1879 The Laramie County Stock Growers Association changed its name to the Wyoming Stock Growers Association. The WSGA was to be a major political force early in the state's history.
1887 The following soldiers, stationed at posts in Wyoming, earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for action on this day:
Second Lieutenant Lloyd M. Brett, 2d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At O'Fallons Creek, Mont., 1 April 1880. Entered service at: Malden, Mass. Born: 22 February 1856, Dead River, Maine. Date of issue: 7 February 1895. Citation: Fearless exposure and dashing bravery in cutting off the Indians' pony herd, thereby greatly crippling the hostiles.
Brett in later life.
Captain Eli L. Huggins, 2d U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At O'Fallons Creek, Mont., 1 April 1880. Entered service at: Minnesota. Birth: Illinois. Date of issue: 27 November 1894. Citation: Surprised the Indians in their strong position and fought them until dark with great boldness.
1888 State Capitol completed. Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.
1906 Construction at Pathfinder Dam suffered a set back due to flood damage. Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.
1916 The Punitive Expedtion: The Casper Daily Press, March 29, 1916
I think one of the most interesting items in this edition was the addition of extra train service, showing how extensive it really was at the time.
1917 The Cheyenne State Leader for March 29, 1917: More Guardsmen needed
The Cheyenne State Leader ran a story about the national mobilization of Guardsmen. No way Wyoming could have mustered four regiments.
There was a tragic reminder, as well, that April and March are winter months in Wyoming.
The
Laramie Daily Boomerang for March 29, 1917. Laramie's Guardsmen
ordered to Ft. D. A. Russell as, maybe, the Kaiser makes a peace move?
1916 The Punitive Expedtion: The Casper Daily Press, March 29, 1916
I think one of the most interesting items in this edition was the addition of extra train service, showing how extensive it really was at the time.
1917 The Cheyenne State Leader for March 29, 1917: More Guardsmen needed
The Cheyenne State Leader ran a story about the national mobilization of Guardsmen. No way Wyoming could have mustered four regiments.
There was a tragic reminder, as well, that April and March are winter months in Wyoming.
The Medical Company of the Wyoming National Guard, based in Laramie, was ordered to Ft. D. A. Russell outside of Cheyenne. At the same time, the Laramie paper was hoping against hope that entry into the war might not be necessary. Who could blame them?
The Connor Hotel, by the way, still stands in Laramie, although I don't think it's a hotel anymore.
1918 Wyoming State Tribune, March 29, 1918. The Germans in control of the breweries?
Lots of grim war news.
And a report that the Germans were in control of the breweries to the tune of, a fellow from the Anti Saloon League claimed, 75%. That is, he said, 75% of all the stock owned in breweries was owned in Germany.
Hmmm. . . . .
And a draft evader was shot in the Seminoes after fighting to contest his arrest. As this shows, there was opposition to the draft during the Great War and it was sometimes pretty determined, even if most people accepted it readily.
1943 Monday, March 29, 1943 Meat and fat rationing commences in the U.S.
1973 The United States completes it's withdrawal from Vietnam.
By odd coincidence, this is also the day that Lt. William Calley was sentenced in 1971 in a courts martial for his role in the My Lai Massacre, although his prison sentence ended up not being a long one.
On this day in 1943, rationing in the US of meats, fat and cheese commenced, with Americans limited to two pounds per week of meat.
Poultry was not affected by the order.
This must have been a matter of interest in my family, engaged in the meat packing industry as they then were.
Contrary to popular memory, not everything the US did during the war met with universal approval back home, and this was one such example. Cheating and black marketing was pretty common, and there were very widespread efforts to avoid rationing. Farmers and ranchers helped people to avoid the system by direct sales to consumers, something the government intervened to stop and only recently has seen a large-scale return.
While wholesale inclusion of a prior item in a new one is bad form, here's something we earlier ran which is a topic that needs repeating here:
Lex Anteinternet: So you're living in Wyoming (or the West in genera...So what about World War Two?
Some time ago I looked at this in the context of World War One, but what about World War Two?
Indeed, a person's reasons to go hunting during World War Two, besides all the regular reasons (a connection with our primal, and truer, selves, being out in nature, doing something real) were perhaps stronger during the Second World War than they were in the First. During WWII the government rationed meat. During World War One it did not, although it sure put the social pressure on to conserve meat.
