November 4

1804  Lewis and Clark record in their journal that Sacagawea was the wife of Toussaint Charbonneau.  In fact, she was one of two wives that Charbonneau had married either at the same time or close in time, with both of them being in their mid teens at the time.  He'd marry three more times during his life, with his last marriage coming at age 70. All of his wives were Native Americans and none of them were older than sixteen years old at the time of the marriage.

1835  Texas forces defeat Mexican forces at the Battle of Lipantitlán in San Patricio County.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1856  The Mormon Martin's Handcart Company, attempting a late crossing of the Oregon Trail, and having run into trouble with the weather, seeks shelter in the Martin's Cove area near Independence Rock, along with a rescue party having sent to find them.  They had not embarked on their efforts until August 27, making an attempt to cross extraordinary late in the year.

1856  James Buchanan was elected US president.

1868  Red Cloud arrived at Ft. Laramie to execute a treaty that gave him victory in Red Cloud's War.  The treaty had been negotiated that prior April.

1879. Will Rogers was born in Oologah, Okla.  Sometimes forgotten, Rogers' career as a humorist and political commentator commenced when he started doing a monologue while doing rope tricks.  He was, at first, a cowboy and trick roper.

1884 Grover Cleveland elected President.

1889  A meeting regarding the ratification of Wyoming's Constitution was held in Rawlins.

1924 Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming was elected the nation's first woman governor, when she was elected in a special election to fill the term of her late husband, who had been governor. She would serve until 1927, when she would leave office after having narrowly lost the 1926 election. She refused to campaign in either election, but remained popular nonetheless. Her 1926 loss is likely attributable to her refusal to campaign, which her opponent did do, and her strong support for Prohibition. She would later serve in Franklin Roosevelt's administration and Truman administration as the head of the United States Mint.

 

1924  Calvin Coolidge elected President.

Coolidge took 52% of the Wyoming vote, but showing a strong remaining progressive/populist streak, Robert LaFollette of the Progressive Party took second place with 32%.  The Democratic candidate, the forgotten John Davis, took the balance.

1930  The USS Wyoming became the flagship of Rear Admiral Harley H. Christy, Commander Training Squadron, Scouting Fleet.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1952     Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower elected president.

The popular Eisenhower took 63% of the Wyoming vote.

1952  Frank A. Barrett, Republican from Lusk, was elected to the Senate.

 

The Republican Barrett concluded a term of Governor upon his election and he had been a Congressman from Wyoming previously.

1980  Ronald Reagan elected President.

Reagan took 63% of the Wyoming vote.  Third party candidate Anderson took 7% and the balance went to the unpopular incumbent Jimmy Carter.

2008  Barack Obama elected President.

John McCain took 65% of the Wyoming vote.

2008  Cynthia Lummis elected to Congress from Wyoming.

October 27

 Today is Navy Day

1817  Fransisco Xavier Mina's force defeated at Venadito, Mexico, by Spanish forces.  Attribution:   On This Day.

1858 Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, North Dakota rancher, and hunter in Wyoming was born in New York City.

1862  Captain Peter Van Winkle, 6th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, reported that he had 28 men on station, had completed quarters and had completed construction of a stable, at Platte Bridge Station.  The location was not an entirely new one, as it was the location of Guinards Bridge on the Oregon Trail and had periodically been occupied by the Army previously.  His construction efforts, which essentially completed the original post, were new, however.  He also reported that he had sufficient stores of food to last until April, although the size of his command would double by the end of the week.

1867  Troops from Ft. D. A. Russell destroyed squatters shanties on the Union Pacific line near Cheyenne.

1873 Joseph F. Glidden applied for a patent on barbed wire. Barbed wire would have a huge impact on the western range.

1880 Theodore Roosevelt married Alice Lee.

1918  Ed Herschler born in Kemmerer. He was governor from 1975 to 1987.

1922  The Schwartz Brothers Haberdashers store opened in Cheyenne.   Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1933 Ernest Hemingway's collection of short stories "Winner Take Nothing", including "Wine of Wyoming", was published.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1943   1,281 people in Lusk registered for Ration Book IV.  The Big Piney Examiner published the application form in its newspaper for the same several days earlier and many newspaper around the country ran articles in their papers about the application dates for the new ration book, such as the Tulia Herald in Texas. 

