December 1

1869  Uinta County created by the Territorial Legislature.

1889  Burlington Northern branch line to Cambria mines completed.

1907  Fire in downtown Cody burned seven buildings. Attribution.  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1910  A bounty on coyotes in the amount of $1.25, a not unsubstantial amount at the time, established. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916The Casper Weekly Press for December 1, 1916: White Slavery and Boom on in Casper
 

While the Cheyenne papers warned of bodies burning in the streets of Chihuahua and Villa advancing to the border, as well as the ongoing horrors of World War One, the Casper Weekly Press hit the stands with tales of white slavery.

White slavery, for those who might not know (we don't hear the term much anymore) was basically the kidnapping of young women and forcing them into prostitution.

Headlines like this are easy to discount, and seem lurid, fanciful, and sensationalist, but in reality they give us a view into the hard nature of the past we'd sometimes completely forget.  White Slavery, i.e., the kidnapping of women and the forcing them into prostitution, was actually a bonafide problem, and to some extent, it remains one.

I've spoken to one now deceased woman who escaped an attempt to kidnap her on a large East Coast city when she was a teen and who was convinced that she was almost a victim of such an effort.  And it wasn't all that long ago that it was revealed there was an Hispanic white slavery ring in Jackson Wyoming, where very young Mexican teenage girls were being brought up to that Wyoming resort town as prostitutes, working in an underground economy there focused on single Mexican laborers.  That one was discovered, oddly enough, through the schools.  Still, the evil practice, fueled by money and drugs, is with us still, although with advances in technology, and just more knowledge on such things, it wasn't what it once was, thankfully.

We don't want to romanticize the past here, so we've run this, although with all the news on bodies burning in the streets, etc, we probably can't be accused of romanticism anyhow.

Meanwhile an oil boom was on in Casper causing housing shortages.

Page two of the Casper Weekly informed us that a Ford had become a necessity.  If it wasn't quite true at the time, it soon would be.

The Wyoming, a store apparently took a shot at Prohibitionist by advertising that they had "everything a Prohibitionist likes."

The Wyoming Tribune for December 1, 1916: Carranza prepares to fight at the border

 

Just a few days ago the news was reporting that US forces would be able to withdraw from Mexico and an agreement with Carranza was on the verge of being signed. Today the Tribune was reporting fears that Villa would advance to the US border.

And former Governor Osborne, presently U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, we're told, was contemplating running for the Senate.

The Cheyenne Leader for December 1, 1916: Grim scenes in Chihuahua

 

Aerial view of Motor Truck Group, Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, Major F.H. Pope, Cavalry, commanding, December, 1916
 

1918 Watch on the Rhine, and on the Rio Grande, and on the Pimega. December 1, 1918.

Col. C.H. Hodges, First Division and interpreter, making arrangements with Inspector Ludveg, a German officer, for the use of Maximin Marracks. Treves, Germany. December 1, 1918.

American troops were pouring into Germany, and into occupation duty, on this day in 1918.

 Eighteenth Regiment Infantry. First Division , crossing bridge over Mosell River into Germany at Kalender Muhl. Kalender Muhl, Germany. December 1, 1918.

 View showing interest of German populace as Army mess kitchen goes through Treves. Treves, Germany, December 1, 1918.

 USS Orizaba which left Hoboken, New Jersey on Dec. 1, 1918 for Europe with journalists, photographers and others attending the Peace Conference after World War I

The press, meanwhile, was pouring into Europe as well, to watch and report on the drama of the peace negotiations.

That drama was clearly building.

At the same time, Villa's fortunes appeared to be reversing again.  And the Red Army suffered a reversal near Archangel in an action in which U.S. troops had played a part.

Cheyenne received some good news in the form of learning it was going to be an air mail hub, which it in fact did become.  And fans of the Marine Corps received some as well in learning that the Marines were going to keep on keeping on for at least awhile.

1925  Colorado-Wyoming Gas Company created.

1930  Robert Davis Carey, the son of Joseph Maull Carey, assumes the office of U.S. Senator.  Sen. Carey was elected to fill the seat vacated by the death of F. E. Warren.  He would serve until 1937, when he vacated the seat after loosing a bid for reelection. Thereafter, he intended resume ranching, which he only continued until his death twelve days after leaving office, at age 58.

1936  The McGill Bunkhouse, a 60 year old structure on the former stage line between Laramie and Centennial, was destroyed by fire.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1942 Gasoline rationing begins in the US.

1969  December 1, 1969. The United States resumes a lottery system for conscription.

This is, frankly, a bit confusing.

The United States had resumed conscription following World War Two in March 1948.  It had only actually expired in January 1947, showing how a need for manpower in the wake of World War Two caused it to actually continue to exist in spite of a large reduction in force following the end of the war.

After coming back into effect in March 1948 it stayed in existence until 1973, but was then done away with following the end of the Vietnam War. By that time conscription was massively unpopular.  It can't be said to have ever really been "popular", per se, but it didn't meet with real resistance until the Vietnam War.

