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).

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Showing posts with label Powder River. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Powder River. Show all posts

Monday, June 5, 2023

Painted Bricks: Tumble Inn, Powder River, Wyoming.

Painted Bricks: Tumble Inn, Powder River, Wyoming.:   

Tumble Inn, Powder River, Wyoming.

 

As this institution is in the news, and as I knew I'd taken these photographs, I looked to see if I had posted them.

Of course, I had not.


The Tumble Inn was a famous eatery and watering hole in the small town of Powder River for decades.  As odd as it seems now, particularly as it would have been practically impossible to leave the establishment without having had at least a couple of beers, it was very popular for travelers and people in Casper, who'd drive the nearly 30 miles for dinner and then drive back.

Open well into the unincorporated town's decline, in its final years the restaurant, which had rattlesnake and Rocky Mountain Oysters on the menu, closed under new ownership and in its final stage was an alcohol-free strip club.   Apparently it recent sold and the new owner has taken down its famous sign in an effort to preserve it.

On that sign, I don't know how old it is, but from the appearances, it dates from the 40s or 50s.

The recent news article:

Powder River’s Iconic Tumble Inn Neon Cowboy Hasn’t Blown Over, It’s Being Restored

Monday, July 15, 2013

July 14

1860  Owen Wister, the author of The Virginian born in Philadelphia.  It is sometimes claimed that The Virginian was the first Western novel, which it is not, but it was probably the first serious one.Wister's novel is completely set in Wyoming and is loosely based on the events that gave rise to The Johnson County War, although it takes the large cattleman's side, which most works of fiction have not. The novel itself has been used as the inspiration for numerous other works, including quite a few movies, but usually works based on it also reverse the protagonists. Wister's novel followed a visit to Wyoming, and the locations mentioned on it describe places he'd actually visited.

Wister would become a lawyer by education, but his practice period was brief as he had no real affinity for the occupation.  He is principally remembered today for his novel, but he wrote on other topics as well, including on philosophy and politics.  A close friend of Theodore Roosevelt, he can be identified politically with the Progressive movement.


1920  A horse and rider were struck and killed near Powder River.

Monday, June 17, 2013

June 17

1579  Francis Drake anchors in a harbor just north of present-day San Francisco, California, and claims the territory for Queen Elizabeth I, hence explaining the media's fascination with British Royal weddings.

1849  The United States flag raised at Ft. Laramie, now a military post.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1866  Colonel Henry B. Carrington's column left Fort Laramie and started up the Bozeman Trail.The command arrived at Fort Reno on June 28.

1876  The Sioux and Cheyenne block the northern advance of General Crooks Command, operating out of Ft. Fetterman, just over the Montana line in the Battle of the Rosebud.  Unlike what would happen to Custer shortly thereafter, his forces recovered sufficiently so as to be able to hold the field, and then retire from it in order shortly thereafter.  Crook would withdraw all the way to the Big Horns, where the command spent the balance of the summer, engaging in, amongst other things, fishing and hunting.

Somewhat fanciful rendition of Crook's command at the Rosebud.

Battle of the Rosebud Battlefield, Montana.

The Battle of the Rosebud was an important June 1876 battle that came, on June 17, just days prior to the Battle of the Little Big Horn.  Fought by the same Native American combatants, who crossed from their Little Big Horn encampment to counter 993 cavalrymen and mule mounted infantrymen who had marched north from Ft. Fetterman, Wyoming, at the same time troops under Gen. Terry, including Custer's command, were proceeding west from Ft. Abraham Lincoln.  Crook's command included, like Terry's, Crow scouts, and he additionally was augmented soon after leaving Ft. Fetterman by Shoshoni combatants.

The battlefield today is nearly untouched.








































Called the Battle Where the Sister Saved Her Brother, or the Battle Where the Girl Saved Her Brother, like Little Big Horn, it was a Sioux and Arapaho victory, although it did not turn into an outright disaster like Little Big Horn. Caught in a valley and attacked, rather than attacking into a valley like Custer, the Army took some ground and held its positions, and then withdrew.  Crook was effectively knocked out of action for the rest of the year and retreated into the Big Horn mountains in Wyoming.
 