This book replaced No. 3, an example of which is below:

1947     "You Bet Your Life," starring Groucho Marx, premiered on ABC Radio.

2009  A funeral service for former Governor Clifford Hanson was held in Jackson's St. John's Episcopal Church.

 

October 24

1859  Residents of what are now parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas voted to form the Territory of Jefferson.  The extralegal putative territory would have included some of Wyoming, but also would have included parts of what are now the neighboring states including nearly all of Colorado.  It was never afforded recognition by the United States although, amazingly, it did elect a government and legislature.  Admission of Kansas, and more particularly Colorado, into the Union ended it.

1861 The first transcontinental telegraph message was sent from California to President Abraham Lincoln.

1861  The Pony Express was terminated.

Contrary to widespread popular belief, they weren't all orphans. Nor were they all young, as at least one rider was in his 40s.

The hard riding part, however, is correct.

1861 West Virginia seceded from Virginia.  This rather obviously has nothing directly to do with the history of Wyoming, but it's included here to note what was otherwise going on, on this momentous day in 1861.  The Pony Express ended, cross continental telegraph communications began, and the Civil War was ripping the country apart.  In some ways, the closer future and the disparate present was particularly prominent on this day.

1877  Famous suffragette Susan B. Anthony visited Cheyenne.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1902  A jury, having gone out the day before for deliberation, found Tom Horn guilty of the murder of Willie Nickell.

1929 Black Thursday—the first day of the stock market crash which began the Great Depression.  A significant recession, however, had been going on in Wyoming, following the economic declines following World War One, in Wyoming since 1919.

1939. Nylon stockings sold publicly for the first time.

1940 The 40-hour work week went into effect in the United States under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Interesting to note that this happened right before WWII, which would temporarily suspend it.

1969  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, released.

The iconic Western movie, of course.

It's a movie that I haven't reviewed yet (I guess this will have to suffice for the review), in spite of an effort here to catch movies of interest that are "period pieces", if you will, which all non fantasy movies set in the past are.

The 1969 movie is one of the best loved and best remembered western movies.  It took a much different tone in regard to Western criminals than the other major Western of the same year, The Wild Bunch.  I frankly prefer The Wild Bunch, which as I earlier noted is a guilty pleasure of mine, but I love this film as well.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a romanticized and fictionalized version of the story of the two Wyoming centered Western criminals who ranged over the entire state and into the neighboring ones.  In the film, which is set in the very early 1900s before they fled to Boliva, and which follows them into Bolivia, the two, portrayed by film giants Paul Newman (Butch) and Robert Redford (Cassidy), come across as lovable rogues, and barely rogues at that.  The film had a major impact at the box office and came in an era in which the frequently predicted "end of the Western movies" had already come.

The Hole In The Wall Gang, lead by (Robert LeRoy Parker) Butch Cassidy, far right, and Harry Lonabaugh (the Sundance Kid). This photograph was a stupid move and lead to their downfall.

So how accurate is it?

Well, pretty mixed.

Even the Pinkerton Detective Agency allows that they are the two romanticized Western criminals, and there are quite a few romanticized Western criminals, are closest to their public image. They were intelligent men and got away with their depredations in part as there were locals who liked them well enough not to cooperate with authorities, although that was also true of much less likable Western criminals.  And the vast majority of characters in the film represent real figures who filled the roles that they are portrayed as having in the film.  So in that sense, its surprisingly accurate.

Where it really fails, of course, is in glossing over the fact that they were in fact violent criminals.  And as outlaws their history is both violent and odd for the era.  The Wild Bunch, the criminal gang with which they are most associated, was extremely loosely created, and people came and went, rather than there being just one single group of outlaws.  The Wild Bunch itself generally took refuge, when it needed to, in Johnson County's Hole in the Wall region (their cabin exists to this day) and perhaps because of this or because of several of them being associated with the Bassett sisters, the daughters of a local small rancher, their activities oddly crossed back and forth between pure criminality and association with the small rancher side of the conflict that lead to the Johnson County War.  This latter fact, once again, may have contributed to their image as lovable criminals, even though they themselves were not in the category of individuals like Nate Champion who were actual small cattlemen who were branded as criminals by larger cattle interest. The gang was, rather, made up of actual criminals.