The resumption of a lottery system for the draft, in which each registrant was assigned a number and the number then drawn at random, was designed to attempt to reduce the unpopularity of conscription at that point in the Vietnam War.  Numerous changes were made to the system during the war including ending a marriage exemption and ultimately curtaining an exemption for graduate students. With the adoption of the lottery system also came a change in age focus so that rather than top of those in the age range being drafted it then focused on those who were 19 years old. The reason for this was that if a person's number wasn't chosen in the lottery as a 19 year old, they were not going to be drafted and could accordingly plan around that.

Because of the way that the draft worked prior to 1969, and even after that date, many men joined the service when faced with the near certainty of being conscripted. As a result, oddly, far more men volunteered for service than who were actually conscripted.  Additionally, the number of men who were volunteers for the service who served in Vietnam outnumbered those who were drafted, with a surprisingly large number of troops who served in the war itself volunteering for service in Vietnam.

1997  The Wyoming state quarter design approved.

2016   The Wyoming State Land Board, in a decision that has been atypical for it in recent years, declined to approve a land transfer that resulted in a disproportionate exchange of acreage.  The proposal, involving the loss of access to land in Laramie County that was used by area hunters and came under massive public opposition.

November 30

1782 Britain recognizes US independence.

1803 Spain cedes Louisiana to France, including, of course, that part which is now Wyoming.

1810 Oliver Fisher Winchester born.

1856  Martin's Cove survivors arrive in Salt Lake City. 

This event, often sort of off hand stated as having happened in the dead of winter, actually, as this date attests, occurred much earlier and for a much briefer period of time than imagined. The handcart company was in fact detained at Martin's Cove for only five days.

Of course, saying "only five days" presents that, in part, from a modern view.  The handcart company was travelling shockingly late in the year.  Travelling by handcart was an arduous affair under any circumstances and was poorly provided for by this point in their journey. Wyoming is subject to blizzards much earlier than early November and Martin's Cove itself is fairly high altitude at approximately 6,000 feet.

The number of Mormon immigrants that died at Martin's Cove during their storm enforced delay is actually not know, but at least 145 members of the 500 person company died en route to Salt Lake, although not necessarily all of them in this singular event.

1869  Woman's suffrage bill sent to the Territorial House.

1914  International  Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union #322 chartered in Casper.

1916:   The Cheyenne Leader for November 30, 1916: A National Guard Casualty
 

Only meriting a small entry at the bottom of the page, we learn on this day that Wyoming National Guardsman Pvt. Frank J. Harzog, who enlisted from Sheridan, died in Deming of encephalitis.  He was to be buried at Ft. Bliss, so he wold never make it home.

Too often soldiers who die in peacetime are simply forgotten; their deaths not recognized as being in the service of the country. But they are.  Indeed, the year after I was in basic training a solider who was in my training platoon, a National Guardsman from Nebraska, died in training in a vehicle accident.  A Cold War death as sure as any other.

Thanksgiving Day, 1916
 

November 23 was Thanksgiving Day in 1916.  Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation to that effect on November 17, 1916.

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

It has long been the custom of our people to turn in the fruitful autumn of the year in praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God for His many blessings and mercies to us as a nation. The year that has elapsed since we last observed our day of thanksgiving has been rich in blessings to us as a people, but the whole face of the world has been darkened by war. In the midst of our peace and happiness, our thoughts dwell with painful disquiet upon the struggles and sufferings of the nations at war and of the peoples upon whom war has brought disaster without choice or possibility of escape on their part. We cannot think of our own happiness without thinking also of their pitiful distress.

Now, Therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, do appoint Thursday, the thirtieth of November, as a day of National Thanksgiving and Prayer, and urge and advise the people to resort to their several places of worship on that day to render thanks to Almighty God for the blessings of peace and unbroken prosperity which He has bestowed upon our beloved country in such unstinted measure. And I also urge and suggest our duty in this our day of peace and abundance to think in deep sympathy of the stricken peoples of the world upon whom the curse and terror of war has so pitilessly fallen, and to contribute out of our abundant means to the relief of their suffering. Our people could in no better way show their real attitude towards the present struggle of the nations than by contributing out of their abundance to the relief of the suffering which war has brought in its train.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this seventeenth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and sixteen and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and forty-first.

It must have been a stressful one for a lot of people.  War was raging in Europe and a lot of Wyomingites were serving on the border with Mexico.  The local economy was booming, and there were a lot of changes going on in the towns, but due to the international conflict.

1918  November 30, 1918. Americans enter Germany for the first time, Villa threatens Juarez, Wyomingites get Reserve Plates, Teenage Bride Mildred Harris Chaplin rumored to be planning a visit home, No beer for New Years.

The first Americans to cross into Germany, November 30, 1918.  1st Division.  Wormeldauge Luxembourg to Winchrenger Germany.

On this date in 1918 the U.S. Army entered Germany from Luxembourg.

Gen. Campbell King, left, in Luxembourg on this date in 1918.  King was Harvard educated before attending becoming a lawyer in Georgia.  He entered  the Army in 1897 as a private and was commissioned an officer in 1898.  He was a Major entereing World War One and was breveted the rank of Brigadier General and served as Chief of Staff of the Third Army.  He retired as a Major General in 1932 and lived until 1953.  The officer on the right is an unidentified Marine Corps officer.  Note the much darker uniform and the different pattern of overseas cap, with that type being the type that would later become the service wide pattern after the war.

Headquarters for the occupation force remained, on this day, in Luxembourg itself.

