September 29

Today is International Coffee Day.

1857  Nate Champion, made famous due to the Johnson County War, born in Texas.

 

Statue of Nate Champion in Buffalo Wyoming.

1879  Dissatisfied Ute Indians killed Agent Nathan Meeker and nine others in the "Meeker Massacre" in Colorado.  The dispute had arisen as Meeker was a proponent of cooperative farming, which was a popular position with Indian Agents at the time, and the Utes were upset with his position and rose up against them.  As is typical for battles of the period won by Indians, the battle was referred to as a "Massacre", a term less frequently applied to battles lost by Indians.  Troops dispatched from Ft. Steele Wyoming had been kept some distance away from the events under a Ute demand that they be allowed to speak with Meeker without their being immediately present, a demand which resulted due to Ute recollections of the Sand Creek Massacre.

1882 Ft. Sanders, south of Laramie, sold at public auction.

1899 Veterans of Foreign Wars established.

1900  The Wild Bunch robbed a Union Pacific train near Tipton.

1917  Electric lights installed in Cokeville businesses.

2008 The Dow Jones industrial average fell a record 777.68 points after the House defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue plan for the nation's financial system.

September 5

1836     Sam Houston was elected president of the Republic of Texas.

1866  Fort John Buford was renamed Fort Sanders.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1867  The first head of Texas Longhorns shipped from Abilene Kansas,giving birth to the long cattle drive era and the expansion of the cattle industry in  the West.

1877  Crazy Horse is fatally bayoneted by a U.S. soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson, Nebraska.  The wound wasn't instantly fatal as he lingered for hours after the incident while Indian leaders and officers worked to avoid a violent outbreak occurring as a result.

1879   The Delmonico Hotel and Washington Market collapsed in Cheyenne, killing several people.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1885  U.S. Army troops arrive in Rock Springs following anti-Chinese rioting.  Attribution:  On This Day. 

1894  The first Jewish wedding to occur in Wyoming, occurred in Cheyenne.   Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1910  August Malchow fought again at the Methany Hall in Thermopolis, defeating challenger Patsy McKenna.  The victory was technical as the fight was stopped after brawls in the audience commenced and the victory given to the title holder, Malchow.  McKenna had won more rounds. This was McKenna's last recorded professional fight.

1913  Fire destroyed the main part of Upton.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916  Sheridan Enterprise for September 5, 1916. Big Labor Day celebration in Sheridan, riots in El Paso.
 

The Casper Record for September 5, 1916: "School has started--Have you got that uniform?"

 

Something we've addressed here before, but which would seem alien to many locals today. The era in which the local high school required uniforms.

For girls, anyhow.

Boys had a uniform they couldn't avoid, as we've already noted, but one which their parents, relieved of buying school clothes, were often glad to have imposed. The military uniform of JrROTC.  Girls, on the other hand, had a prescribed uniform.  What exactly it was in 1916 I'm not sure, but a basic blouse and dress is likely what was required.

In other news current residents of Natrona County would be shocked to see that the county fair was, at that time, held in late September.  Gambling with the weather?   And the tragic death of Mildred Burke, front page news in Cheyenne, had hit the Casper paper.

This photograph of the Omaha Stockyards, where many head of Wyoming beef went through, was taken.   Note the boxcar with some beer name on it, although I can't really make that all out.

1917   September 5, 1917. The draftees begin to report
 

September 5, 1917, was a big day for a lot of younger men as they began to leave their homes to report to Army training camps.  Eleven, we learn from the Casper paper, were leaving booming Casper.

And 35 were leaving from much larger Cheyenne, whose paper was also reporting that the Japanese were mustering to come to the aid of the Russians.

In the university town of Laramie the paper reported on the total numbers of the first contingent of draftees in its headlines, 34,450.

There would be a lot more following.

1969  The 116th Engineer Battalion (Combat), Idaho Army National Guard was mustered out of Federal service after active duty in Vietnam. This marked the sixth time in 70 years that the battalion served on active duty.  The Idaho National Guard unit is the only Guard unit, Army or Air, to officially serve in theater during both the Korean and Vietnam wars.  During it's tour in Vietnam six unit members lost their lives, over 100 were wounded, and two members received Silver Stars.

July 10

Today is Wyoming Statehood Day

1863  Territory of Idaho created.

1866  The War Department issued orders to establish a fort south of Laramie.  It was initially named Fort John Buford but was renamed Fort Sanders on September 5, 1866.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1890  Wyoming admitted to the Union.

1933  As noted on this thread at  Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Long Cavalry Maneuvers.  Col Roche S. Mentzer, Commanding Officer of the 115th Cavalry became ill at Fox Park, in the Snowy Range, and died.  That year, annual training had consisted of a protracted mounted march which took the mustered unit from Cheyenne to northern Colorado, and then back into the Snowy Range.