So the depiction of them simply attacking the evil (in the film) Union Pacific is off the mark. They were thieves.  Just less despicable thieves than most.

They did go to Bolivia and their lives did end there, according to the best evidence.  The film accurately portrays their demise coming in the South American country even if it grossly exaggerates that end, persistent rumors of at least Butch's survival aside.

Material detail wise the film is so so.  This late 1960s movie came at a time at which a high degree in material details, a bar set by Lonesome Dove, hadn't yet arrived, so the appearance of things reflects the movie styles of the late 1960s more than the actual appearance of things in the early 1900s.  Arms, however, are correct as in this movie making era the tendency to try to stand out by showing unique items in use hadn't arrived.

All things being considered, it is a great Western and well worth seeing.  It belied the belief that the era of Westerns was over, and in some ways it recalls earlier sweet treatment of Western criminals who were supposed to be just wild boys at heart.  Nobody gets killed in the film until Butch and Sundance do at the bitter end, which contributes to that.  In reality, The Wild Bunch is likely a more realistic portray of Western criminals, but this is a great film.

1989   Brooklyn Lake Lodge added to the National Register of Historic Places.  Attribution:  On This Day.

2008  "Bloody Friday" saw many of the world's stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history.

2014   Long time Wyoming Federal Judge Clarence Brimmer passed away.

Judge Brimmer was a Rawlins native who went on to law school following World War Two, during which he had entered the Army Air Corps late war.  He served as the Attorney General for the State of Wyoming in the early 1970s and then was briefly U.S. Attorney for Wyoming before being appointed to the Federal bench in 1975 by Gerald Ford..

October 18

1854 Reciprocity Treaty between the US and Canada comes into effect.

1868 Vigilantes hanged three members of the Asa Moore Gang in Bosler, where some of the gang members owned a bar. One of the gang members, Big Steve Long, asked to leave his boots on, stating:  "My mother always said I'd die with my boots on".  He was lynched with his boots off.

1871  A gunpowder explosion on the Colorado Central saw 600 kegs of powder explode, but with no injuries.

1919  Robert Russin's statute of Lincoln on the Interstate Highway between Laramie and Cheyenne dedicated.  That route was part of the Lincoln Highway at the time, hence the dedication.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1929   The Historical Landmark Commission of Wyoming set up an advisory committee to explore acquiring  the grounds of Ft. Laramie. Attribution:  On This Day.

1931  A Pony Express Historical marker was dedicated at Independence Rock.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1969  The football game between the University of Wyoming and BYU that sparked the protest of the Black 14 occurred.  Wyoming won the game.

1973  Thursday, October 18, 1973. Creeping embargo.

The IDF recrossing the Suez Canal.  The artillery pieces are M107's, a heavy US artillery piece much loved by the IDF. Amos1947, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Saudi Arabia cut its oil production by 10% and threatened to halt all of its oil shipments to the United States unless the US halt aid to Israel.  The United Arab Emirates completely stopped shipments to the U.S.

1984  A 5.5 earthquake occurred about 50 miles from Casper, WY.

1989  The Contract to build  SSBN 742, an Ohio Class nuclear submarine, was awarded to General Dynamic's Electric Boat Division.

October 7

1759  Comanches ( branch of the Shoshone tribe), Yaceales, and Tawakonis, defeated a Spanish force under Diego Ortiz Parilla on the Red River in Texas.  As previously noted, part of Wyoming was in the Spanish, and then Mexican, colonial administration that became Texas.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1857  Ft. Bridger torched by Mormon forces during the Mormon War.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1885  Those arrested for the Rock Springs riots were released.

