universal early in the country's history, but it generally wasn't terribly burdensome for most men (except, perhaps, when the militia was called out), as except during times of emergency, the militia generally mustered once a year and it generally turned into a bit of a party.  Conscription of this type, ie., the World War One draft, definitely wasn't a party.

1918   Belleau Wood. The news hits home. June 5, 1918.
 

On June 5 all the newspapers were full of the early news from Bealleau Wood, although the battle had not yet acquired that naem.


The death of Charles Fairbanks, Theodore Roosevelt's Vice President, was also on the front page.  Fairbanks hadn't been the Vice President all that long ago, but already the major figures of the early Progressive Era were starting to pass on.


It what might have been the first news of it's type to hit US newspapers (maybe), the press was also starting to worry about seaborne air raids, at this time in the form of aircraft transported by submarines.  As absurd as that may sound, the Japanese did in fact do that during World War Two, having perfected the ability between the wars, and used them in at least one small raid off of the Pacific Northwest.


Early summer weather was significant enough to make the front page in Laramie, and as any Laramie resident can attest, early Spring weather in Laramie can in fact be "unsettled."  Summers in Laramie are beautiful, but they feature some spectacular storms.
1920  The Wyoming State Council of the Knights of Columbus held its first meeting, in Casper.

1922 The United States Supreme Court rules in Wyoming's favor in Wyoming v. Colorado, thereby ruling in favor of Wyoming's prior appropriation of the Laramie River.

1923  Tuesday, June 5, 1923. North Casper to become part of Casper

It is simply unimaginable to me that North Casper was not always part of Casper.  I had, truly, believed it was.

Not so, apparently.


1933 U.S. goes off of the Gold Standard.

1982  A huge severe storm system hit Wyoming, western South  Dakota and the Texas panhandle with severe weather.

2009  A tornado touched down in Goshen County. As it was filmed, it was one of the most analyzed tornadoes at the time.

2020  A second gathering in protest of the death of George Floyd was held in Casper.  An earlier Casper event occurred several days prior, organized by a local group, where as this one was organized by one centered in Colorado.

Completely unrelated, but emblematic of the stretched financial times, the State announced it was closing ten highway rest stops in a cost saving's move.

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