May 8

1541    Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River.

1846 General Zachary Taylor defeats a superior Mexican force in the Battle of Palo Alto,  War had not yet been declared.

1860  Captain W. F. Raynolds' expedition left Deer Creek.  It's intention was to follow the Wind River to its headwaters and then cross a divide to the headwaters of the Yellowstone.Attribution:  On This Day.

1868  Union Pacific completed tracks to Ft. Saunders.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1877   The first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens.

1880  Soft drink bottling plant opens in Laramie.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1915  An earthquake occurred in northern Yellowstone National Park.

1938  Alcova Dam on the North Platte completed.

1945    The German surrender becomes official.  President Harry S. Truman announced in a radio address that World War II had ended in Europe.  End of the Prague uprising.  Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif massacre, ushering in what would ultimately become the French Algerian War.  In day two of rioting, 10,000 servicemen in Halifax Nova Scotia loot and vandalize downtown Halifax during VE-Day celebrations.

1946  Wyoming Game & Fish districts created.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1973    Militant American Indians who had held the South Dakota hamlet of Wounded Knee for 10 weeks surrendered.

2018  Following the Boys Scouts official departure from being an organization in anyway dedicated to the development of young men, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) severed association with the Boy Scouts.  The joint statement issued by the Boy Scouts and the Mormon church stated the following:

A Joint Statement from
 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
 and
 The Boy Scouts of America
May 8, 2018 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Boy Scouts of America have been partners for more than 100 years. The Scouting program has benefited hundreds of thousands of Latter-day Saint boys and young men, and BSA has also been greatly benefited in the process. We jointly express our gratitude to the thousands of Scout leaders and volunteers who have selflessly served over the years in Church-sponsored Scouting units, including local BSA districts and councils. 

In this century of shared experience, the Church has grown from a U.S.-centered institution to a worldwide organization, with a majority of its membership living outside the United States. That trend is accelerating. The Church has increasingly felt the need to create and implement a uniform youth leadership and development program that serves its members globally. In so doing, it will be necessary for the Church to discontinue its role as a chartered partner with BSA. 

We have jointly determined that, effective on December 31, 2019, the Church will conclude its relationship as a chartered organization with all Scouting programs around the world. Until that date, to allow for an orderly transition, the intention of the Church is to remain a fully engaged partner in Scouting for boys and young men ages 8–13 and encourages all youth, families, and leaders to continue their active participation and financial support.  

While the Church will no longer be a chartered partner of BSA or sponsor Scouting units after December 31, 2019, it continues to support the goals and values reflected in the Scout Oath and Scout Law and expresses its profound desire for Scouting’s continuing and growing success in the years ahead.

While the severance of relations, effective on December 31, 2019, more than one year away at the time it was announced, was issued as a "joint statement", it was a slam to the the BSA in more ways than one.  For one thing the Mormons had been traditionally huge supporters of Scouting, continuing on a relationship with churches that in some ways reflected an earlier era when Scouting was heavily invested in churches.  The line "While the Church will no longer be a chartered partner of BSA or sponsor Scouting units after December 31, 2019, it continues to support the goals and values reflected in the Scout Oath and Scout Law" is a shot right under the water line at the Scouts at that, as by severing its relationship with the BSA it implicitly is indicating that it feels that the BSA itself is no longer really true to its original mission and that the LDS church must accordingly break its ties to it.

Where this will go is far from clear, but the public severance by the Mormons nearly closes out an era of close association of various religions with the BSA and reflects a wider societal split on what some very basic values in our society are going to be.  It's also a brave move for the LDS as its takes them very decidedly out into the currently prevailing winds, while at the same time it may be one more move that indicates that Scouting itself is basically coming to an end as it tries to accommodate social trends which run contrary to its original existential purpose.

This is posted here on this site, of course, as the Mormon church is widely represented in some areas of Wyoming as are Scout troops associated with it.

February 23

1540   Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado began his unsuccessful search for the fabled Seven Cities of Gold in the American Southwest. Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of Mexico, sent Francisco Coronado overland to search for the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola in present day New Mexico.  A dramatic mounted exploration, to say the least.

1836  The siege of the Alamo began.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1847     U.S. troops under Gen. Zachary Taylor defeated Mexican general Santa Anna at the Battle of Buena Vista in Mexico.