1916   The Wyoming Tribune for October 7, 1916: Boston takes game one of the world series

Note, this is the 3:30 pm edition of the Tribune.

1917   The Cheyenne State Leader for Sunday, October 9, 1917.
 

Cheyenne turned its focus to central Wyoming oil.  The issue speaks for itself, and foreshadowed the future at that.

1917   Poster Saturday: 1917 World Series
 

Game Two of the 1917 World Series was played on this day in 1917:  The result was: the New York Giants 2 and the Chicago White Sox 7.  That put the Sox up two as they'd won the day prior 2 to 1.

1918

Countdown on the Great War: October 7, 1918.

1.  The Regency Council of Poland, a temporary council appointed by the Central Powers in support of their claim to create an independent Polish monarchy post war, declared Poland independent of Germany.  Handwriting on the wall?

2.  The Red Army captured Samara, a city on the Volga that in modern times has had a significant role in the Soviet then the Russian space program.

3.  Brigadier General Edward Sigerfoos became the only American general to be killed in action during World War One, although his promotion by a Congress unaware of his death was actually on October 10.  He had just assumed command of a brigade in the 28th Division an hour prior when he was mortally wounded on September 29.

4.  The same day Gen. Doyan of the Marine Corps, stationed to a training role in the United Stated, died of the Spanish Flu.

5. The flu was hitting the front pages of the Wyoming papers:

It was reported in Cheyenne that 285 cases of the Spanish Flu had been reported in Wyoming.

And in Casper "health authorities" were considering closing the schools.

1919  (Posted for 1919 Air Derby):  October 7, 1919. The White Sox Rally?

The Sox suddenly were back in the game on this October 7, 1919 game of the World Series.

Dicky Kerr was pitching again, the Sox's did well in a ten inning game.

On this same day, news hit the state of the impending start of a bit air race scheduled for this very week.  The race was sponsored by the Army Air Corps and was scheduled to commence on October 8.

In other news, the Germans, whom had been kept at first in the Baltic states by the Allies, but who had become very involved in the conflicts there, were being invited to leave.  And a terrible flood hit a small town in Colorado.

Cardinal Mercier continued his tour of Belgium, raising funds for the restoration of the Library at Leuven.  On this day, he spoke at Columbia.

In Czechoslovakia, the parliament was in session.

1935  United Airlines Trip 4 crashed outside of Cheyenne killing all 12 persons on board.

1941  Bandleader and Army Air Corps officer Glenn Miller donated 50 records to Ft. F. E. Warren.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1949   Ft. Francis E. Warren renamed Francis E. Warren Air Force Base with the USAF now having been established as a separate service.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1998  Matthew Shepard was found beaten, burned and tied to a wooden fence outside of Laramie.  He died several days later.  His murder by two young Laramie men became the most infamous murder in Wyoming since the 1970s.

2015  

 Rainy Day in Cheyenne.

Yesterday Governor Mead announced that he intends to trim $200,000,000 from next year's budget.  That's $200,000,000 from a $9,300,000,000 budget, so while its a decline, it's still not a decline that even takes a billion out of the budget.  It's also, it should be noted, a budget that reflects revenue from more than one source.  I.e., not just coal and oil.

But those coal and oil revenues are dropping, and the budgetary chickens are starting to come home to roost.

What will be trimmed hasn't really been announced yet, although there's some concern that the University of Wyoming will be among the state institutions hit. And it unfortunately comes at a time when a judiciary study shows that several Wyoming judicial districts could really use additional judges.

Even now I find some people in denial about the slow down having an impact, and I will say that in some cities around the state it seems construction is still going on like mad.  But certain signals are hard to ignore.

September 20

1806  The Corps of Discovery entered La Charette, the first American controlled settlement they had been in since departing over two years earlier.

1858  Camp Walbach established in what is now Laramie County.

1870  Wyoming Library and Literary Association organized.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1873     Panic swept the New York Stock Exchange due to railroad bond and bank failure issues.

1916   The Wyoming Tribune for September 20, 1916: Villa in Chihuahua
 

World War One in the East took the big headline for Cheyenne's other newspaper, but Villa in Chihuahua showed up as well, a couple of days after the other Cheyenne newspaper reported on the raid. This report had a different character, however.