Cheyenne residents read Gen. Pershing's address to his troops and the Governor was demobilizing the Home Guard.

And Wyoming was introducing its coveted "reserve plates" for motor vehicles, in which you could get the same license plate number every year (at a time in which you received new plates every year. . . which was the case at least into the 1970s).

In the other Cheyenne paper readers learned that yes, Villa was threatening Juarez again. So he'd returned from near defeat back to threatening and was back on the very top of the front page yet again. . . just as he had been prior to World War One.

Mildred Harris Chaplain at approximately this time. Her stardom was in ascendancy at the time but her life was is in turmoil.  She's married much older Charlie Chaplain at only age 16, something that would have wrecked both of their careers in and of itself in the present age, under the false belief that she was pregnant.

Cheyenne was hoping for a visit, we also learned, from Mildred Harris, now Mrs. Mildred Chaplin, who had turned 17 years old only the day prior.

In Casper the headline, like on many other papers, dealt with Woodrow Wilson's decision to lead the American peace delegation, something that was not a popular decision with Congress.  Casperites also read of the terrible massacre of the Jews in Lemberg (Lvov) by the Poles.

Casperites also were reading of the disbandment of UW's military training unit.

Casperites also read, in the other paper, Pereshing's Thanksgiving day address.

They also read that the Kaiser was that no longer.

And suds for New Years would be no longer as well. The committee that had suspended brewing as of the first of the year declined to rescind its order now that there was peace.

Boxing match in Archangel Russia between enlisted U.S. and French servicemen, November 30, 1918.

1920  Bureau of Reclamation commences construction of electric power plant at Buffalo Bill Dam.

1927   First day of Fremont County Turkey Show in Lander.  Attribution, Wyoming Historical Association.

1943  The price of coal from Rock Springs was raised $.20 per ton, a fairly substantial climb in that era.  Coal was an extremely vital source of fuel in this time period, although petroleum oil was supplanting it in many ways.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1946  Barbara Cubin, Congresswoman from Wyoming, born in Salinas California.

2012  Wyoming Whiskey releases the first batches of its bourbon whiskey.  The product is the first legally distilled whiskey to be made in Wyoming.  It's not the first whiskey to be distilled in Wyoming, however, as Kemmerer was a center of illegally distilled whiskey during Prohibition.

November 24

1835.  Texas authorizes the Texas Rangers.

1874.  Joseph F. Glidden received his patent for barbed wire.

Barbed wire changed the nature of ranching and farming in the West.  More than any other single physical item, barbed wire was responsible for the end of the open range and permanently established ranches with fenced pastures.  It even changed the nature of the cowboy's work and employment, as it caused the rise of multiple smaller ranches with a small number of year around employees who worked cattle more and rode less.

1890  Francis E. Warren resigns as Governor, a position he had held as State Governor for only a little over a month, but which as Territorial Governor he had held for about a year.  None the less, he holds the status of being Wyoming's first Governor.  He resigned in order to take up his duties as a newly elected Senator, which oddly he had assumed a few days prior to his resignation as Governor.

Warren in life.  He was in his late 40s when he became Senator.

1890  Amos W. Barber assumes office as Governor at age 29.  Barber had not been elected Governor, but assumed the acting position when Francis E. Warren resigned to assume the office of Senator.  Barber, who was a surgeon by training, and who come to Wyoming while serving in the Army, would find his term in office plagued by the Johnson County War, during which he was associated with the large stockmen side of the conflict.  He is not regarded as a strong Governor, and probably did not miss the office when he vacated it in 1893.  He returned first to the position of Secretary of State and then to private medical practice, and reentered military service during the Spanish American War.  He later moved to Minnesota, but he was buried in Cheyenne after his death in Minnesota in 1915.

Barber's time in office was marred by the Johnson County War, and his role in it suggests a potential weakness in his character.  On a more positive note, he detected the shenanigans that had occurred with the design of the state's seal, and would not tolerate that, although even there he kept his first corrective efforts a secret after the story became controversial.

Governor Barber's mustache belied his age, he was only 29 years old when he became the State's second governor.

1916   The Cheyennne Leader for November 24, 1916: Villa defated at Chihuahua, Carranza delegates to confer with Carranza
 

A lot going on in this November 24 edition of the Tribune.  But how much was accurate?

Things going badly for Villa?  A near agreement with Carranza?  And of course, the Great War.

1918  November 24, 1918. Cheyenne closes again, Horses being eaten in Russia, Revolution in Germany and Gasoline Alley

The papers were starting to report that the Spanish Flu Pandemic was easing, but in truth November was one of its peak years (and in other parts of the globe it'd rage on for the entire next year).  Reality hit as things were closed back up.

As bad as that was, the horrors of the Russian Civil War were pushing their way onto the front page of the local papers.  And there was legitimate reason to fear that the result of the Great War in Germany might be communist revolution throughout the defeated empires of Europe, a disaster that was being appreciated, if not perhaps in its full potential extent.

Elsewhere, in Chicago, the very first issue of Gasoline Alley made its appearance in the newspaper.

Gasoline Alley was, at first, only a Sunday paper in the black and white Sunday cartoons of the Chicago Tribune.  It soon became a daily.