Indeed, the first appeals of any kind to conserve food in the United States came from the British in 1941, at which time the United States was not yet in the war. The British specifically appealed to Americans to conserve meat so that it could go to English fighting men. In the spring of 1942 rationing of all sorts of things began to come in as the Federal government worried about shortages developing in various areas. Meat and cheese was added to the ration list on March 29, 1943. As Sarah Sundin reports on her blog:
But World War Two was distinctly different in all sorts of ways from World War One, so hunting by that time was also different in many ways, and it was frankly impacted by the war in different ways.
For one thing, by 1941 automobiles had become a staple of American life. It's amazing to think of the degree to which this is true, as it happened so rapidly. By the late 1930s almost every American family had a car. Added to that, pickup trucks had come in between the wars in the early versions of what we have today, and they were obviously a vehicle that was highly suited to hunting, although early cars, because of the way they were configured and because they were often more utilitarian than current ones, were well suited as a rule. What was absent were 4x4s, which we've discussed earlier.
This meant that it was much, much easier for hunters to go hunting in a fashion that was less of an expedition. It became possible to pack up a car or pickup truck and travel early in the morning to a hunting location and be back that night, in other words.
Or at least it had been until World War Two. With the war came not only food rationing, but gasoline rationing as well. And not only gasoline rationing, but rationing that pertained to things related to automobiles as well
Indeed, the first thing to be rationed by the United States Government during World War Two was tires. Tires were rationed on December 11, 1941. This was due to anticipated shortages in rubber, which was a product that had been certainly in use during World War One, but not to the extent it was during World War Two. And tire rationing mattered.
People today are used to modern radial tires which are infinitely better, and longer lasting, than old bias ply tires were. People who drove before the 1980s and even on into the 80s were used to constantly having flat tires. I hear occasionally people lament the passing of bias ply tires for trucks, but I do not. Modern tires are much better and longer lasting. Back when we used bias ply tires it seemed like we were constantly buying tires and constantly having flat tires. Those tires would have been pretty similar to the tires of World War Two. Except by all accounts tires for civilians declined remarkably in quality during the war due to material shortages.
Gasoline rationing followed, and it was so strict that all forms of automobile racing, which had carried on unabated during World War One, were banned during World War Two. Sight seeing was also banned. So, rather obviously, the use of automobiles was fairly curtailed during the Second World War.
So, where as cars and trucks had brought mobility to all sorts of folks between the wars in a brand new way, rationing cut back on it, including for hunters, during the war.
Which doesn't mean that you couldn't go out, but it did mean that you had to save your gasoline ration if you were going far and generally plan wisely.
Ammunition was also hard to come by during the war.
It wasn't due to rationing, but something else that was simply a common fact of life during World War Two. Industry turned to fulfilling contracts for the war effort and stopped making things for civilians consumption.
Indeed, I've hit on this a bit before in a different fashion, that being how technology advanced considerably between the wars but that the Great Depression followed by the Second World War kept that technology, more specifically domestic technology, from getting to a lot of homes. Automobiles, in spite of the Depression, where the exception really. While I haven't dealt with it specifically, the material demands of the Second World War were so vast that industries simply could not make things for the service and the civilian market.
Some whole classes of products, such as automobiles, simply stopped being available for civilians. Ammunition was like that. With the services consuming vast quantities of small arms ammunition, ammunition for civilians became very hard to come by. People who might expect to get by with a box of shotgun shells for a day's hunt and to often make due with half of that. Brass cases were substituted for steel before that was common in the U.S., which was a problem for reloaders.
Lex Anteinternet: So you're living in Wyoming (or the West in genera...: what would that have been like? Advertisement for the Remington Model 8 semi automatic rifle, introduced by Remington from the John Bro...
Wisconsin deer camp, 1943, the year meat rationing began.