1904  Harry Hudson and John H. Henderlite fought at their sheep camp in the Big Horns and Hudson killed Henderlite, who claimed self defense and asserted that Henderlite came at him with a knife.  He was arrested, but let go for lack of evidence.  Henderlite was buried on location.




1913  U.S. Marines set sail from San Diego to protect American interests in Mexico.

1916  Wyoming National Guard mobilized and Federalized for Mexican border service.  On this same eventful day, additional American troops under the command of Gen. Pershing enter Mexico in an effort to track down Pancho Villa.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1918  Huge evening thunderstorms washed out railroad bridges in Central Wyoming on June 17.  Hardest hit was the area between Powder River and Waltman.

A rail line still runs between the towns today, but there are no bridges.  At the time, there were numerous ones, which shows how different rail bed construction was at the time.

Interestingly, at the time of 2018, this same day was also pretty rainy in Central Wyoming.

1921   Lightning strikes and ignites several oil tanks owned by Midwest Oil Company outside of Casper. The fire that resulted burned for 60 hours and consumed more than a half million gallons of oil.  It was a major disaster at the time.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1957  Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody dedicated.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

January 5

1883  Cheyenne was lighted by electric lights.  Attribution. Wyoming State Historical Society.

1904  A stage play based on Owen Wister's novel The Virginian opened on Broadway in New York.   This is remarkable in that the novel had been written only two years earlier, showing the enormous popularity of what is, to some degree, the archetype of Western novel.  The book, and hence the play, is set entirely in Wyoming, and is loosely based on the strife in Wyoming's cattle industry of the 1880s and 1890s.

1917   The Casper Daily News for January 5, 1917. Amuse your chickens.
 

This Casper paper doesn't have anything on the front page on the ending of the Joint Commission with Mexico, unlike the one Cheyenne paper did on this day (the other Cheyenne paper also did not).

I'm posing this one to show that, basically.  Some of the headlines are the same as those that ran in Cheyenne, some not.  Things like that, then as now, are up to the paper.

By focusing on stories that relate to the Punitive Expedition I'm likely giving a false impression that every paper, everywhere, was equally focused as the Cheyenne ones were.  Not so.  This Casper paper (one of two or three that were published in Casper at that time) did not focus on it nearly to the same extent, for whatever reason.  That's important to note.

Crime and scandal figured largely in this issue. The exploration of oil prospects near Powder River, which would cause a boom there, was going on in a major way.  And the odd item in the bottom left hand corner.  "Chickens should be amused, says expert."

The Cheyenne State Leader for January 5, 1917: Joint Commission to Disband
 

Something was clearly going on. . . the Joint Commission with Mexico was getting set to disband, but it was clear that Carranza's demand on the United States, leave, was going to be met.  It seemed that Wilson and Carranza had arrived at the same point. . . for different reasons.

As reported in Cheyenne's other paper a day ago, wildlife was on the increase in the state.  And a scandal back east figured large in the headlines.

1925 Nellie T. Ross succeeded her late husband as governor of Wyoming, becoming the first female governor in U.S. history. She won her first election easily, but was narrowly defeated in the 1926 election during which her refusal to campaign for herself and her support of prohibition hurt her. She later went on to be Superintendent of Mints in the Franklin Roosevelt Administration. She's an interesting political figure in that not only was she the first woman governor in the US, but her career was accidental. Never well off financially, keeping her career going was a necessity from the very onset, as her husband had borrowed money from his life insurance policy in order to run for governor. She lived to be 101 years old.

1949 Harry S. Truman labeled his domestic program the "Fair Deal" in his State of the Union Address.

1959  John J. Hickey takes office as Governor.

1975  Ed Herschler began his 12 years as Governor.

1987  Mike Sullivan takes office as Governor.  Sullivan would later serve as Ambassador to Ireland under President Clinton.

2018  Leslie Blythe, well know figure and spokesperson for Rocky Mountain Power fell victim to the terrible flu epidemic afflicting the nation.