Oil also showed up on the front page, as did a population predication, not the largest from the state's early history, that shows that it was made during a booming economy.  A horse at the sold at auction was celebrated at the Natrona County Fair.

1944 Soldiers from Ft. F. E. Warren collected scrap metal from the Ferris-Haggerty copper mine.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

2006  The Heart Mountain Relocation Center designated a National Historic Landmark.

September 17

Today is U.S. Constitution Day.

1787.  The U.S Constitution completed and signed by a majority of delegates, nearly giving the US it's current constitutional form, and radically altering the form that had existed under the Articles of Confederation.  Concerns over the lack of limits on Federal power would shortly lead to the Bill of Rights, which were a series of early amendments to the Constitution.

1842  Mathew Caldwell Texas' forces defeated a Mexican force under Adrián Woll.

1842  A small Texas force under Captain Nicholas Dawson defeated by a large force of Mexican cavalry.

1843   John W. Meldrum, the first Commissioner of Yellowstone National Park, born in Celdonia New York.

1851  The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 was signed between United States treaty commissioners and representatives of the Cheyenne, Sioux, Arapaho, Crow, Shoshone, Assiniboine, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara nations.  Of note, not all of these Tribes were typically at peace amongst themselves. The treaty sets forth traditional territorial claims of the tribes as among themselves, guaranteed safe passage for settlers on the Oregon Trail  and provided for return for an annuity in the amount of fifty thousand dollars for fifty years. It also provided for the establishment of roads and forts on Indian territory.

The United States Senate ratified the treaty but adjust compensation from fifty to ten years. Acceptance of the revisions was forthcoming from all the tribes except the Crow, who ironically were generally regarded as US allies but more accurately were Sioux enemies. was procured.

This treaty should properly be regarded as a failure.  Not all of the promised payments were forthcoming.  The payments, while not at all unsubstantial by 19th Century standards, were likely not well understood by the intended recipients.  The general acceptance of the Indian tribes was questionable to a degree, as the ability of any one group of delegates to ratify anything for an entire Tribe was questionable.  The United States failed to accurately gauge the degree of Western movement that would occur in the 1850s and 1860s, as it could not have predicted the impact of gold strikes in the West and then the mass emigration caused by the Civil War, so it was completely ineffectual in restricting emigration to the Oregon Trail.

1851  Ordinance Sgt Leodogar Schynder appointed Garrison Postmaster at Ft. Laramie.  Schnyder served more years at Ft. Laramie,  37 than any other enlisted soldier, during his 53 years in the Army.

1865   Sergeant Charles L. Thomas of Company E, 11th Ohio Cavalry. "Carried a message through a country infested with hostile Indians and saved the life of a comrade en route." which won him the Medal of Honor.  Thomas was with Gen. Connor's Powder River Expedition, in Wyoming, at the time.

What's missed in the official account is that Gen. Patrick Connor called for a volunteer "to go as a scout and find Cole or perish in the attempt."  Thomas volunteered.  Col. Cole, who was hoping for relief, was surrounded with his command the time, as a patrol had revealed.  Sgt. Thomas was to deliver a message back to him, traveling 201 miles alone over a 36 hour period.  Part of the time Thomas was under fire and he actually captured an Indian pony en route and took it along with his own.  He ended up delivering the Indian pony to a soldier of the 2nd Missouri he encountered en route, and took him along the remainder of the way to Cole's camp.

1916   Cheyenne State Leader for September 17, 1916. The Wyoming Guard to the border, and Villas raid on Chihuahua
 

The Wyoming National  Guard is ordered to the border.  On the same day, showing how initial news reports might not be fully accurate, the Villista raid on Chihuahua was reported as a defeat, when in reality, it was not.  A better question would have been how a force that had been down to 400 men just a few weeks prior now had many times that number.

1945  The first classes were held at Casper College.  The college occupied the top floor of Natrona County High School for the first years of its existence.