Indeed, the first appeals of any kind to conserve food in the United States came from the British in 1941, at which time the United States was not yet in the war. The British specifically appealed to Americans to conserve meat so that it could go to English fighting men. In the spring of 1942 rationing of all sorts of things began to come in as the Federal government worried about shortages developing in various areas. Meat and cheese was added to the ration list on March 29, 1943. As Sarah Sundin reports on her blog:
On March 29, 1943, meats and cheeses were added to rationing. Rationed meats included beef, pork, veal, lamb, and tinned meats and fish. Poultry, eggs, fresh milk—and Spam—were not rationed. Cheese rationing started with hard cheeses, since they were more easily shipped overseas. However, on June 2, 1943, rationing was expanded to cream and cottage cheeses, and to canned evaporated and condensed milk.So in 1943 Americans found themselves subject to rationing on meat. As noted, poultry was exempt, so a Sunday chicken dinner was presumably not in danger, but almost every other kind of common meat was rationed. So, a good reason to go out in the field.
But World War Two was distinctly different in all sorts of ways from World War One, so hunting by that time was also different in many ways, and it was frankly impacted by the war in different ways.
For one thing, by 1941 automobiles had become a staple of American life. It's amazing to think of the degree to which this is true, as it happened so rapidly. By the late 1930s almost every American family had a car. Added to that, pickup trucks had come in between the wars in the early versions of what we have today, and they were obviously a vehicle that was highly suited to hunting, although early cars, because of the way they were configured and because they were often more utilitarian than current ones, were well suited as a rule. What was absent were 4x4s, which we've discussed earlier.
This meant that it was much, much easier for hunters to go hunting in a fashion that was less of an expedition. It became possible to pack up a car or pickup truck and travel early in the morning to a hunting location and be back that night, in other words.
Or at least it had been until World War Two. With the war came not only food rationing, but gasoline rationing as well. And not only gasoline rationing, but rationing that pertained to things related to automobiles as well
Indeed, the first thing to be rationed by the United States Government during World War Two was tires. Tires were rationed on December 11, 1941. This was due to anticipated shortages in rubber, which was a product that had been certainly in use during World War One, but not to the extent it was during World War Two. And tire rationing mattered.
People today are used to modern radial tires which are infinitely better, and longer lasting, than old bias ply tires were. People who drove before the 1980s and even on into the 80s were used to constantly having flat tires. I hear occasionally people lament the passing of bias ply tires for trucks, but I do not. Modern tires are much better and longer lasting. Back when we used bias ply tires it seemed like we were constantly buying tires and constantly having flat tires. Those tires would have been pretty similar to the tires of World War Two. Except by all accounts tires for civilians declined remarkably in quality during the war due to material shortages.
Gasoline rationing followed, and it was so strict that all forms of automobile racing, which had carried on unabated during World War One, were banned during World War Two. Sight seeing was also banned. So, rather obviously, the use of automobiles was fairly curtailed during the Second World War.
So, where as cars and trucks had brought mobility to all sorts of folks between the wars in a brand new way, rationing cut back on it, including for hunters, during the war.
Which doesn't mean that you couldn't go out, but it did mean that you had to save your gasoline ration if you were going far and generally plan wisely.
Ammunition was also hard to come by during the war.
It wasn't due to rationing, but something else that was simply a common fact of life during World War Two. Industry turned to fulfilling contracts for the war effort and stopped making things for civilians consumption.
Indeed, I've hit on this a bit before in a different fashion, that being how technology advanced considerably between the wars but that the Great Depression followed by the Second World War kept that technology, more specifically domestic technology, from getting to a lot of homes. Automobiles, in spite of the Depression, where the exception really. While I haven't dealt with it specifically, the material demands of the Second World War were so vast that industries simply could not make things for the service and the civilian market.
Some whole classes of products, such as automobiles, simply stopped being available for civilians. Ammunition was like that. With the services consuming vast quantities of small arms ammunition, ammunition for civilians became very hard to come by. People who might expect to get by with a box of shotgun shells for a day's hunt and to often make due with half of that. Brass cases were substituted for steel before that was common in the U.S., which was a problem for reloaders.
So, in short, the need and desire was likely there, but getting components were more difficult. And being able to get out was as well, which impacted a person to a greater or lesser extent depending where they were.
And, as previously noted, game populations are considerably higher today than they were then.
New Zealanders entered the Tunisian city of Gabès.
Hitler rejected the recommendations of the German Army to place V-2 rockets on mobile launchers and opted instead for them to have permanent launching installations at Peenemünde.
Life issued a special issue on the USSR.
Nevada joined those states, such as Wyoming, which would no longer recognize Common Law Marriage.
Chapter 122 - Marriage
NRS 122.010 - What constitutes marriage; no common-law marriages after March 29, 1943.