The cartoon strip was one that appeared regularly, and maybe still does, in the Denver Post and occasionally in the Rocky Mountain News and I used to read it there.  It's a cartoon I like, but as it's a serial, its never one that I'm current on the story line so I was never up on what was going on in it.  The interesting thing about it for years and years, beside the content of the cartoon in general, is that it was a celebration of American garage culture.  In that context, it's pretty significant that it appeared in 1918 when automobiles, if not wholly new, were sill very much a new things.  They'd become common enough to be the subject of a cartoon at this point, which says something.

1921 A serious fire in Gillette, WY destroyed several of the towns' landmark buildings.

1922     The Colorado River Compact was entered into on this day in 1922.   The text of the agreement provided:

Colorado River Compact, 1922

The States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, having resolved to enter into a compact under the Act of the Congress of the United States of America approved August 19, 1921 (42 Statutes at Large, page 171), and the Acts of the Legislatures of the said States, have through their Governors appointed as their Commissioners:

W.S. Norviel for the State of Arizona,

W.F. McClure for the State of California,

Delph E. Carpenter for the State of Colorado,

J.G. Scrugham for the State of Nevada,

Stephen B. Davis, Jr., for the State of New Mexico,

R.E. Caldwell for the State of Utah,

Frank C. Emerson for the State of Wyoming,

who, after negotiations participated in by Herbert Hoover appointed by The President as the representative of the United States of America, have agreed upon the following articles:

ARTICLE I

The major purposes of this compact are to provide for the equitable division and apportionment of the use of the waters of the Colorado River System; to establish the relative importance of different beneficial uses of water, to promote interstate comity; to remove causes of present and future controversies; and to secure the expeditious agricultural and industrial development of the Colorado River Basin, the storage of its waters, and the protection of life and property from floods. To these ends the Colorado River Basin is divided into two Basins, and an apportionment of the use of part of the water of the Colorado River System is made to each of them with the provision that further equitable apportionments may be made.

ARTICLE II

As used in this compact-

(a) The term “Colorado River System” means that portion of the Colorado River and its tributaries within the United States of America.

(b) the term “Colorado River Basin” means all of the drainage area of the Colorado River System and all other territory within the United States of America to which the waters of the Colorado River System shall be beneficially applied.

(c) The term “States of the Upper Division” means the States of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.

(d) The term “States of the Lower Division” means the States of Arizona, California, and Nevada.

(e) The term “Lee Ferry” means a point in the main stream of the Colorado River one mile below the mouth of the Paria River.

(f) The term “Upper Basin” means those parts of the States of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming within and from which waters naturally drain into the Colorado River System above Lee Ferry, and also all parts of said States located without the drainage area of the Colorado River System which are now or shall hereafter be beneficially served by waters diverted from the System above Lee Ferry.

(g) The term “Lower Basin” means those parts of the States of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah within and from which waters naturally drain into the Colorado River System below Lee Ferry, and also all parts of said States located without the drainage area of the Colorado River System which are now or shall hereafter be beneficially served by waters diverted from the System below Lee Ferry.

(h) The term “domestic use” shall include the use of water for household, stock, municipal, mining, milling, industrial, and other like purposes, but shall exclude the generation of electrical power.

ARTICLE III

(a) There is hereby apportioned from the Colorado River System in perpetuity to the Upper Basin and to the Lower Basin, respectively, the exclusive beneficial consumptive use of 7,500,000 acre-feet of water per annum, which shall include all water necessary for the supply of any rights which may now exist. 

(b) In addition to the apportionment in paragraph (a), the Lower Basin is hereby given the right to increase its beneficial consumptive use of such waters by one million acre-feet per annum. 

(c) If, as a matter of international comity, the United States of America shall hereafter recognize in the United States of Mexico any right to the use of any waters of the Colorado River System, such waters shall be supplied first from the waters which are surplus over and above the aggregate of the quantities specified in paragraphs (a) and (b); and if such surplus shall prove insufficient for this purpose, then, the burden of such deficiency shall be equally borne by the Upper Basin and the Lower Basin, and whenever necessary the States of the Upper Division shall deliver at Lee Ferry water to supply one-half of the deficiency so recognized in addition to that provided in paragraph (d). 

(d) The States of the Upper Division will not cause the flow of the river at Lee Ferry to be depleted below an aggregate of 75,000,000 acre-feet for any period of ten consecutive years reckoned in continuing progressive series beginning with the first day of October next succeeding the ratification of this compact. 

(e) The States of the Upper Division shall not withhold water, and the States of the Lower Division shall not require the delivery of water, which cannot reasonably be applied to domestic and agricultural uses. 

(f) Further equitable apportionment of the beneficial uses of the waters of the Colorado River System unapportioned by paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) may be made in the manner provided in paragraph (g) at any time after October first, 1963, if and when either Basin shall have reached its total beneficial consumptive use as set out in paragraphs (a) and (b). 

(g) In the event of a desire for a further apportionment as provided in paragraph (f) any two signatory States, acting through their Governors, may give joint notice of such desire to the Governors of the other signatory States and to The President of the United States of America, and it shall be the duty of the Governors of the signatory States and of The President of the United States of America forthwith to appoint representatives, whose duty it shall be to divide and apportion equitably between the Upper Basin and Lower Basin the beneficial use of the unapportioned water of the Colorado River System as mentioned in paragraph (f), subject to the legislative ratification of the signatory States and the Congress of the United States of America. 

