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.
Showing posts with label Louisiana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Louisiana. Show all posts

Thursday, June 18, 2015

A Bicentennial: Waterloo

Okay, it's not Wyoming history.

"Scotland Forever". The Charge of the Scots Greys at Waterloo.

Or maybe it sort of is.

On this date, two hundred years ago, a coalition of European nations, lead by the parliamentary democracy of the United Kingdom, defeated the dictatorship of the revived forces of Napoleonic France.  Napoleon, who marched in the name of revolutionary ideals early on, but who ruled as a dictator and then an emperor, gave a reformed system of law to France and Spain, and war and death to all of Europe.  He sold Louisiana to the United States to raise cash for his endeavors, and by doing that gave Wyoming to the United States (although a person has to wonder if Louisiana would have been taken by the country eventually anyhow).  The US would eventually join the the late stages of the Napoleonic Wars, although we fail to see it that way, on France's side and we'd suffer defeat, although we fail to see it that way as well, to the British, who were pretty charitable in the peace.

Monday, October 21, 2013

October 21

1803  The Senate authorized President Jefferson to take possession of the Louisiana Territory and establish a temporary military government for the territory.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1822  The first chartered bank west of the Mississippi, and the first in territory that included a part of Wyoming, was established inn San Antonio, Texas by Mexican Governor José Félix Trespalacios. Attribution:  On This Day.

1866 Fort Philip Kearny completed.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1872  Construction at the Territorial Prison in Laramie completed.

1873  Wyoming, Iowa, incorporated.

1909  The cornerstone for Jireh College, in Jireh was laid. Jireh College was a Protestant College that no longer exists.  The town likewise no longer exists.  It's history was relatively short, but it featured a combined effort to create a Christian school with a farming community.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1941  It was reported on this day that 53 Wyoming public school teachers were called to military service, a significant number given the population of the state.  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1995  State hit by a statewide blizzard.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

July 4

Today is Independence Day.



1776  Congress passed a declaration of independence from the United Kingdom, which stated:

On this date in 1776 the Continental Congress acted to pass The Declaration of Independence.

By this act, the Continental Congress radically altered the nature of the ongoing war against the United Kingdom, no matter what prospective the war is viewed from. The American colonies had been at war with the United Kingdom since 1774, when militiamen and British troops first engaged each other in combat at Lexington and Concord.

While it seems difficult to understand it now, the war was not at first for the stated war aim of achieving a complete separation from the United Kingdom. The various Colonial governments viewed their association with the United Kingdom in different ways, some of which would seem quite foreign to Americans today. At first the concept of completely severing a political association with the United Kingdom seemed so extremely radical as to be beyond consideration for many. However, by the second year of the war, the section of the population which wished for Congress to declare the colonies to be independent from the United Kingdom (which was a concept that some Colonist had before the war, and already believed to be a type of reality) had grown to the point where a majority in Congress favored it. On this day, Congress declared the separation to be a permanent and self evident fact.

The text of the Declaration reads:

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

1803 The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.

1830  William Sublette names "Rock Independence" as his Wind River bound party spent the 4th of July there.  The name would shortly be changed to Independence Rock.

1836  Narcissa Prentiss Whitman and Eliza Hart Spaulding, the first Euroepan Ameirican women to cross the continent, made a marker at South Pass. Attribution:  On This Day.

1845   The Texas Constitutional Convention voted to accept United States annexation and to submit the decision to the voters of Texas.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1864  Congress passed the Immigration Act allowing for the immigration of Chinese laborers. The act was brought about due to Civil War educed labor shortages.

1866   Fort Halleck was abandoned.Attribution:  On This Day.

1867  Cheyenne named that.  On the same day, it was platted (and hence named) by Gen. Grenville Dodge.

1874  The Bates Battle, July 4, 1874
We were fortunately recently to be able to tour one of Wyoming's little known battlefields recently, thanks due to the local landowner who controls the road access letting us on.  We very much appreciate their generosity in letting us do so.

Our Jeep, which should have some clever nickname, but which does not.  Wrecked twice, and reassembled both times, it gets us where we want to go.  But we only go so far. We stopped after awhile and walked in.