Col. Mentzer, in civilian life, was a lawyer in Cheyenne.

2012  A terrible vehicle v wagon accident occurs following the Central Wyoming Fair & Rodeo parade.  See:  One woman remains in hospital after horse-drawn vehicle accident in Casper

2018   The Lions' Last Roar. The ongoing decline of service organizations.
 

I read in the paper earlier this week that the Lions Club is giving up sponsoring the local fair and rodeo parade, which its done for a decade.  This year is its last year.  The parade was held yesterday (July 10, 2018)

Of course, they drew that last parade in an election year, which must have been a pain.  I didn't watch but a few minutes of the parade, and that from an office window, but even at that I could tell it featured all the running politicians.

The reason the Lions are giving the parade up is a simple one. It takes about thirty people to do the parade, they reported. They're down to ten members.  As the Tribune reported, in an interview of the club's leader;

We looked at our membership. It takes an awful lot of people to put that parade on. Most service clubs have declining membership and ours has declined to the point we didn’t feel we could do it adequately. We notified the fair board officially in January but they knew it was coming. On a regular basis, we have about 10 members and it takes at least 30 people to start that parade, so we’ve taken advantage of our children and our wives and husbands.

Wow.

I've written about the decline in fraternal organizations before.  The Lions aren't really that, however. Their a service organization.  My prior posts probably somewhat confused the two and frankly most fraternal organizations have a service element to them.  Probably in the modern context they darned near all do.  But some organizations are expressly service organizations.  The Lions are one of them.

The Lions were founded in 1916 in Chicago.  It has 1.4 million members worldwide.  So it's still around and still relatively big.  But around here, it's not.  And that's common.

The Rotary Club, which seems to be doing much better, will be taking over.  Rotary International is a little older, having been formed in 1905.  I've known quite a few people who have been Rotarians, but I've also known a few Lions. The Lions I've known have been frank over the years that they were worried about the local clubs (there were at least two, maybe there still are) future. At some point, I'd think, you'd tip over a scale where the weight would be really against you.

Which is a shame, but then I myself have never been in a service or fraternal organization and don't really have any interest in joining one either.  But that's a feature of my character.  I wouldn't have been in one if this was 1968, or 1918.  It's just not me.  I'm glad its been somebody, however.

Comment:

Yesterday the State Historical Society posted this query to their Facebook page:

July 10, 1890, Wyoming became the 44th state. How does your community celebrate?

 The answer here would be not much.  Does your community do anything?

May 22

1804  The Corps of Discovery departed from St. Charles, Missouri.

1843   A wagon train, made up of 1,000 settlers and 1,000 head of cattle left Independence, Missouri.on the "Great Emigration," down the Oregon Trail. 

1882  Ft. Sanders abandoned. 

1891  The Lincoln Land Company purchased the land upon which Moorcroft would be built.

1902  Medicine Bow Forest Reserve established by President Theodore Roosevelt.

1918  Four hundred Belgian soldiers passed through Wyoming over the Union Pacific Railroad on their way to the war in Europe.  The men had been assigned to fight with the Russians and were evacuated from Russia to the United States across the Pacific. Their train trip across the United States was to send them to an Atlantic port so they could return to service in Europe.

They received warm welcomes in Wyoming as they passed through the state.  Their compliment included several wives of soldiers, likely Russian brides, and one infant.

1920  May 22, 1920. Carranza's Assassination hits the news, and Bergdoll's Departure. The Belmont Run, and Federal Employees get to Retire.

Postman, May 22, 1920.

The dramatic news that Carranza, who had been such a large figure in the Mexican Revolution, and the American Press, had been assassinated hit in the U.S.

Also taking headlines was the flight of Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, a millionaire draft dodger.

Bergdoll had first been in the press as a pre World War One aviator, showing that he at least had an element of personal courage.  But when the war came, he skipped his draft physical and evaded the authorities for two years.  He was finally arrested in January, 1920.

He was tried and convicted, and then oddly allowed out of prison when he claimed the need to recover a cache of gold he'd buried while a fugitive.  On a stop at his home in Philadelphia, while under guard, he managed to escape and flea with his chauffeur.

He went, oddly enough, to Germany, where he further avoided attempts to kidnap him by American soldiers of fortune on two occasions, killing one of them.  He returned to the United States twice while a fugitive and even toured a bit on one occasion.  He finally surrendered to authorities in 1939 and served the remainder of his term plus added time, being released in 1944.  He remained under psychiatric care until his death in 1966.

The Belmont was run on this day in 1920.

United Hunts Racing Association meet at Belmont Park Terminal track, May 22, 1920.

Beatrice Clafin and M.M. Van Beuren at the United Hunts Racing Association meet at Belmont Park Terminal track, Belmont, New York, May 22, 1920.

The Civil Retirement Act went into effect on this day, providing retirement for employees of the United States government.  