ARTICLE IV 

(a) Inasmuch as the Colorado River has ceased to be navigable for commerce and the reservation of its waters for navigation would seriously limit the development of its Basin, the use of its waters for purposes of navigation shall be subservient to the uses of such waters for domestic, agricultural, and power purposes. If the Congress shall not consent to this paragraph, the other provisions of this compact shall nevertheless remain binding. 

(b) Subject to the provisions of this compact, water of the Colorado River System may be impounded and used for the generation of electrical power, but such impounding and use shall be subservient to the use and consumption of such water for agricultural and domestic purposes and shall not interfere with or prevent use for such dominant purposes. 

(c) The provisions of this article shall not apply to or interfere with the regulation and control by any State within its boundaries of the appropriation, use, and distribution of water. 

ARTICLE V 

The chief official of each signatory State charged with the administration of water rights, together with the Director of the United States Reclamation Service and the Director of the United States Geological Survey shall cooperate, ex-officio: 

(a) To promote the systematic determination and coordination of the facts as to flow, appropriation, consumption, and use of water in the Colorado River Basin, and the interchange of available information in such matters.

(b) To secure the ascertainment and publication of the annual flow of the Colorado River at Lee Ferry. 

(c) To perform such other duties as may be assigned by mutual consent of the signatories from time to time.

ARTICLE VI

Should any claim or controversy arise between any two or more of the signatory States: 

(a) with respect to the waters of the Colorado River System not covered by the terms of this compact; 

(b) over the meaning or performance of any of the terms of this compact; 

(c) as to the allocation of the burdens incident to the performance of any article of this compact or the delivery of waters as herein provided; 

(d) as to the construction or operation of works within the Colorado River Basin to be situated in two or more States, or to be constructed in one State for the benefit of another State; or 

(e) as to the diversion of water in one State for the benefit of another State; the Governors of the States affected, upon the request of one of them, shall forthwith appoint Commissioners with power to consider and adjust such claim or controversy, subject to ratification by the Legislatures of the States so affected. Nothing herein contained shall prevent the adjustment of any such claim or controversy by any present method or by direct future legislative action of the interested States. 

ARTICLE VII 

Nothing in this compact shall be construed as affecting the obligations of the United States of America to Indian tribes. 

ARTICLE VIII 

Present perfected rights to the beneficial use of waters of the Colorado River System are unimpaired by this compact. Whenever storage capacity of 5,000,000 acre-feet shall have been provided on the main Colorado River within or for the benefit of the Lower Basin, then claims of such rights, if any, by appropriators or users of water in the Lower Basin against appropriators or users of water in the Upper Basin shall attach to and be satisfied from water that may be stored not in conflict with Article III. All other rights to beneficial use of waters of the Colorado River System shall be satisfied solely from the water apportioned to that Basin in which they are situate. 

ARTICLE IX 

Nothing in this compact shall be construed to limit or prevent any State from instituting or maintaining any action or proceeding, legal or equitable, for the protection of any right under this compact or the enforcement of any of its provisions. 

ARTICLE X 

This compact may be terminated at any time by the unanimous agreement of the signatory States. In the event of such termination all rights established under it shall continue unimpaired. 

ARTICLE XI 

This compact shall become binding and obligatory when it shall have been approved by the Legislatures of each of the signatory States and by the Congress of the United States. Notice of approval by the Legislatures shall be given by the Governor of each signatory State to the Governors of the other signatory States and to the President of the United States, and the President of the United States is requested to give notice to the Governors of the signatory States of approval by the Congress of the United States. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Commissioners have signed this compact in a single original, which shall be deposited in the archives of the Department of State of the United States of America and of which a duly certified copy shall be forwarded to the Governor of each of the signatory States.

DONE at the City of Santa Fe, New Mexico, this twenty-fourth day of November, A.D. One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-two. W. S. NORVIEL W. F. McCLURE DELPH E. CARPENTER J. G. SCRUGHAM STEPHEN G. DAVIS, JR. R. E. CALDWELL FRANK C. EMERSON 

Approved: HERBERT HOOVER

1929  Senator Francis E. Warren died.  At the time of his death, he had been a Senator longer than any other person in U.S. history.  He was also the last Union veteran to serve in the U.S. Senate, a distinction in his case which was amplified by the fact that he was a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, which perhaps explains his strong support of the Army while a Senator (which might also be explained by the fact that he was John J. Pershing's father-in-law).  He was also the first Senator to hire a female secretary.  His service was not without some blemishes, as a close association with the large stockmen side of the Johnson County War had given rise to questions about the extent of his association at that time, questions which nearly cost him his political career but which quickly passed.

1968  Expedition Island in the Green River was designated as a National Historic Landmark. The island is a park in Green River, WY and marks the location where Major John Wesley Powell began his expedition down the Green River and Colorado River in 1871.

1990  In one of Wyoming's most infamous murder cases, 15-year-old James "Jamie" Wiley shot and killed his stepmother Becky, brothers, Jesse (age 13), Willy (age 10), and Tyrone (age 5) and then set the house on fire.