The battlefield is the Bates Battlefield, which is on the National Registry of Historic landmarks, but which is little viewed. There's nothing there to tell you that you are at a battlefield. There are no markers or the like, like there is at Little Big Horn.  You have to have researched the area before you arrive, to know what happened on July 4, 1874, when the battle was fought.  And even at that, accounts are confusing.

Fortunately for the researcher, a really good write up of what is known was done when Historic Site status was applied for. Rather than try to rewrite what was put in that work, we're going to post it here.  So we start with the background.


And on to the confusion in the accounts, which we'd note is common even for the best known of Indian battles.  Indeed, maybe all of them.

The text goes on to note that the Arapaho raided into country that what was withing the recently established Shoshone Reservation, which we know as the Wind River Indian Reservation.  It also notes that this was because territories which the various tribes regarded as their own were fluid, and it suggest that a culture of raiding also played a potential part in that. In any event, the Shoshone found their reservation domains raided by other tribes.  Complaints from the Shoshone lead, respectively, to Camp Augur and Camp Brown being established, where are respectively near the modern towns of Lander and Ft. Washakie (which Camp Brown was renamed).

The immediate cause of the raid was the presence of Arapaho, Northern Cheyenne, and Sioux parties in the area in June and July 1874 that had an apparent intent to raid onto the Reservation.  Ironically, the Arapaho, who were involved in this battle, had separated themselves from the Cheyenne and the Sioux and had no apparent intent to participate in any such raids. They thereafter placed themselves in the Nowood River area.  Indian bands were known to be in the area that summer, and they were outside of those areas designated to them by the treaties of 1868.

Given this, Cpt. Alfred E. Bates, at Camp Brown, had sent scouts, including Shoshone scouts, into the field that summer to attempt to locate the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho bands.  On June 29, Shoshone scouts reported at Camp Brown that they'd sited an Arapaho village.  We here pick back up from the text:

The expedition took to the field on July 1, 1874, and remarkably, it traveled at night.

A few days later, they found what they were looking for.

Let's take a look at some of what Bates was seeing:


This is the valley which was below the ridge that Bates was traveling up, the night he found the Arapaho village when he passed it by.  It's not clear to me if he backtracked all the way back past this point and came back up this valley, or if he came from another direction.  Based upon the description, I suspect he rode all the way back and came up from this direction, but from the high ground, not down here in the valley.


Here's the spot that Bates referenced as being the area where two ravines joined.  Not surprisingly, in this wet year, the spot is fairly wet.  But to add to that, this area features a spring, known today, and probably dating back to the events of this battle, as Dead Indian Springs.  The "gentle slope" from which Cpt. Bates made his survey, is in the background.


And here we look up that second ravine, with its current denizens in view.


And here we see the prominent bluff opposite of where Cpt. Bates reconnoitered.  It was prominent indeed.

Bates chose to attack down the slope of the hill he was on, described above, with thirty troopers and twenty Shoshones.  At the same time, Lt. Young, meanwhile, attached down the valley from above it on the watercourse, in an apparent effort to cut the village off and achieve a flanking movement.


The slope down which Bates and his detail attacked, and the draw down which Young attacked.



The draw down which Young attacked.


The slope down which Bates attacked is depicted above.

The fighting was fierce and the Arapaho were surprised.  They put up a good account, however, and were even able to at least partially get mounted.  Chief Black Coal was wounded in the fighting and lost several fingers when shot while mounted.  The Arapaho defended the draw and the attack, quite frankly, rapidly lost the element of surprise and became a close quarters melee.


The slope down which Bates attacked.




The valley down which Young attacked.

High ground opposite from the slope down which Bates attacked.

Fairly quickly, the Arapaho began to execute the very move that Bates feared, and they retrated across the draw and started to move up the high ground opposite the direction that Bates had attacked from.  Young's flanking movement had failed.

The high ground.


The opposing bluff.

The opposing bluff.



Bates then withdrew.

Bates' command suffered four dead and five or six wounded, including Lt. Young.  His estimates for Arapaho losses were 25 Arapaho dead, but as he abandoned the field of battle, that can't be really verified.  Estimates for total Arapaho casualties were 10 to 125.  They definitely sustained some losses and, as noted, Chief Black Coal was wounded in the battle.

