February 7

1872  Snow continued to prevent trains from traveling from Cheyenne to Denver, as they had since December 20.

1879  Major Reno cleared on any misconduct in relation to the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

1888  Territorial Legislature passed a petition to Congress to organize as a state.

1902  Casper's town council legalizes gambling in Casper.  The legislature would later regulate, and largely outlaw, gambling statewide, but gambling in Casper remained an open activity in to the 1950s.  At least one bar in the town ran a gambling board for betting on sports.   Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1908  Jewel Cave in South Dakota declared a National Monument by Theodore Roosevelt.

1917   And so it ended. The Punitive Expedition.
 

Two days ago we reported on the last US soldier leaving Mexico:

The Punitivie Expedition: U.S. complete its withdrawal from Mexico. February 5, 1917.

The smile on the soldier to the left's face was likely quite genuine.  The 6th and the 16th Infantry crossing back into the United States.

And today is the official end of the Punitive Expedition into Mexico by some accounts.  Why the extra two days?  Well, I'm not sure, but no military operation ever concludes on a precise time.  It seems to me that at one time I had the information on this, but I'm no longer exactly sure what the story was. What I do recall is that most of the troops were over the border well before February 7, and what I think is actually the case, as already noted, is that the last were over the border on February 5, but there was some trailing involvement and actions in regards to the expedition for anot her two days.  We'd expect that.

Which, as already also has been noted, didn't mean that everything just returned to normal, officially or unofficially.  A heavy military presence remained on the border for years, and certainly in 1917 there were real fears about a resumption of Mexican military activity, likely rebel activity, in the United States. The upcoming revelation of the contents of the Zimmerman Note, of course, would make those fears a bit more intense, even as the United States was already using reservist for anti sabotage efforts on the East Coast, with the suspected feared enemy agents being German.

Senate Resolution of February 7, 1917
 

WHEREAS the President has, for the reasons stated in his address  delivered to the Congress in joint session on February 3, 1917, severed  diplomatic relations with the Imperial German Government by the  recall of the American Ambassador at Berlin and by handing his passports to the German Ambassador at Washington; and 

WHEREAS, notwithstanding this severance of diplomatic intercourse,  the President has expressed his desire to avoid conflict with the Imperial German Government; and 

WHEREAS the President declared in his said address that if in his judgment occasion should arise for further action in the premises on the part of the Government of the United States he would submit the matter to the Congress and ask the authority of the Congress to use such means as he might deem necessary for the protection of American seamen and people in the prosecution of their peaceful
and legitimate errands on the high seas: Therefore be it 

Resolved, That the Senate approves the action taken by the President as set forth in his address delivered before the joint session of the Congress, as above stated.

1918  A new revolt in Mexico? The Laramie Boomerang, February 7, 1918

Wyomingites in recent weeks had been increasingly reading, in their local papers, about food shortages and unrest in Germany and Austria.  It was beginning to seriously look like the war was devolving into a race.  Would the Central Powers be able to move enough troops off the Eastern Front prior to starving to launch a crushing spring offensive, or would starvation and revolution overtake them at home as American troops began to pour into France.

Today, however, the news was a bit different, and not at all settling, not that it had been otherwise.  German naval power, in the form of submarines, was more than adequate enough to continue to be a danger in the Irish Sea.  The loss of the American transport Tuscania came as unwelcome news on this day.  The loss of life wouldn't include Wyomingites, but it would include a lot of National Gaurdsmen as the ship was carrying Federalized Wisconsin and Michigan Guardsmen, as well as soldiers of the Regular Army.

Also on this day, at least in Laramie, Wyomingites were learning that things might be getting out of hand once again in Mexico.  Carranza's grip on power, it seemed, might not be as strong as had been supposed in recent months. . .

1942   The federal government ordered passenger car production stopped and converted to wartime purposes.

1943  The United States begins the rationing of shoes.

1994  A magnitude 4.8 earthquake occurred about 96 miles from Evanston.

Elsewhere:   1812. The strongest of a series of earthquakes in Missouri causes a fluvial tsunami in the Mississippi.