August 10

1821  Missouri admitted to the Union.  As part of this event,  most of Wyoming becomes part of unorganized U.S. territory.

1867  Cheyenne's first municipal election.  On the same day, in the same town, the post office at the corner of Ferguson (Carey Avenue) and Seventeenth streets opened. Attribution:  On This Day.

1886  Cavalry arrived at Yellowstone to police the park.

1896  William H. Harrison born in Terra Haute, Indiana.  He was Wyoming's Congressman from 1951 to 1956, from 1961 to 1965 and 1967 to 1969.  The Indiana born lawyer had been in Indiana's legislature in the 1920s, before moving to Wyoming where he first entered politics by being a Representative to the state legislature from Sheridan County.  He came from a family with long political roots, with his great-great-great grandfather Benjamin Harrison V being a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence,  his great-great grandfather William Henry Harrison being the 9th U.S. President and his grandfather Benjamin Harrison being the 23rd U.S. President.  In his retirement he relocated to Florida.

1912  Congress appropriated $45,000 for the purchase of lands and maintenance of a winter elk refuge in Jackson Hole where ranchers, and then the State, had been undertaking feeding the elk during winter.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1916   The Cheyenne State Leader for August 10, 1916. One battalion to be ordered to the border.
 

One battalion of the Wyoming National Guard looked to be deployed.  The Guard was nearly one soldier short, however, due to an elopement, one of quite a few that these papers reported on.

And, the World War One homesteading boom was really on.

1916   The local weather, August 10, 1916
 

Because its in keeping with the focus of this blog, and because I just realized another way to find it.

Lander, WY 

High of 69.1°F and low of 28.9°F.

Cheyenne, WY
High of 73°F and low of 51.1°F.

Sheridan, WY
High of 75°F and low of 48°F.

Nice temperatures during the day,and in Lander and Sheridan, cool temperatures at night. 

1917   The Food and Fuel Control Act of 1917 (Lever Act) becomes law
 

On this date in 1917 the controversial Food and Fuel Control Act became law.  Popularly known as the Lever Act, the law created two wartime agencies, the United States Food Administration and the United States Fuel Administration.

 

United States Fuel Administration poster.

Both agencies were provided with the ability to regulate prices and attempt to control supply in an effort to make sure that adequate stocks of these vital items were available to citizens and industry.

 Poster aimed at immigrants by the United States Food Administration.

The United States Food Administration was headed by Herbert Hoover who was appointed by Woodrow Wilson.  Remembered commonly now only for his unsuccessful Presidency, Hoover was a very capable businessman and civil servant.

Herbert Hoover in 1917.

Harry A. Garfield, the son of James Garfield, a lawyer and academic was appointed head of the Fuel Administration.  It's interesting to note that Hoover may have seemed the more logical candidate for this post, as he was a geologist.

Harry A. Garfield as Fuel Administration chief.

The Fuel Administration was organized on a state by state basis.  By January 1918, in spite of its efforts, fuel supplies were short enough that "Idle Mondays" were ordered for non essential industries.  The crisis in supply was not immediately alleviated by the wars end, and the agency continued to operate until 1922 when it was deemed no longer needed and passed out of existence.

 

Hoovers Food Administration performed a similar role in regards to the food supply.  A special grain purchasing agent, the United States Grain Corporation, was formed and operated under it specifically to purchase and regulate the supply of grain.  The agency largely passed into a new entity, the American Relief Administration, with the war's end, although the United States Grain Corporation continued on with some functions, including supplying relief wheat to Russia, until it was eliminated in 1927.

 

Like the Fuel Administration, the Food Administration took towards having "less" days, such as meathless, wheatless and porkless days.  As I've mentioned on prior posts, this must have seemed like an added burden for Catholic and Orthodox Americans, who already had fast days that included at least two out of the three of these.

 

People were also urged to garden at home (something already widely done), to eat fish instead of meat, and to use oats and corn where possible, rather than wheat.

 

The approach of both agencies was considerably different than that adopted by the later Democratic Administration of World War Two, which frankly might be telling in some ways.  Rationing was never enacted on a national level, although at least one state, Montana, did enact it on a state level, so perhaps that shows it proved its efficiency in another way.

Both agencies resulted in a large number of dramatic well done posters, from what must be regarded as the golden age of American posters, and to the extent they're remembered today, that tends to be why.  But both were major entities during the Great War and controversial ones at that.  Their existence shows the extent to which Americans of that era were willing to depart from normal concepts of business and economy during the war, and the extent to which resources were truly very tight at that time and people lived closer to the margins on a wider scale.

1918  Huns Retreat. Lonely Hearts at D. A. Russell. Doggerel in the Oil Patch. The news of August 10, 1918.

All the news fit to print, and then some.

On this Saturday morning in sunny Wyoming, 1918, readers around the state were reading of the huge change in fortunes for the Allies, who were now advancing rapidly towards the German frontier.  But other news crowded and shoved onto the front pages of the state's various newspapers as well.

In Casper, Casperites were greeted with the news that the local Home Guard was going to complete the issuance of rifles.

At Cheyenne's Ft. D. A. Russell readers learned that a lonely soldier was seeking a girl measuring 5 to 5.5 feet who was not a drunkard.  The publishing suitor noted that he measured 5 feet 4.5 inches high and had well to do parents, and was seeking a Cheyenne girl to marry.

A less chivalrous character in Virginia testified at trial that he wouldn't serve in the war even if the Turks landed on our shores and carried our women off to bondage.  My goodness.

In grimmer news, a medical officer who was formerly stationed at Ft. D. A. Russell was found dead in San Antonio, shot in the head.

Wyoming Oil World, a newspaper rather obviously dedicated to the petroleum industry, found itself moved to verse on this day in 1918, although not very good verse.  The subject was the dread Powder River, Let'r Buck war cry of Wyomingites.

1919  August 10, 1919. The Motor Transport Convoy rests in Laramie.

The Motor Transport Convoy spent their Sunday in Laramie on this day in 1919.

The weather was "fair and cool", which would be a good description of most summer days in high altitude Laramie, which has some of the nicest summer weather in Wyoming.  Wind and rain in the late afternoon is a typical feature of the summer weather there.

1950   The Plymouth Oiler baseball team from Sinton, Texas played the Worland, Wyoming, Indians in the first no-hit, no-run game in National Baseball Congress history.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1954  The Can-A-Pop beverage company of Sheridan announced it was moving to Denver.

1956  A contract was signed for the construction of the first uranium processing mill in Wyoming.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1988    President Ronald Reagan signed a bill providing reparations Japanese-Americans interred by the U.S. government during World War II.  One of the interment camps was at Hart Mountain, Wyoming, which is near Cody.