Railhead: South Torrington Railroad Station, Torrington Wyoming (Homesteader's Museum).

Railhead: South Torrington Railroad Station, Torrington Wyom...:

South Torrington Railroad Station, Torrington Wyoming (Homesteader's Museum).

Above is a fisheye view of the South Torrington Railroad Station.  I used this view as its a long station, and to get the entire station in otherwise I would have had to walk across the highway, which was busy.

This station is unusual in that it was designed by noted National Park lodge architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood in the Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival Style.  Originally built in 1926, it was extended in order to accommodate both passenger and freight service, with its original purpose being reflected in the fact that it remains right across the street from a sugar refinery.

As with so many other depots, this one is no longer used by the Union Pacific, but it's well-preserved and now used as the Goshen County Homesteader's Museum.

February 9

1836  David Crockett and his party of fourteen "Tennessee Mounted Volunteers" arrived in San Antonio, Texas.

1851  James M. Riley a/ka/ Doc Middleton, David C. Middleton, Texas Jack, Jack Lyons, Gold-Tooth Jack and Gold-Tooth Charley born in Bastrop Texas.  He was a horse thief, operating in Wyoming and neighboring states up until 1883 when a criminal conviction ended his career.  At the time of his death in 1913 he was a saloon owner in Orin Junction.

1867  Nebraska becomes a state.

1870 The U.S. Weather Bureau was established.

1878  Colorado rancher  John Wesley Iliff dies, leaving an open range cattle heard of 35,000 head.  He was 46 years old.

1893  Wyoming divided into four judicial districts by the Legislature. Attribution.  On This Day.  The number has been expanded to the current day, there now being nine judicial districts, several of which encompass a single county.

1910  Keel of the USS Wyoming laid down.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1911  Platte, Goshen, Hot Springs and Washakie counties created by the Legislature.

1916   Bill Carlisle robs passengers on the Union Pacific "Portland Rose".  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916  Casper Daily Tribune established.

1917   The Cheyenne Leader for February 9, 1917: German activity in Mexico drawing the attention of the Secret Service
 

Two days after the Punitive Expedition had officially ended Germans in Mexico were still drawing U.S. attention. . . and not for incorrect reasons, as it would turn out.

The US was too proud to fight, even after the lifting of unrestricted submarine warfare, regarded as a really immoral act at the time.  And the legislature was still busy, working on another alcohol bill even after a run at Prohibition had failed earlier in the week.  Much like today, some economic hopes were being pinned on outside industries even though the economy was doing great, fueled by the agricultural and petroleum boom caused by World War One.

1918 The Wyoming Tribune, February 9, 1918. Different Times
 

Cheyenne high school cadets were having a competition.  They were, of course, all male.  "Pretty Cheyenne High School Girls" had been chosen to sponsor the teams.  This would probably spark some sort of protest today.  Whose times are more honest?

On the same day, those cadets and their female sponsors could read that the Germans had gotten the best of fresh American infantry once again in a trench raid. The Germans were testing American troops. . .but also giving American troops who survived the test combat experience.

The sinking of the Tuscania remained in the news.  Revolution in Russia continued to grab headlines.  Ukraine had bowed out of the war as an independent state, freed of Moscow, and had stepped into what was to be the first of two German "protectorates" of the 20th Century for that country.

And Theodore Roosevelt was ill.

At least the weather looked good for autoing.

1919  Sunday February 9, 1919. 116th Ammunition Train's Wyoming Guardsmen come home, the Spanish Flu strikes in Cheyenne, 2% alcohol brings protest, Game & Fish supported, Chewing gum, Chinese alphabet, Coffee substitutes, Old Restaurants

So what news greeted Cheyenne subscribers to the Cheyenne State Leader on this Sunday, February 9, 1919?  The Sunday paper, for papers that print them, is usually the flagship edition of the journal. And a lot was going on, with peace talks in Parish, revolution in Russia, the flu epidemic spanning the globe, and the legislature in session.  Let's take a look.