2001  The New York Stock Exchange reopens for trading after the September 11 Attacks, its longest closure since the Great Depression.

September 12

1857 U.S. Topographical Engineer Lt. G. K. Warren causes a camp to be erected in the Black Hills. The camp included a stockade and was post was named Camp Jenney.

1911   Edward Conia of Meeteetse received a patent for an animal trap.

 The original structure of the State Mental Hospital in Evanston which was destroyed by a fire on this day in 1917.

1917   The original structure at the Wyoming State Mental Hospital in Evanston was destroyed in a fire.  The large structure was completely destroyed, but no injuries occurred during the fire, although one inmate temporarily escaped.  A new edition built the prior year for male patients was not damaged however.

1918   The 100 Days: The American Army offensive at Saint Mihiel. September 12, 1918.

On this day in 1918 the United States launched its first full scale offensive operation as an American Army.  The U.S. First Army launched the St. Mihiel Offensive.

We've read about this a little bit already, in that the operation was the subject of an argument between Foch and Pershing. As we've noted, in our view, Pershing was wrong and Foch was right. . . the offensive that Pershing was planning had become obsolete.

The offensive that was launched was a compromise plan that Foch could accept and which left the U.S. First Army intact.  It involved an offensive operation in the original direction planned by Pershing but which featured a hard right turn thereafter, incorporating somewhat of the plan envisioned by Foch.  In some ways, the most remarkable aspect of the plan was the commitment to a massive redirection of forces following the offensive to which the Americans committed before it was commenced. The details for that action were the product of of the remarkable mind of George C. Marshall, then a staff officer on Pershing's staff.

American engineers during the St. Mihiel offensive.

On this day the U.S. First Army launched a threefold assault on the remaining part of the St. Mihiel Salient, which the Germans had already begun to plan to withdraw from and which they had in fact commenced to do the day prior to the assault.  The Germans had occupied the area since 1914 and had densely prepared defensive positions.  Attached to the U.S. Army were four French divisions in addition to fourteen American divisions. The US alone committed 550,000 men to the assault with the French contributing another 110,000. The Germans, who had already committed to withdraw from the salient, numbered only about 50,000 men in ten divisions, about half of whom would become causalities in the attack.

Colonel George C. Marshall in 1919.

Air support for the assault was massive, with 1,481 aircraft committed to it, about 40% of which were piloted by American airmen.  The remainder were British, French and Italian.

The assault, in part because of the massive disproportionate nature of the contesting forces, and in part because it caught the German army in the midst of a withdrawal, was instantly successful and exceeded expectations.  Having said that, the operation was also a well planned combined arms attack and it featured the highly aggressive nature of American arms in the war which was shocking at the time.  Objectives were achieved within the first two days at which it was halted in anticipation of the planned offensive at the Meuse Argonne.

The battle was the first one in which American forces fought in an American Army, rather than associated with an army of the other allies.

1925   Beacon light construction for Rock Springs to Salt Lake City air route begins.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

2001  First full day in U.S. history with no civil aviation since the onset of civil aviation.  All air traffic except for government traffic is ordered halted in wake of Terrorist attack the prior day.

September 9

1776   The term "United States" was adopted by the second Continental Congress to be used instead of the "United Colonies."

1845   The arrival of the potato blight in Ireland is reported in the Dublin Evening Post.  This would, of course, be seemingly unrelated to the theme of this blog, but the Potato Blight would result in the commencement of the great Irish immigration to the United States, and to what would ultimately become a significant Irish immigrant population in Wyoming.

1850   Territories of New Mexico and Utah were created.

1876  The second day of the Battle of Slim Buttes, South Dakota, sees the first day's fighting.  The 3d Cavalry had surrounded a Sioux village undetected the night prior and charged this morning.  American Horse was mortally wounded.  Indian survivors fled to the neighboring Cheyenne and Sioux village.  In he meantime, elements of additional cavalry and infantry units arrived at the occupied village.