Bates was upset with the results of the engagement and placed the blame largely on the Shoshone, whom he felt were too noisy in the assault in the Indian fashion.  He also felt that they had not carried out his flanking instructions properly, although it was noted that the Shoshone interpreter had a hard time translating Bates English as he spoke so rapidly.  Adding to his problems, moreover, the soldiers fired nearly all 80 of their carried .45-70 rifle cartridges during the engagement and were not able to resupply during the battle as the mules were unable to bring ammunition up.  This meant that even if they had not disengaged for other reasons, they were at the point where a lock of ammunition would have hampered any further efforts on their part in any event (and of course they would have been attacking uphill).

After the battle the Arapaho returned to the Red Cloud Agency. Seeing how things were going after Little Big Horn, they came onto the Wind River Reservation in 1877 for the winter on what was supposed to be a temporary basis, and they remain there today.  They were hoping for their own reservation in Wyoming, but they never received it.  Black Coal went on the reservation with him, and portraits of him show him missing two fingers on his right hand.  His people soon served on the Reservation as its policemen.  He himself lived until 1893.

Alfred E. Bates, who had entered the Army as a private at the start of the Civil War at age 20.  Enlisting in the Michigan state forces, he soon attracted the attention of a politician who secured for him an enrollment at West Point, where he graduated in the Class of 1865. He missed service in the Civil War but soon went on to service on the plains. His name appears on two Wyoming geographic localities.  He rose to the rank of Major General and became Paymaster of the Army, dying in 1909 of a stroke.

[b]1874  The 2nd Cavalry engaged Sioux/Cheyenne at Bad Water.[/b]

1890  Medicine Bow Station burned. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1902 President Theodore Roosevelt officially ended the Philippine-American War. It really wasn't, but he saw the value in declaring it to be so.

1908  The monument at the Fetterman battleground dedicated.

1911  The aviation age arrives at Wyoming, with the first recorded flight in the state taking place in Gillette.

 Revolutionary War themed poster from World War One.

1920  Veterans memorial to World War One veterans dedicated in Hanna, Wyoming.

The Hanna Museum's website has an article about the dedication here.

The monument is still present, and it looked like this 2012 when I photographed it.  However, since that time the actual plaque on the monument was stolen in 2015.  It was found damaged in a nearby ditch. The town was working to raise funds to repair the monument and buy a new plaque, which was apparently still the case at least as of 2019.

World War One Service Memorial, Hanna Wyoming



This is a memorial in Hanna Wyoming dedicated to all from the region who served in World War One.  Hanna is a very small town today, and the number of names on this memorial is evidence of the town once being significantly more substantially sized than it presently is.

The memorial is located on what was the Lincoln Highway at the time, but which is now a Carbon County Highway.  This was likely a central town location at the time the memorial was placed.

Hanna also is the location of the Carbon County Veterans Park which contains a substantial number of additional monuments.

1924  The statue of William F. Cody by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney was dedicated in Cody.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1941  Hot Springs County Museum opens.

1954 An earthquake occurs in the Yellowstone region.

1956  Actress Judy Tyler and her husband, actor Greg Lafayette, were killed in an automobile accident near Rock River.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1976  Nici Self Museum, dedicated to railroad history, dedicated in Centennial.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

June 4

1789   The US constitution, enacted as sovereign law, went into effect.

1812   The Louisiana Territory was renamed the Missouri Territory.

1876  A mere 83 hours after leaving New York City, the Transcontinental Express train arrives in San Francisco.

1889  Converse County Sheriff  Josiah Hazen was shot and killed attempting to arrest members of a train robbing gang that included Kid Curry, who became well known as a member of the Wild Bunch.

1918  Battle of Belleau Wood. General Bundy takes command and the French arrive. June 4, 1918.
On this day in 1918, Omar Bundy, U.S. Army, 2nd Division, took command of the entire Belleau Wood front thereby giving it a consolidated leadership. On the same day the French 167th Division arrived, which was placed under Bundy's command.

Omar Bundy, U.S. Army.

And the news of what would come to be known as the Battle of Belleau Wood began to hit the front page back in the US.