2000   A magnitude 4.6 earthquake occurred about 82 miles from Cody, WY.

2011 Today is Thanksgiving Day for 2011.

November 2

Today is All Souls Day.

Today is Statehood Day in North Dakota.

Today is Statehood Day in South Dakota.

1812   Robert Stuart and five others began construction of a cabin at the mouth of the Poison Spider Creek in Natrona County..  The cabin was the first cabin known to be built by European Americans in Wyoming, although this does not discount the possibility that French Canadian trappers may have built structures earlier.

The temporary cabin proved to be very temporary, as it happened to be built in area of inter Tribal Indian strife and, therefore, was a dangerous location. Smith and company soon pulled up stakes and relocated for the winter in the location of the current Scotsbluff Nebraska.

For many years, this cabin was marked by a Wyoming Historical Marker sign noting it as the "First White Man's Cabin in Wyoming", but the sign came down some 20 years ago and was never put back up.

1824 In the popular vote Gen. Jackson beat John Quincy Adams in the race for the Presidency, but subsequent actions in Congress would see the House elevate Adams, and not Jackson, to the office.  This, of course, is not specifically Wyoming history, but the geography of what would become Wyoming was already mostly owned by the United States (with some still belonging to Mexico).

1875  The fourth session of the Territorial Legislative Assembly convened in Cheyenne.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1876  Future author  Charles King, 1st Lieutenant 5th Cavalry, serving in the U.S. Army, was detailed to engage in scouting in Wyoming and assigned to Ft. D. A. Russell where he would stay until July, 1877.

King would have an interrupted military career, serving as  late as the 1890s in the Philippines after having had a career in the Frontier Army.  While not well remembered in general for his literary works today, his books on the Frontier are still fondly recalled by those who study and have a fondness for the Frontier Army.

1880 James A. Garfield elected President.

Garfield was honored in at least Casper Wyoming, many years after his death, through the naming of a public school in his honor (which I attended eons ago).  Garfield Elementary School was school constructued in the 20s or 30s, and added on to during the 1950s or 1960s, and renamed to that name in the process.  During the reorganization of the Natrona County School District's schools in recent years, that school was closed and sold, but the name retained and applied to the existing Willard Elementary School, whose name was also retained placing two names on a single school.

1889 Wyoming's neighbors North Dakota and South Dakota became the 39th and 40th states.

1907  Former Governor John E. Osborne married  Selina Smith of Princeton Kentucky.

1908  A music school opens in Sheridan Wyoming.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society Calendar.

1916   The Wyoming Tribune for November 2, 1916: Attacks on Kendrick, Mexican rebel outrages, and other news
 

Presumably unaware that it was being attacked by The Cheyenne Leader on the same day, for its Kendrick articles, the Tribune kept up the drum beat. . . along with other shocking news.

The Cheyenne Leader for November 2, 1916: The Wyoming Tribune's attacks on Kendrick sponsored by Wall Street figure?
 

The Tribune had been (and will continue to) attacking John B. Kendrick daily on a matter of a state land purchase.  The Leader, in today's issue, claimed that the attacks were sponsored by an out of state opponent.

Even if they were, of course, the Tribune was staunchly Republican and backing all the GOP candidates that year. And it was sensationalist at the time as well.

1917   Freshman Caps? The Wyoming Student, November 2, 1917.
 

Freshman caps?

I'd  never heard of such a tradition, and it certainly didn't exist while I was at UW, that's for sure.

It seems they were passed out around Halloween and you were compelled to wear them, if you were a UW freshman, until the Thanksgiving break.

Based on the description, I guessed they were beanies.  And in looking up the term, I found that, yes, in fact, they were. Apparently this was a widespread college tradition at the time.  For example, the college paper for Ohio State reported in a 2014 article:

Freshmen Buckeyes were required to put on another hat besides their thinking cap back in the day

Just over 100 years ago, the tradition of the class cap was born, and all freshmen men were required to wear a class cap  or beanie as initiation into the university.

According to OSU archives, the cap tradition began in 1912 and its look changed throughout its lifetime at OSU, including styles such as “jockey-style,” the “knitted toboggan” and the “peanut-shaped skull cap.”

And Penn State's college paper recalled the tradition in a 2015 article:

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — In 1906, upperclassmen at the then-Pennsylvania State College voted to have freshmen wear something to distinguish them from the rest of the students — thus the tradition of the "dink" was born.

Easily identified by the small beanie caps, freshmen were expected to know Penn State trivia and history and were often randomly called upon by upperclassmen to prove they were knowledgeable about their new school.

At least some schools preserve the tradition slightly:

RAT caps were first found on Georgia Tech’s campus in 1915. They were originally called “freshmen caps” because of the white F on the front of the cap standing for “Freshmen” rather than the traditional “T” we see today. All freshmen were required to wear the caps every day until the end of spring quarter unless Tech beat UGA in the fall quarter’s freshman football game. Freshmen caught without their RAT cap were subjected to punishment including what is known as the “T-cut”, which entailed a student’s hair being shaved into the shape of a “T”. RAT rules were enforced by Ramblin’ Reck Club and other upperclassmen. Anti-hazing policies led to the end of RAT rules. Today, out of respect for the tradition, freshmen receive a RAT cap at Convocation. Although it is now a voluntary tradition, students are encouraged to show their Tech spirit by wearing it to home football games. The marching band is a proud supporter of this wonderful Tech tradition.