1. Marriage, so far as its validity in law is concerned, is a civil contract, to which the consent of the parties capable in law of contracting is essential. Consent alone will not constitute marriage; it must be followed by solemnization as authorized and provided by this chapter.
2. The provisions of subsection 1 requiring solemnization shall not invalidate any marriage contract in effect prior to March 29, 1943, to which the consent only of the parties capable in law of contracting the contract was essential.
John Major, British Prime Minister from 1990 to 1997, was born, as was English comedian Eric Idle.
1973 The United States completes it's withdrawal from Vietnam.
By odd coincidence, this is also the day that Lt. William Calley was sentenced in 1971 in a courts martial for his role in the My Lai Massacre, although his prison sentence ended up not being a long one.
Thursday, March 29, 1973. Collapse.
Today In Wyoming's History: March 29: 1973 The United States completes it's withdrawal from Vietnam.
U.S. Army General Frederick C. Weyand, for the U.S. forces, stated: "Our mission has been accomplished,"
General Cao Văn Viên, for South Vietnam, stated to the departing U.S. troops: "We are going to do everything we can to see that your great sacrifices were not in vain."
The sentiments were no doubt sincere, but the mission had not really been accomplished and the sacrifices would have to be qualified. We took a look at the war in that fashion here:
General Cao would go into exile in 1975 with the fall of South Vietnam, and died in 2008 at age 86 in the United States. Gen. Weyland died in 2010 at age 93.
The war effectively destroyed the combat capabilities through moral decay of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy. The Marines and the Air Force came through it much less impaired. The lessons learned caused the post Vietnam War military to abandon conscription, something it had relied upon since 1940, and a wholesale return to the pre World War Two volunteer/National Guard based force, something that has been a success. It would take several years for the Army and Navy to return to combat effective, but it happened much quicker, with the volunteer force, than might have been guessed. By the early 1980s, the service had been effectively restored and the damaging impacts of the Vietnam War largely put behind it.
The war would have a lingering effect on the military in other ways, of course, perhaps one of the most visual being the adoption of the M16 to such an extent that it has obtained record longevity, in spite of being a widely hated weapon by troops of the era.
On the same day:
Today In Wyoming's History: March 29 By odd coincidence, this is also the day that Lt. William Calley was sentenced in 1971 in a courts-martial for his role in the My Lai Massacre, although his prison sentence ended up not being a long one.
Also on that day, the second to last group of US POWs left Vietnam. The last POW to board the aircraft out of North Vietnam was U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Alfred H. Agnew.
Somehow oddly emphasizing the spirit of defeat at the time, the well regarded television drama Pueblo, about the North Korean capture of the USS Pueblo, aired on television. Only tangentially related to the war, it was impossible not to notice that North Korea of that era felt that the US was so impaired that it could get away with this, which it did.
It would not, now.
And making the day all the worse, President Nixon set a maximum for prices that could be charged for beef, pork and lamb. This was in reaction to a consumer revolt in which consumers, mostly housewives charged with home economics, to boycott the same in reaction to rising prices.
Oddly, of course, this is the day that rationing had commenced on the same items in 1943.
You'd think that I'd remember some of this, but I don't on a personal level.
1999 The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 10,000 for the first time.
2016 Waiting for the Storm
We're supposed to be getting a huge storm today and tomorrow.
I sure hope so.
These photographs were taken on March 20 in the foothills of the Big Horns:
2017 By and act of Congress and as signed into law this day was designated National Vietnam Veterans Day.
Wyoming had the highest volunteer rate of any state for service in the Vietnam War. This was not unusual. It also had the highest volunteer rate for World War One and the highest Marine Corps enlistment rate for World War Two.
2016 Waiting for the Storm
I sure hope so.
These photographs were taken on March 20 in the foothills of the Big Horns:
There should be snow everywhere in the photos. And right now maybe there is, it's snowed since them. But we sure need more.Foothills of the Southern Big Horns
Elk carcass in the foreground.
Should be snow this time of year. Not a good sign.
2017 By and act of Congress and as signed into law this day was designated National Vietnam Veterans Day.
Wyoming had the highest volunteer rate of any state for service in the Vietnam War. This was not unusual. It also had the highest volunteer rate for World War One and the highest Marine Corps enlistment rate for World War Two.
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