1919  June 4, 1919. Congress passes 19th Amendment.
Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution when the Senate approved the same, providing the franchise to women:


The right had already been confirmed by a variety of states, including Wyoming.  It would be ratified by the states on August 18, 1920.

The "Silent Sentinels" ceased picking the White House on this day as a result of the passage of the 19th Amendment.  They had been picking six days a week, excluding Sundays.

1922  Legendary Wyoming oilman and philanthropist Fred Goldstein married Ida Goldberg in Denver.  Goldstein is an example of how a lack of education was not a bar to success in his era.  He only attended school through grade 8 before going to work in American Pipe & Supply, his father's company, in Denver.  This would lead to a career which would make him enormously financially successful and which would also have a dramatic impact on Casper, where he ultimately relocated to direct the company's activities there.

1931  Amelia Earhart landed at Parco and stayed the night in the famous Lincoln Highway hotel there.

A thread on that hotel on our companion blog:

The Parco Hotel.

If you try to book a room in the Parco Hotel today, you won't be able to.  Indeed, you won't even be able to find Parco. But the classic building is still there, in another use, and the town is still there, under another name. 

Parco was a company town started by the Producers & Refiners Corporation to house their operations and workers in Carbon County Wyoming.  It was built in 1925.  It says something, perhaps, about the nature of transportation at the time that the company undertook this, as the existing town of Rawlins was very well established by that time and quite nearby.  I estimate Rawlins to be a mere seven miles distant, and the Wyoming Highway Department places it at three miles.  Not much.  But ParCo chose to build its refinery distant from the Union Pacific railroad town and county seat for some reason.

 Spanish architecture buildings in Sinclair.

That wasn't the only (perhaps) unusual thing ParCo did. It also hired an architect to design the company town with a distinct architectural style and to include a very distinct hotel.  The town was not only on the Union Pacific, a necessity for a Carbon County refinery, but it was also on the Lincoln Highway.  ParCo was apparently run by a type of visionary, who saw that at least travelers heading west from Laramie and who passed by Medicine Bow might be looking for attractive lodging for the night.

So the company built the Parco Hotel.  Covering an entire city block, the Spanish architecture hotel featured 60 rooms and had two bell towers.  It was quite the hotel.  ParCo, however, didn't survive the  Great Depression and sold out to Sinclair in 1934.  In the 1940s, the town, still owned by the main employer, with that employer being Sinclair, changed its name to Sinclair.  In the 1960s Sinclair sold the town's buildings to its residents.

Another view of the Parco Hotel.

When the Parco Hotel ceased to be a hotel, I have no idea, but it was long ago.  In some ways, it's almost a shock to think of there being a near luxury hotel in its current location, with the larger town of Sinclair so close, and the main employer in Parco being the refinery, which continues on in operation to this day.



Towns separated by only a few miles are unusual in Wyoming's interior. There are some other examples, but not many.  That Parco came about with Rawlins so close is a bit of a surprise, and a luxury hotel in Parco is an even greater surprise. But perhaps that says something about transpiration at the time.  Even at three miles, in 1925, could have been rough traveling in in the winter, and perhaps for refinery operations you need the workers right there.  If the refiner wasn't going to build in Rawlins, it perhaps had to have a company town where it built.  And town it built had nice buildings. That they thought of a hotel where they did, perhaps reflected the nature of travel on the early Lincoln Highway.  The trip by interstate highway from Laramie to Sinclair is 93 miles today. If a person is driving from Cheyenne its 142 miles. But on the Lincoln Highway those miles were longer, and harder.  I'd guess that the distance on the Lincoln Highway was more like 110 to 120 miles from Laramie, with an added 50 if you came from Cheyenne.  By the time you traveled that distance, in 1925, you were likely ready for a stop. Rawlins was only another few miles, but that few miles probably seemed like an unwelcome few miles in 1925.  Rawlins was, no doubt, catching all of the train travelers.  But Parco probably caught quite a few of the motorists.

1943  Little Laramie River Floods.  Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.

1980  Miner's Delight placed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

2002  Draper Museum of Natural History opens in Cody. Attribution:  On This Day.

2018  A rare EF3 tornado touched down in Campbell County Wyoming near Gillette in the early afternoon. The destructive tornado destroyed homes.  It was the first EF3 to touch down in Wyoming since 1987.