Unemployment was going up and up, as war industries closed down and servicemen went home.  In an era in which the only thing a government could think to do in this situation was to keep servicemen in the service, which was an expensive option that no Congress of that period would tolerate long, the direction things were headed in was obvious, and not good.

Some of those servicemen from Wyoming, in the "116th", would soon be home.  

The paper wasn't clear about what the "116th" was, but it was the 116th Ammunition Train, one of the units that was formed out of the men of the Wyoming National Guard after it was reassigned from its infantry role and broken up. They were a logistical transport unit that took ammunition to the front.  They were part of the 41st Division.

American boys who were coming home just yet, those serving in Northern Russia, were reported to have given the Reds a "licking". That was true of it meant that they'd inflicted heavy casualties upon the Red Army that was advancing against them, but they were not holding their ground.  The Reds were winning in Russia against the Allies and Whites in that area.

A group that some feared was turning Red, strikers in Seattle, were reported to have been beaten in the huge strike going on in Seattle that had been running for several days.

Tragedy struck in Cheyenne when a young woman, age 20, died of the Spanish flu leaving an infant.  Her husband was at sea.

Also in Cheyenne, Governor Carey and Senator Powers received the protest of Sheridan Area ministers regarding the Wyoming state prohibition bill, an act that was pointless in the first place as the 18th Amendment had just passed, as it would still allow 2% alcohol.

In news that remains important to this very day, the same legislature that passed a pointless prohibition bill passed a really important Game & Fish bill that put the Wyoming Game & Fish Department on a permanent footing with a set of statutes on the state's game and fish.

We should all be thankful for the 1919 Legislature for that one.

The Cheyenne paper ran a society page at that time, which seems so odd now.  That same page featured a major advertisement for chewing gum in the form of "sweetmeats", which I've never seen it called before.

Personally I'm not a huge chewing gum fan, liking the rarely seen black licorice chewing gum more than others.  I'll buy Wrigley's on occasion however.  Interesting to see how long its been around and how it was originally advertised.

On the Society page the paper also let us know "one reason China is messed up", which was its written language, the paper felt.

As racist as that sounds, there was some truth to that at the time, which was why there was quite an effort to adopt the western alphabet to the Chinese languages (amongst others).  Indeed, the western system of alphabet was a major achievement due to the ease of its use.  

Be that as it may, now in the computer age, the advantage that once existed in regards to the western alphabet has somewhat diminished, and in China knowledge of its traditional characters is in fact greatly expanding in the current era.

On a different wildlife related topic, major discussion was going on in Cheyenne on the damage caused by predatory animals.

And people were being told, advertisement wise, that Instant Postum "is better for the family than coffee".  No, I don't think so.  We are told that "There's a Reason", but we aren't told what that reason actually was.

A furniture store in Cheyenne was selling out, with illustrations of their wares.

The Albany Cafe was open on Sunday, as restaurants typically are, and was offering a Sunday chicken dinner for .75.

The Albany is still there, and still in the same location.

And new Studebaker's were being advertised.

1933 Coldest recorded temperature in state set at the Riverside.Ranger Station in Yellowstone National Park at -66F.  On the same day a series of cold records were established in the region, such as-66F at West Yellowstone and -63 at Moran.

1942 Daylight-saving "war time" went into effect in the United States, with clocks turned one hour forward.

1943 FDR ordered a minimal 48 hour work week in war industry.

1944  Wednesday, February 9, 1944. Vice in Casper Wyoming. Questioning the conduct of the War in Parliament.

Fifty Five slot machines were seized by law enforcement in Casper.

Gambling is theoretically illegal in Wyoming, but old time Wyomingites know that at one time the law was really just winked at. The Wonder Bar, a Casper institution for decades, kept a blackboard up behind the bar with sports teams listed on it and betting information in the 40s and 50s.  The legendary bar finally seems to have escaped its name and somewhat misplaced nostalgia, but in those days that was a major feature of a major Casper bar.