We're so used to thinking of this as always having existed we fail to appreciate that in fact a century ago retirement was not only not a sure thing, it was contrary to the norm.

1942   President Roosevelt orders the Selective Service registration of all male Americans residents who reach the age of 18 or 19 before June 30th or has reached the age of 20 since December 31, 1941.

1965  John Terril reappointed U.S. Marshall.

1978  The Virginian Hotel, and the Riverton Railroad Depot added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

1987  The U.S. Post Offices in Powell and Greybull added to the National Register of Historic Places.

1987  Special Session of the Legislature concludes.

1991  The 1022nd Medical Company returned to State Control.

2020  Governor Gordon orders flag's at half staff until Sunday, May 24, in honor of the victimes of the Coronavirus.  The proclamation read:

Governor orders flags be flown at half staff statewide until May 24

in honor of the victims of the novel coronavirus pandemic

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Governor Mark Gordon, pursuant to President Donald Trump's Proclamation, has ordered both the U.S. and State of Wyoming flags be flown at half-staff statewide until sunset on Sunday, May 24, 2020 in honor of the victims of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The Presidential Proclamation follows: 

Our Nation mourns for every life lost to the coronavirus pandemic, and we share in the suffering of all those who endured pain and illness from the outbreak. Through our grief, America stands steadfast and united against the invisible enemy. May God be with the victims of this pandemic and bring aid and comfort to their families and friends. As a mark of solemn respect for the victims of the coronavirus pandemic, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, May 24, 2020. I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred forty-fourth.


DONALD J. TRUMP

May 18

1846         American troops capture Matamoros.

1868   Fort Morgan Colorado is abandoned.  It's garrison is transferred to Fort Laramie.

1874  Captain F. Van Vliet, Company C, 3rd Cavalry, who was, at that time stationed at Ft. Fetterman, Wyoming,  wrote the Adjutant General requesting that his company be transferred because there was "...no opportunity for procuring fresh vegetables, and gardens are a failure. There is no female society for enlisted men...the enlisted men of the company are leaving very much dissatisfied, as they look upon being held so long at this post as an unmerited punishment...whenever men get to the railroad there are some desertions caused by dread of returning to this post..."

Ft. Fetterman was a hardship post and had the highest rate of insanity in the Frontier Army.  Attribution on quote:  On This Day.

1882.  Ft. Sanders, near Laramie, abandoned.  By this point in time those forts built principally to defend the Union Pacific railroad were no longer needed for multiple reasons, one being the ability of the railroad to transport troops.

1887  Cornerstone laid for State Capitol:  Attribution:  On This Day.

State Capitol circa 1950s

1898  Wyoming volunteers for service in the Philippines boarded train for San Francisco.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1898    Troop L, 2nd U.S. Vol Cav, made up of men from around Evanston and Kemmerer mustered into the United States service.  Robert A. Hocker commissioned captain; Edgar D. Shurtliff, first lieutenant; Thomas W. Davies, second lieutenant. The non-commissioned officers were: Charles E. Davis, first sergeant; George Ellis, quartermaster sergeant; Frederick Richardson, Charles Dempsey, A. C. B. Lauder, Lewis C. Marx, Martin J. Cleary and Harry Shepherd, sergeants; Henry B. Dexter, William H. Evans, Henry N. Laskey. Sylvester Whalen, Curtis Durnford, Thomas Fife. Charles F. Coggle and James Walton, corporals; William Morrow, trumpeter; William T. Lane and William R. Welch, farriers; John L. Lee, saddler; Edward C. Sims, wagoner.  Troopers–Harold R. Aniens, Case Bennett, Charles S. Beveridge, John B. Dowdige, William J. L. Carpenter, John C. Christensen, Thomas Cook, William Cook, Ralph Crumbaugh. William P. Darby, Byron C. DeLano, Norman E. Dempsey, George DeVore, Samuel J. Dickey, James Eardley. Dell GeHove, Clarence E. Gimmer, Arthur Goodman, Frank Hall, William P. Hartzell. Clarence Johnson, Joseph Johnson, Peter J. Johnson, Walter M. Johnston. Jonathan Jones, Jr., Frank Kennedy, Henry Lanstring, ClilTord W. Long, Hiram Loveday, Garrett Lowham, Joseph Lowham, William R. Lush, Lewis W. McCarl, Orin McRea, James O. Mansfield, Orson Mathews, William T. Moore, Olaf Naster, Andrew Niemela, Harry Nye, E. Perkins, Glen J. Purdy, Orin Oueal, Arthur L. Quinn, Tohn Reed, Reuben A. Robinson, Henry Scharff', John Simpson, Charles H. Smith, Samuel Stover, Calvin E. Sturm, Jesse M. Taylor, James R. Tennant, Ernest Weeks, Joseph Wilkinson.