1905  A creamery in Cheyenne began selling pasteurized milk.

The benefits of pasteurization, and the feature of a local creamery, are things that are almost wholly forgotten today.  Today, most milk is transported quite some distance before it is sold in a local store, but as recently as the 1950s, most significantly sized towns in Wyoming had a creamery, that being a local business that bought raw milk, pasteurized it, and sold it.  Here's an example of such a (former) facility in Casper.

Pasteurization, a process by which a liquid is heated and then rapidly cooled, was a major innovation in food safety, and is commonly used today for most dairy products and some beer.  The ability of a local facility to sell pasteurized milk was no doubt a major boon for local consumers in Cheyenne.  Now, however, there's a movement to sell certain products directly from farms and outside the food safety system.  Raw milk isn't something that a person usually encounters in Wyoming (unless a person lives on a farm or ranch that actually has a dairy cow, which few do) but it's a growing movement nationwide.  Not too surprisingly, there have been some health issues associated with it.

1917   The National Vocational Act (Smith Hughes Act) signed into law.
 

The National Vocational Act was the first American law to provide a direct Federal role in high school education.  It was signed into law on this day, in 1917.

Student in technical high school, 1916.

The act was aimed at students who were going to work directly on farms but its scope was broader than that and it had the support of Labor, which helped cause it to pass.  It's stated purpose was to support those "who have entered upon or who are preparing to enter upon the work of the farm" and funding was provided for that goal.  It also included mandated the creation of a Board of Vocational Education in each state, which lead to some districts combining their existing board with that purpose and others having a separate board just for that purpose.

 Girls in automobile mechanics class, Central High, Washington D. C., 1927.

The act was a really significant development in terms of the evolution of the relationship between the states and the Federal government. There had been prior acts on the topic of education, including a vocational act that this was a successor to, but this was the first Federal provision to directly impose requirements upon a state in regards to education and the first to provide Federal funding to the states.  In these regards, this was a fairly revolutionary Progressive Era step and its one that lead to later broader steps, perhaps culminating in the creation of the US Department of Education in 1979. We are now so used to the concept of that cabinet level entity existing that its hard to imagine that its a relatively recent arrival in terms of Federal agencies.  It's start can be seen to exist with the passage of the Smith Hughes Act into law in this day, one hundred years ago as of this posting.

Seal of the Department of Education.

 

Every school district in Wyoming continues to have at least some vocational training.  Natrona County has a completely separate high school campus, recently built, for scientific and vocational training.

1921  February 23, 1921. Pioneering Air Mail Flight.

Lex Anteinternet: February 23, 1921. Ridiculing customs.: 

February 23, 1921. Ridiculing customs.

We always reform or ridicule, not the customs of the remote past, but the new customs of the day before yesterday, which are just beginning to grow old. This is true of furniture and parents.

G.K. Chesterton, Chicago Tribune, February 23, 1921.

Jack Knight. Note the heavy early aviator's dress.  Knight died in 1945 of malaria contracted on a trip to South American that was working on securing a reliable source of rubber to the wartime allies.

The United States Postal Service completed a pioneering air mail run in which Jack Knight, taking off on the prior day from San Francisco, landed at Cheyenne, Wyoming, and then took off and flew through the night to Chicago.  Ernest M. Allison ten took over and lasted at 4:50 p.m. at Roosevelt Field at Long Island, New York.

The flight demonstrated that air mail was feasible.

While successful, it was also conducted under extreme odds, involving arctic conditions and nighttime fires to light the way.  Knight was justifiably regarded as a hero during his lifetime.

1941  Blizzard conditions stalled traffic in the state.  This was, of course, in the pre 4x4 days.  Prior to World War Two 4x4 vehicles were almost unheard of and were limited to industrial vehicles. Almost every vehicle was a rear wheel drive 2x4.

1948  An earthquake in Yellowstone was felt regionally.

1950  A special session of the legislature called to deal with the problem of grasshopper infestation concluded.

1969  Gov. Hathaway signed into law a State severance tax bill. The bill had been extremely controversial, with there being strong arguments by the opposition that passing it would cause Wyoming's extractive industries to greatly reduce their activity. The arguments failed to stop the bill, and the severance tax did not greatly impact the extractive industries.  Today, Wyoming's is nearly entirely funded by severance taxes.

1985  The Bison adopted as the state mammal.

1990  First Day of Issue Ceremony  for the stamp based on Conrad Schwiering's painting High Mountain Meadows held in Cheyenne.