2018  Wyoming became the first state to have a legally sanctioned bare knuckle boxing match in decades, with the opening bouts between a host of contestants. The bout was held in the Cheyenne ice arena and drew large crowds. Wyoming authorized the bare knuckle contest based on research showing that bare knuckle boxing was perhaps less dangerous to the contestants than conventional boxing.  The bouts were also shown on Pay Per View.

Monday, May 20, 2013

May 20

1805  The Viceroy of Mexico ordered to compile all information concerning the true boundary between Texas and Louisiana.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1862  Congress passed the Homestead Act.

As surprising as it is now to think of it, the Homestead Act remained in force until 1932 in the lower 48.  The last patents were taken out under the various acts in the 1950s, although entries could still be made in Alaska up until some date in the 1950s.  Homesteading remained quite active in the 1919 to 1932 period, as there were efforts to encourage veterans to homestead following World War One, and there was a lot of desperate homesteading in the 1929 to 1932 time frame.  A Wyoming Supreme Court decisions on a land contest from that period actually noted that no decision could be reached, as homesteading was carving up the contested lands so fast that the decision would be obsolete by the time it was rendered.  The repeal of the act in 1932 was followed by  the failure of many of the late smaller homesteads, and a reversal of the trend.  The Federal Government reacquired many of the late homesteads by default, and actually purchased a large number of them in the Thunder Basin region of Wyoming, as it was so clear that they would fail in the droughts of the 30s.


Following up a bit, it's interesting to note that there were more homesteads taken out under the various Homestead Acts in the 20th Century than there were in 19th.  The 1914 to 1919 period saw a huge boom in homesteading.

One of the most interesting things about the act was said to me by the grandson of Russian immigrants who had homesteaded outside of Cheyenne, WY, that simply being that "it was a good deal for poor people".  I suppose that is true.

How many folks here know of a homesteading ancestor in their family?



1865  Sioux and Cheyenne attacked Three Crossings, Wyoming, which resulted in the death of one of the attacking warriors.

1874 San Francisco based Levi Strauss begian marketing blue jeans with copper rivets.

1879   Peder Bergersan of Cheyenne issued a patent for an improvement in magazine fire-arms.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1886  The Lusk Herald starts publication.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1919  Bus service initiated in Casper.


1938  First city officials elected in La Grange Wyoming.

1947  Earl C. Beeler of Baggs issued a patent for a Sickler Grinder.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1947  USS Casper sold.

1956  Northwest Community College dedicated in Powell.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

May 14

1804  The Corps of Discovery leaves St. Louis to explore Louisiana.  Louisiana had only belonged to the US, at that point, for one year.

1836  Treaties of Velasco executed by General Antonio López de Santa Anna and Texas provisional president David Burnett recognizing the independence of Texas.  It did not fix the boundaries of Texas and Mexico refused to recognize the treaty.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1890  Weston County elects its first County officers.

1906  The Uinta County Library opened in Evanston.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1918   Hazime Fukuda of Arminto awarded a patent for a rice based breakfast food.

1987  McDonald Ranch in Laramie County added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

2007  Trappers Point Site in Sublette County added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

April 30

1803  The treaty providing for the sale of Louisiana, including most of what would become Wyoming, was signed.

1812    Louisiana became the 18th state, albeit one with an obviously much decreased territorial expanse compared to the territory it represented when sold to the United States.

1869  Union Pacific reached Promontory Point, Utah.

1906  A and B Mines opened at Superior.


1926  The cornerstone was laid for the University of Wyoming's engineering building.  Attribution:  On This Day.  The photo above depicts the building some time in the 1950s.  The one below, in 1986.



Thursday, April 11, 2013

April 11

1803   Napoleon's Treasury Minister offered to sell Louisiana for $15,000,000.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1865  USS Wyoming recommissioned.