Sioux and Cheyenne under Crazy Horse to counter attacked but were surprised by the numbers of soldiers then in the occupied camp.  They did open fire and Crook, in command, formed defensive positions, and then sent forward skirmishers.  This was effective in driving the Sioux and Cheyenne away.  110 Indian ponies were seized in the village, along with  a supply of dried meat, a 7th Cavalry guidon from Company I, the bloody gauntlets of Capt. Myles Keogh, government-issued guns and ammunition, and other related items.

This concluded the first day's fighting.

1885  Additional U.S. troops arrive in Wyoming due to the Rock Springs Massacre. They escort Chinese workers, against their desires, back to Rock Springs.

1886   Construction commenced on the Wyoming State Capitol although the cornerstone would not be laid until the following year.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1918  Monday, September 9, 1918. The news in Casper. Old Indian Fighter back in town. . . Debs goes on trial. . . French cavalry on the move. . . State Guard assembles in town. . .Corn crop low. . . and Ruth hits a triple to give the Sox the World Series.

A lot was going on in this paper.  Battles new and old, and on the baseball diamond.

1920  Cheyenne's airport saw its first airmail flight.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1925   Sheridan area rancher, Oliver Wallop, became Earl of Portsmouth upon death of brother.  O. H. Wallop was English born and a member of the titled class.  The Wallop family was part of a significant English ranching community that was centered in the Sheridan area, but not limited to it. British ranching operations entered Wyoming as early as 1876 and continued on well into the 20th Century.  Montana likewise saw a significant community of English ranchers.  Some were family owned operations, such as this, but others were British corporate owned operations, such as the Natrona  County headquartered VR (Victoria Regina) Ranch.

Wallop had served in the Wyoming legislature and was a naturalized U.S. citizen.  In order to take his place in the House of Lords he had to renounce his U.S. citizenship.

1945  The term "computer bug" was first used by LT Grace Murray Hopper while she was on Navy active duty in 1945. It was found in the Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator at Harvard University. The operators affixed the moth to the computer log, where it still resides, with the entry: "First actual case of bug being found." They "debugged" the computer, first introducing the term.

In honor of this disturbing event, I propose that this day henceforth be known in the computer age as "Grace Murray Hopper Day".

1951  FCC filings were completed for a public television station at the University of Wyoming.

September 8

1829  George Crook was born on a farm near Taylorsville Ohio. The career Army officer was notably successful during the Indian Wars.  Crook County is named after him.

1833   Eliza Stewart Boyd born in Crawford County, Pennsylvania.. She became the first woman in the US to be selected to serve on a jury, with that jury being a Grand Jury.in Laramie in 1870.  She was a recently married teacher teacher at the time.  She was nominated to Territorial Legislature in 1873 and was probably the first woman in the US to hold that distinction.

She was also an organizer of the Wyoming Literary and Library Association.  She became a charter member of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in 1883.  She was a Wyoming delegate to the Prohibition Party national convention in 1888.

1851  Negotiations that would lead to the Horse Creek Treaty of 1851 between Plains Indians and the US begin on Horse Creek, 30 miles east of Fort Laramie.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1867  Army post located on Crow Creek near Cheyenne named Ft. D. A. Russell.

1900  USS Wyoming, BM-10, launched.

1920  September 8, 1920. The start of Air Mail

On this day in 1920, the U.S. Post Office inaugurated Air Mail in the United STates with early morning flights taking off from New Jersey and San Francisco, ultimately bound for the other location, and with distribution stops and refueling stops along the way.  Cheyenne was one of the cities on their flight path.

As the Cheyenne paper noted, unusually spelling it out, the reason for the numerous stops was that the Airco DH4 airplanes dedicated to the project didn't carry sufficient fuel not to make numerous stops.  The DH4 was a British designed World War One bomber which the US had ordered in sufficient numbers to make the United States the largest customer for the aircraft. After the war they were placed into mail service, which they'd continue to perform up until 1932.  Indeed, as late as that year the US seriously considered purchasing an updated variant.

1943  The first woman lookout was assigned in the Medicine Bow National Forest.  Perhaps it is coincidence, but this event occurred during World War Two when women were occupying many traditional male occupations due to labor shortages.   Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1978  Yellowstone National Park designated a United Nations World Heritage Site.  Attribution:  On This Day.

