April 17

1492     Christopher Columbus received a commission from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to seek a westward ocean passage to Asia.

1859  Willis Van Devanter, Chief Judge of the Wyoming Territorial Supreme Court, first Chief Justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court (for four days) and Justice of the United States Supreme Court, born in Marion, Indiana.

1878  A tornado was reported in Wyoming for the first time, west of Laramie.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1888  The Sunrise mines were purchased by an English company. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916   Casper Daily Press for April 17, 1916

The Casper paper, printing on Monday after a Sunday off, reports a rumor that turns out, as we know, to be in error.

If this seems odd, let's consider all the similar rumors about Osama Bin Laden  before he was ultimately killed in Pakistan.

 

1918  Larry Birleffi, the "voice of the University of Wyoming Cowboys," born in Hartville.

1919  Wyoming was ranked sixth in the nation in the number of banks, on a per capita basis.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society. 

1922  Natrona County's second American Legion Post, the  Denny O. Wyatt Post, No. 57, was organized.

1944  Wyoming's legislature considered a bill to allow servicemen serving overseas to vote in the general election.  Bills of this type were significant enough that Bill Mauldin, author of the famous WWII Stars and Stripes Cartoon "Up Front" drew a cartoon regarding it.

1999  The Jack Bull, a movie with a historically inaccurate plot but which features Wyoming's pending statehood as an element, is released.

2013  A major blizzard, and the fourth snowstorm in four weeks, results in the cancellation of Natrona County's schools, closures of roads, and general disruption.