1890  Natrona County organized.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1892  The siege at the TA Ranch had fully set in, with Johnson County residents moving the siege line slowly forward by advancing bails of hay and while pounding the buildings with rifle fire.  Heavy rifles, even including a .45-145, a heavy "buffalo" rifle, were employed to fire on the structures.  One invader made his escape, but the rest were holed up. An effort by 20 invaders to saddle their horses resulted in several horses being shot.  A couple of men were lightly wounded.  A snow fall continued all day and into the night, making the night bright.  The Johnson County men asked for the loan of a cannon from Ft. McKinney but were refused.

1898  President McKinley asked Congress for a declaration of war against Spain.

1899  The Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish-American declared in effect.

1913  Albert S. Burleson, Postmaster General, proposes to President Wilson to introduce segregation into the Railway Mail Service at a Cabinet Meeting. Wilson would act on the proposal and segregate the agency, which had been integrated since 1881.

1916   Casper Daily Press: April 11, 1916
 

1918  Natrona County Tribune, April 11, 1918. US troops engage Mexican raiders
 


Of course most of the news was on the war in Europe, where it was reported that Americans were being committed to battle in the British sector, the British and the Portuguese now being pressed, as we know, by Operation Georgette.
But the Tribune, which unlike the other Casper paper wasn't completely dominated by oil news on the cover, also reported that there had been a skirmish with Mexican forces of some sort, probably raiders, along the border.  One of the Cheyenne papers also included this on the front page, so the troubles to the south managed to reappear even in the midst of the massive 1918 German Spring Offensive.
As it turned out, this skirmish was only that, with American troops apparently repulsing an attempted raid into Texas by Mexican forces of some sort.

1941  President Roosevelt issued an executive order creating the Office of Price Administration.

1952  Wyoming Catholic Register begins publication.

1956  The Colorado River Storage Act passed Congress, ultimately resulting in Flaming Gorge Dam. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1964  Dedication of the copper plated Tyrannosauruses Rex built by S. H. Knight, at the University of Wyoming.  The life size dinosaur statute is located just outside of the entrance of the Geology Museum at the S. H. Knight Building on the campus.   Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1968   President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (the Fair Housing Act).
 
President Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
It was one of his hallmark achievements.
On this day, in 1968, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968 into law.  The act prohibited discrimination in housing rentals and sales based on race, religion or national origin.  
Prior to this bill such discrimination had been common.  Indeed, restrictive covenants in deeds for entire subdivisions commonly did just that.  One such example from Casper prohibited the sale of houses to "Mongolians".

1973  Vore Buffalo Jump added to the National Register of Historic Places.

1976  The Apple I created.

1994  The Brush Creek Work Center in Carbon County added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

1996  Jessica Dubroff, age 7, and her father and flight instructor, died when airplane crashed after takeoff from Cheyenne Regional in a storm. Dubroff was attempting to be the youngest person to fly across the United States at the time.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

March 26

1804  The District of Louisiana, including most of Wyoming, established by an act of the U.S. Congress. Attribution:  On This Day.

1882  Frederic Remington's drawings published for the first time.

1890  Territorial Delegate Joseph M. Carey introduced a bill calling for Statehood for Wyoming.

1891  Joel Ware Foster took office as the State's first Bank Examiner. 

1895  The University of Wyoming Alumni Association founded.

1898  Miners in Diamondville formed a union. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society. 

1917   The Wyoming Tribune for March 26, 1917: Guardsmen Return To Service
 

Guardsmen nationwide was the headline in the Wyoming Tribune, as opposed to the State's troops as discussed in the Laramie Boomerang.

Cheyenne's paper was noting that Colorado cavalry, just arrived at Ft. D. A. Russell fresh from border service, was now set not to muster out at all.  Late in the process of mustering out, it didn't look like they were going to.
The Laramie Boomerang for March 26, 1917. The Guard is mobilized again.
 

They'd barely made it home, and now they were being called back into service.  The Wyoming National Guard was mobilized once again.

This time the plan was for one of the battalions to be mounted, in what would prove to be an irony. while cavalry was not obsolete in 1917, a battalion sized cavalry unit would have been of more utility on the border than it would have been in Europe.  Of course, in March 1917 it wasn't clear that the Guard would be serving in Europe, or even that the Army would be.

1918  Elmer Lovejoy of Laramie patented a powered garage door opener.  Lovejoy had previously built his own automobile. 

1918  March 26, 1918. Bad news. Hopeful News. And, what? Me worry?
 

Significant positions were falling.