2015  In a controversial move, the Casper City Counsel reinstated a tavern and restaurant smoking ban following the decision of the Wyoming Supreme Court that signatures on an earlier referendum petition had been, in some cases, improperly discarded from counting.  The vote was not unanimous and it certainly set the stage for further debate.

September 6

1844  John C. Fremont arrives at the shores of the Great Salt Lake.

1857   John Benjamin Kendrick, Governor from 1915 to 1917, and U.S. Senator from 1917 to 1933, was born in Cherokee County, TX.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1870  Laramie's Eliza A. Swain became the first woman to legally cast of vote in the United States.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1887  The University of Wyoming opened.  It had, at the time, 42 students and 5 faculty members. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1918.   Wyoming Labor Journal, September 6, 1918.

Another item we're running this week in observation of Labor Day, this past Monday, and of course in keeping with our recent 1918 theme, the Wyoming Labor Journal.

This is the issue of September 6, 1918 and followed the recent Labor Day observance in 1918.  While various unions that exist in Wyoming do publish trade journals today, as far as I'm aware there is no longer a general labor newspaper such as this.

Labor was in an odd position in the Great War as it was continually somewhat at odds with the administration while also supporting the war effort.  From the patriotic front page of the paper, you wouldn't necessary know that from the Journal.

Elsewhere: 

 

1936.  President Roosevelt delivered a fireside chat.

2018.  An increasingly embattled Donald Trump went to Billings, Montana to campaign for Matt Rosendale against incumbent U.S. Senator John Testor.

August 26

1853  Mormon militia dispatched from Salt Lake City to Ft. Bridger with the goal of stopping liquor sales to Indians.  Tensions between Mormons and the fort's owners, Jim Bridger and Louis Vasquez had always been high.

1917  New producing oil well came in at the Salt Creek Field.  The field was highly active during World War One, and a regional oil boom also occurred, along with a horse boom, because of the war.  There was, a result, a great deal of construction in downtown Casper during this era. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1918  The 100 Days Offensive: Arras



On this day in 1918 the British Commonwealth forces expanded the Second Battle of the Somme with a Canadian night attack at Arras.  All four Canadian divisions would participate in the assault which would carry through until September 3.

1980   Guernsey State Park added to the National Register of Historic Places.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1987  Vern Gardner, Afton born professional basketball player, died in Ogden Utah, where he was a high school basketball coach.  He played professional basketball in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

2011  Cmdr. Barry F. Rodrigues relieved Cmdr. William C. McKinney as the commanding officer of SSBN 742 (Blue), the USS Wyoming, during a change-of-command ceremony at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay.

August 25

1819 Allan Pinkerton, detective, secret service agent, born.

1850  Western humorist Edgar Wilson "Bill" Nye born in Maine. He career as a humorist was launched while he was a postmaster in Laramie.

1916. National Park Service formed. The NPS took over a role which had been occupied by the Army, that of patrolling the National Parks. Their uniform still recalls the Army of 1916 to a small extent, in that they've retained the M1911 style campaign hat, in straw and felt, as part of their uniform.

On this, it's also the case here that the Yellowstone just ceased last year using the Army built courthouse, built in 1908, in favor of a newly constructed one. Still, that's pretty good service for a small Army courthouse really.

 In 1916, the cavalry branch, which had been heavily involved in patrolling the parks, was committed to the Cold/Lukewarm war with Villa. I wonder if part of the reason that the Park Service came into being in 1916 was because this mounted service was needed to free up the Army's mounted arm for it's primary military role?

1944  Seventeen sheep were slain by a mystery aircraft near Medicine Bow.  I wish I knew more details about this, but I don't.  The item is a Wyoming State Historical Society item, and must have been reported in a newspaper at the time.

1950 President Harry S. Truman orders the Army to seize control of the nation's railroads to avert a strike.

1972  Congress authorized the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway.

2010   Governor Dave Freudenthal signed an executive order increasing protected sage grouse habitat by a net of 400,000 acres.