A line in the last paragraph suggests something that probably is self evident.  No matter what the traditional was, it'd be difficult for this tradition to be carried on today.  Even though this tradition is long dead, some (student probably) commented on the Ohio State items thus:

This is flat out hazing. If we’re trying to remember this in a positive light, the entire university needs to reconsider how we look at student initiations.

Hmmmm. . . I'm certainly opposed to hazing, and I'm glad these weren't around when I was in university, but that seems a bit of an over reaction.  Apparently some other reader (student?) also thought so as well, starting off with  "(***), you are softer than baby thighs." and going on from there.

Well, a long gone hat related tradition.  I know of a few others, but this is one that I frankly was completely unaware of.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Related threads:

Caps, Hats, Fashion and Perceptions of Decency and being Dressed.

1919  E. G. (Gerry) Meyer, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and former Dean of College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Wyoming was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  As of the date of this entry (2019) Professor Meyer was a alive and still occupying the noted position.

  

1948  Wyoming votes for incumbent Harry Truman in the 1948 Presidential election.  Truman receives 52,354 votes to Dewey's 47,947.

1976. James E. Carter elected President of the United States.

Carter can be regarded as fitting into the more recent era of  Wyoming's politics in which Democratic candidates have had a much more difficult time on a local and national level, in regards to Wyoming's elections.  Carter himself was elected in the wake of the Watergate Disaster and was not a popular candidate in Wyoming, where he did not receive the state's support.  No Democrat running for President has received any significant support in Wyoming since Lyndon Johnson.

1982  Governor Ed Herschler elected to an unprecedented third term.   Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

 

Gov. Herschler receving a Stetson from a ceremonial detail, dressed in the uniforms of the Frontier 5th Cavalry, U.S. Army, from F. E. Warren Air Force Base.

In contrast to Democratic candidates for Federal offices, Herschler is proof, along with later Governors Sullivan and Freudenthal, that the local Democratic party can still contend for the Governor's office, in spite of the decline in the Democratic Party's fortunes in Wyoming.  Herschler was a popular Governor, and had an interesting personal history, including serving as a Marine Corps raider during World War Two.

2004 President George W. Bush was elected to a second term.

2010  Matt Mead obtains the majority vote in the Wyoming Gubernatorial election.

2012  It is reported that half of Wyoming County, West Virginia, was without power due to Hurricane Sandy.

2015:  The City of Casper, in a special referendum, approved the reinstatement of a full ban on smoking in buildings open to the public.  The history of the topic had been particularly bitter and confused, with an ordinance having been passed, then amended to allow smoking in bars, which was struck down by the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Sidebar: The Irish in Wyoming

Just recently we posted our "green" edition of this blog with our St. Patrick's Day entry.  Given that, this is a good time to look at the Irish in Wyoming.

The Irish are a significant demographic, in terms of ancestry, in the United States in general, so a reader might be justifiably forgiven for thinking that the story of the Irish in Wyoming wouldn't be particularly unique, or perhaps even that such an entry must be contrived.  This would be far from the case, however, as the Irish were not only an identifiable element in European American settlement of the state, but a distinct one with a unique history.

 Bantry Bay, Ireland; where many of Wyoming's Irish came from.  This photo was taken between 1890 and 1900.

It may not be definitely possible to tell when the first Irishman or Irish American entered the state, but a pretty good guess would be that the very first son of Erin entered what would become the state in the service of the U.S. Army.  More particularly, it seems like that this would have been with the Corps of Discovery, that body of men commissioned by the Army to cross the continent from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean.  Sgt. Patrick Gass was definitely of Irish descent, although he himself came from Pennsylvania.  He's unique as he left the first literary work on the expedition.  George Shannon was of Irish Protestant descent and therefore, perhaps, arguably "Scots Irish," although his name would suggest otherwise.   The Corps, however, crossed the continent prior to the great migration caused by the Famine, and therefore its almost surprising that these men of Irish descent were on the expedition, as the Irish were a small demographic at the time.  Also revealing, at this time many, probably most, whose ancestors had come over from Ireland were of "Scots Irish" descent, those being descendant from the Scots population that the English had settled in Ireland to form a religious and ethnic barrier between themselves and the native inhabitants of the conquered country.

The fact that the first Irish Americans to enter the region, however, came in the form of soldiers was telling, as by the 1840s this was becoming coming common.  Up until that time the U. S. Army had been tiny and had very little presence on the Frontier at all.  The Mexican War, however, changed all of that and, at the same time, brought a flood of Irishmen into the enlisted ranks.  This was caused by the contemporaneous jump in immigration from Ireland at the time, which was coincident with a huge spike in German immigration as well.  There was a political element to both immigration waves, with the Irish being discontent with the United Kingdom, which disadvantaged them at law with statutes aimed against Catholics and with some German immigrants coming during the troubled times on the continent that would lead to European wide revolutions in the 1840s.  The Irish in particular, however, were also driven by extreme poverty and hunger as their disadvantaged state was further compounded by extreme crop failures in this period.  Taking leave to the United States or British Canada, many simply chose to get out of Ireland.  Upon arriving in the United States, still oppressed with poverty, and often just downright oppressed, many took a traditional employment route which was to enlist in military service.  Like their ethnic cousins the Scots, the Irish were not in actuality a particularly martial people, but standing armies provided an economic refuge for them.  In the United Kingdom this resulted in Irish and Scots regiments of the British Army.  In the United States, starting during the Mexican War, it resulted in a huge percentage of the enlisted ranks being made up of Irish volunteers.

