June 20

Today is the First Day of Summer for Leap Years.

1782         Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States.

1837         Accession of Queen Victoria, age 18, to the British throne.  English interest in Wyoming would name a ranch for her, the Victoria Regina.  While no longer owned by those interest, the ranch name lives on as the VR.

1844 Francis E. Warren born in Hinsdale, Massachusetts.

1865  Arapahos attack the eight men of Company G, 11th Ohio Cavalry, and the civilian telegraph operator, ten miles east of Sweetwater Station, Wyoming while they were repairing the telegraph line.  The cavalrymen were grossly outnumbered in the assault.  Three Arapahos and the telepgraph operator were killed in the engagement.

1868  Ft. Fred Steele established.

1881  Sitting Bull surrenders to the U.S. Army.

1908   Thomas A. Cosgriff and associates granted a franchise for an electric railway in Cheyenne which would commence operations on August 20.

1912  The State Training School opens in Lander.   Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1912  An explosion at the No. 4 Mine near Kemmerer killed six miners.

1916  The Casper Record for June 20, 1916. War with Mexico inevitable
 

Compared to many other newspapers, the Casper Record always had a calm appearance. Nonetheless, on this day, Casper Record readers learned that we were almost certainly on the brink of war with Mexico.

1948  The US reinstitues conscription.

1954  Drew Pearson published an account of Sen. Lester Hunt's suicide in which he noted that the Democratic Senator had related to Pearson how Republican Senators had threatened to seek the prosecution of his son if he did not resign from the Senate, but otherwise describe the motivations for his suicide as complex. See yesterday's entry for more on this story.