Romania was giving up.


The Germans were across the Somme. . .and sending reinforcements to their own advancing men.


But the Germans were slowing down, some, and new lines were reported to be forming. . . maybe.  March was telling us now to worry. . . heh, heh.


But in Casper, the economy was doing great!

I wonder what was causing that big increase in the demand for petroleum anyway?
1926  Game and Fish planted 27 pairs of Hungarian Partridges.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1932  A magnitude 6 earthquake happened near Jackson.

1943  Wyoming beat Oklahoma, 53 to 50, in basketball.

1992  Big Horn Academy Building in Cowley added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

1993  The T A Ranch, scene of the siege of the Invaders during the Johnson County War, added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

TA Ranch.

2020  The Governor of Montana joined other Wyoming neighbors Idaho and Colorado and issued a shelter in place order for his state.  The press release on the order stated:
Governor Bullock Issues Stay at Home Directive to Slow the Spread of COVID-19
Directive asks Montanans to stay home to maximum extent possible except for essential activities, temporarily restricts all nonessential businesses and operations
MONTANA – Governor Steve Bullock today issued a Directive requiring Montanans to stay home and temporarily closes all nonessential businesses and operations to curtail the spread of COVID-19. The order, which goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. on March 28, will buy time for health care workers on the front lines and seeks to limit long term impacts to the state’s economy.
“In consultation with public health experts, health care providers, and emergency management professionals, I have determined that to protect public health and human safety, it is essential, to the maximum extent possible, individuals stay at home or at their place of residence,” said Governor Bullock. “There’s no doubt that COVID-19 is causing a lot of hardship. It’s also causing incredible hardships for our front line doctors, nurses and other hospital staff across the country.”
The Directive will be in effect through Friday, April 10 and requires all businesses and operations in Montana, except for essential businesses and operations as defined in the directive, to stop all activities within the state.
The Directive also prohibits all public and private gatherings of any number of people occurring outside a household or place of residence.
“I am taking these measures today because we need to stay in front of this pandemic and slow the growth of infections. In order to have a healthy economy we need a healthy population. We cannot rebuild our economic strength without doing everything we can now to flatten the curve and slow the spread of this virus,” continued Governor Bullock.
Essential services and businesses will remain operational and open. Businesses deemed essential are required to comply with social distancing guidelines when possible including maintaining six feet of distance, having sanitizing products available, and designating hours of operation specifically for vulnerable populations.
Under the directive, Montanans may leave their homes for essential activities, including:
  • For health and safety. To engage in activities or perform tasks essential to their health and safety, or to the health and safety of their family or household members (including, but not limited to, pets), such as, by way of example only and without limitation, seeking emergency services, obtaining medical supplies or medication, or visiting a health care professional.
  • For necessary supplies and services. To obtain necessary services or supplies for themselves and their family or household members, or to deliver those services or supplies to others, such as, by way of example only and without limitation, groceries and food, household consumer products, supplies they need to work from home, and products necessary to maintain the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences
  • For outdoor activity. To engage in outdoor activity, provided the individuals comply with social distancing, as defined below, such as, by way of example and without limitation, walking, hiking, running, or biking. Individuals may go to public parks and open outdoor recreation areas, including public lands in Montana provided they remain open to recreation. Montanans are discouraged from outdoor recreation activities that pose enhanced risks of injury or could otherwise stress the ability of local first responders to address the COVID-19 emergency (e.g., backcountry skiing in a manner inconsistent with avalanche recommendations or in closed terrain).
  • For certain types of work. To perform work providing essential products and services at Essential Businesses or Operations or to otherwise carry out activities specifically permitted in this Directive, including Minimum Basic Operations.
  • To take care of others. To care for a family member, friend, or pet in another household, and to transport family members, friends, or pets as allowed by this Directive.
The attached Directive follows federal guidance to determine the businesses and operations deemed essential, which are summarized in the Directive and can also be found here: https://www.cisa.gov/publication/guidance-essential-critical-infrastructure-workforce [cisa.gov].
Businesses with questions can contact a dedicated state line at 1-800-755-6672 and leave messages 24-hours a day and will receive a prompt response.