The Wonder Bar

These photographs are of the "World Famous" Wonder Bar. The Wonder Bar has operated on Center Street for decades, although it has had short periods of time in recent years in which it operated under a different name (Tommy Knockers, Dillingers, and very briefly, "Sludge and Eddies"). Still, the bar has been around so long that even efforts to operate it under a different name do not deter the locals from continuing to refer to it as the Wonder Bar.

Downtown Casper once had a vast number of bars. This are of downtown had multiple bars on a single block. Only the Wonder Bar survives as a bar.

At some point in time, decades ago, Lee Riders paid to paint an advertisement on the side of the bar. The sign is still there, although an effort to paint over it was made at some point. This reflects the stockman heritage of central Wyoming, and indeed at one time quite a few cowboys and sheepherders spent time in the Wonder Bar.

Gambling downtown was a major deal in the bars in general.  My father was once a witness to a sheepherder pawning his cowboy boots so he could go back to a game.  This may have been at the Trail Bar, a long gone bar on Second Street at a time when Casper had bars literally everywhere downtown . . . something its oddly returning to actually.

That would also have been in the 40s.

 The Rialto Theater.  Just below the tall sign, which usually says "Rialto" but which is being refurbished, there was a cigar store.

The caption above is now inaccurate. The store has been recreated as a malt shop/soda fountain.  The theater is being converted into an events venue.

The Rialto Cigar Store, also a major Casper institution for decades, operated as a bookmaker at one time.  That was in addition to other illegal activities, which included selling sex related materials and pornographic magazines.  Even in the 1990s it sold a lot of pornography, in addition to cigars and newspapers.  It was also a malt shop.

That was Casper.

Casper, my hometown, was really rough from at least the onset of World War One through the end of World War Two.  Just as the war had a major impact on towns and cities that bordered reservations in the southwest, as returning Native veterans wanted to be near their homes, but not return to the reservations, returning veterans ran for local office in Natrona County as they wanted to rebuild their lives in a town that wasn't wide open, and Casper was.

The process actually started during the war.  Not only gambling, but prostitution was widely accepted in Casper until the 1940s.  It was loosely confined to The Sand Bar district of the city, but it was very open.  During the war, the commander of the Army Air Force base that became the Natrona County International Airport after the war asked the city to restrain it as the expanded business opportunities for the "working girls" caused by the war caused a law enforcement problem for the military, as well as a major health problem. The Army threatened to confine soldiers to base unless the city did something about it, and with money to be made, the city started to act.  Following the war, the efforts continued until the 1970s when the Sand Bar was taken down as part of an urban renewal project.

1984 The Divide Sheep Camp added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

2016  Governor Mead delivers his State of the State address in stressed economic times in the state.

2018  Ed Murray resigned as Wyoming Secretary of State following the second accusation of his having engaged in inappropriate conduct in the past on two instances.  As we noted at the time, the second accusation effectively ended his political career:

The Tribune's article today on Murray noted that he had been expected to be the front runner for the Gubernatorial race. 

I don't know if that's true or not but it does seem clear that these two combined allegations have effectively ended his political career. 

The first of the two accusations, it should be noted, was the much more serious and Murray has denied it unequivocally.  It would constitute a true species of sexual assault.  The second accusation is crass and crude and would constitute a species of assault, but in terms of it being a "sexual assault" it would not likely be in the legal context but might be in the current social context.  That one occurred in 1988 and Murray had married in the interim.  He hasn't admitted it, but instead has said that he has no recollection of the event, alleged to have occurred on New Years Eve when the second accuser was babysitting for Murray and his wife.  Having no recollection is a pretty weak denial. 

This is interesting in the current political context for a couple of reasons.  One is that frankly at least I, and I suspect some others, would have been inclined to dismiss the first accusation but for the second.  The second, standing alone, would have been crass and inappropriate but probably could have been excused away due to New Years over indulging or something and the voters might have forgiven Murray.  Standing together they're enough, in my view, to wipe out is chance of obtaining any other elected or even appointed position.  The first one, if true and reported immediately, may have lead to criminal prosecution at the time.