1909  During this week, in 1909, the local Casper newspaper reported:

"Ed Gill ... Skips Out and Leaves His Sick Wife.

"Ed Gill, the fakir, dead-beat and all 'round scallawag, who inflicted the citizens of Casper several years with his presence ... and who later joined Bill Cody's Wild West show, ... was married to a young lady at Scranton, Pa., about the first of the year, and last week, after raising a $10 check to $100, ... left his sick wife with numerous unpaid bills. ... (H)e met a great many tenderfeet in the east, and he told them a great cock-and-bull story of how he was a real live sheriff in Wyoming. ... (T)he only time he was sheriff was in his fertile brain when he was guzzling booze. ... His wife writes a most pitiful letter to the TRIBUNE, asking that we assist her to locate him. ... But when, if ever, the wife knows him as well as do the people of Casper, she will be tickled half to death that he has gone. ... He is not fit for any woman to waste tears over."

Seems that not everyone in the Wild West Show was a sterling character.

1911         Porfirio Diaz flees to Paris with gold and mistresses.

1917  The U.S. Congress passed the Selective Service act allowing for the conscription of soldiers.

Congress Passes the Selective Service Act of 1917 and the Wyoming Guard gets the word
 

On this day, in 1917, Congress passed, finally, a much debated selective service act, ushering in a new era of "the draft".

The bill passed was massive and covered a plethora of topics.

At the same time, the mobilized and mobilizing Wyoming National Guard got the news that it would be taken into Federal service in July.

The odd thing about this is that the National Guard in Wyoming, and pretty much everywhere else, had been called out just as soon as war was declared.  But the government did not Federalize it right away.  Another example of how things were quite a bit different in World War One as compared to World War Two.

1918 

Oh oh. . . The Casper Daily Press for May 18, 1918.

Seems the Huns might not be beaten. . .and even optimistic.

1933     The Tennessee Valley Authority was created.

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.

May 1

Today is May Day, the International Workers' Holiday, in many localities
Today is Law Day in the United States, an observance created by the American Bar Association in the 1950s which was designed to counter Communist celebrations of May Day with a day dedicated to the rule of law.

1707 Parliament passes the Act of Union forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

1839   An 18 man party from Peoria, Illinois, under the leadership of Thomas J. Farnham, leaves Independence, Missouri, bound for Oregon.

1867  The Cheyenne leader, in boosterism typical for the day, declared Wyoming to be a "cattleman's paradise", citing to the grass and abundant water.

1868  Martha Jane Cannary, "Calamity Jane", arrived in Ft. Bridger.

1869  The Laramie Daily Sentinel starts publication:  Attribution:  On This Day.

1883  William F. Cody put on his first Wild West Show.

1898  The US defeats the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay, in the opening battle of the Spanish American War.  The Philippines would see the deployment of Wyoming volunteers by the end of the year when the Philippine Insurrection rapidly followed the Spanish American War.

1900 The Scofield mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah.

1903  Basin incorporated. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1909  Cheyenne replaces its volunteer fire department with a full time paid department.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916   Sinclair Oil Corporation founded on this day in 1916
 

 

 Sinclair advertisement in Hudson Wyoming.

Sinclair Oil Corporation, which recently announced a major turnaround at its refinery in Casper Wyoming, was founded on this day in 1916.

The founder of the company, Harry F. Sinclair, created the company by merging the assets of eleven small petroleum companies. 

The company has long had a presence in Wyoming with even a town being named after it.

 

Former Parco Hotel in Sinclair, which was once called Parco.

1918  Casper Daily Press for May 1, 1918.

We return today to the Casper newspaper.

The headline was correct, actually.  The Germans were stalling out massively in the second stage of the 1918 spring offensive.  And they were making a massive effort, commencing on May 1, to move large numbers of troops to the West.

Not that this didn't pose its challenges.  Only yesterday the Germans had help Ukraine take Sevastopol from the putative Crimean soviet republic.  This was accompanied by the Ukrainian navy moving its ships out of harms way for the time being, although the Germans occupied those that were left.  Lenin ordered their commander to scuttle them, and he refused, showing a Ukrainian navy that proved more loyal to Ukraine in 1918 than it did a couple of years back when it basically defected to Russia.  And the Germans were fighting in Finland against the Red Finns for the White Finns.

Nonetheless, they were moving troops west now, which they should have done months ago.  Having taken massive casualties in the spring offensive, they had little choice.

Eddie Rickenbacker, who really was a race car driver, made his appearance in the paper as a fighter pilot on this day, at least in the local paper, for the first time, thereby achieving the role for which he is remembered.

And Mother's Day was coming up.

1920 It was announced that Cheyenne was to become a principal stop on the new U.S. Air Mail service route.

1923   Frances Beard became State Historian.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1980   Fort Sanders was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

2017  A complete freeze on state hiring commences.