 World War One vintage recruiting poster for "The Fighting 69th", a New York National Guard regiment legendary for being recruited, even as late as World War One, principally from Irish immigrants and and Irish Americans. At least one Canadian unit of the same period, the Irish Canadian Rangers, was specifically aimed at Montreal Irish.

The Irish, and the Germans, were at first resented in the service, even if their enlistments were accepted, and they were very much looked down upon by Southern born officers, who made up a disproportionate percentage of the Army's office class.  This had, in part, sparked a high desertion rate during the Mexican War and had even contributed to the formation of a unit in the Mexican Army made up of Irish and German desertions, the San Patricio's.  The Army, however, in what may be the first instance of a long U. S. Army tradition of adapting to social change ahead of the general population, made peace with the Irish enlisted men by war's end and they soon became an enduring feature of the Army.  By the time of the Civil War things had changed so much that there were now Irish American and Irish born officers in the Regular Army, such as Irish American Philip Sheridan, after whom Sheridan Wyoming and Sheridan County Wyoming are named. 

 "Little Phil" Sheridan, far left.  Sheridan was born to Irish immigrant parents, but his ties with Ireland were so strong that it is sometimes erroneously claimed he was born in Ireland.  The Irish American Cavalryman was honored in Wyoming with a town and county being named after him.  Oddly enough, in later years a 20th Century Catholic priest who was a relative of his would also serve in Wyoming.

This change started to take place almost as soon as the Mexican War was over, and was well established by the time the Civil War broke out.  Already by that time many rank and file members of the Army were Irish born and there were Irish American officers of note.  The controversial Patrick Connor provides one such example, with Connor having a major campaigning role in Wyoming during the Civil War period.  After the war ended, the post Civil War U. S. Army was full of Irish and German volunteers.  The list of the dead, for example, at Little Big Horn reads like an Irish town roster, so heavy was the concentration of the Irish born in its ranks.  Indeed, the Irish in the 7th Cavalry, and other U.S. Army units, had a permanent impact on American military music during the period, contributing such martial tunes as Garryowen and The Girl I Left Behind Me to the American military music book.

The controversial Patrick E. Connor, who campaigned in Wyoming, not always widely, but very aggressively, during the Civil War.

Irish born and raised 7th Cavalry officer, and former Swiss Guard, Myles Keogh.

After Irish soldiers came the Irish railroad workers, who arrived with the construction crews of the Union Pacific.  The role of Irishmen in the construction of the railway is well known. Along with other ethnic minorities, the Irish were strongly represented in the crews that made their way through the state in the late 1860s.  As towns came up along the rail line, some of these men would inevitably leave the employment of the railroad and take up residence in other occupations.  Cheyenne, Laramie, Medicine Bow, Rawlins, Green River, Rock Springs, and Evanston all share this Union Pacific source of origin.

Former railroad station in Medicine Bow, with the Virginian Hotel to the far left.

After the railways started to come in, cattle did as well. Rail lines were, in fact, a critical element of the conversion of the United States from a pork consuming to a beef consuming country, as rail was needed in order to ship cattle to packing houses in the Mid West.  Rail expanded into Wyoming at exactly that point in time at which the greatly expanded herds in Texas started to be driving out of that state.  Prior to that time, while beef was certainly consumed, it tended to be a local product and pig production provided the primary meat source in the United States, along with poultry, foul and wild game.  Texas' cattle had been raised primarily for their hides not their beef.  The Civil War, however, had seen an uncontrolled herd expansion which, with the war's end, became a nearly free resource, if a way of sending the cattle to central markets could be found.  The expansion of the rail lines soon provided that, and the long trail drive era was born..  And with the cattle, came some Irish cowhands, and ultimately Irish ranchers.

Ireland itself was nearly completely dominated by agriculture in the 19th Century, and indeed it was for most of the 20th Century.  Agriculture was the largest sector of the Irish economy as late as the 1990s.  In the 19th Century, as with every century before that, most Irish were rural and agricultural.  Looked at that way, employment in non agricultural activities really meant that most of the Irishmen taking them up were leaving their natural born employments for something else.

Moreover, while we today tend to think of Ireland exclusively in terms of potatoes, due to the horror of the famine, in reality the Irish have a very long association with horses and cattle.  In pre Christian Ireland, stealing cattle was virtually a national sport, and the great Irish epic work, the Cattle Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúailnge)  concerns that activity.  In later years, during English occupation, potatoes became an Irish staple because Irish farmers tended to grow them for themselves, by necessity, while still often working production crops on English owned lands.  Even as late as the famine Ireland exported wheat to the United Kingdom.  Cattle raising never stopped, and indeed by World War One Ireland was a significant beef exporter to the Great Britain.  The same is also true of sheep, which were raised all over Ireland for their wool and meat, and giving rise to the idea that all Irish are clad in tweed at all time, a concept that also applies to the sheep raising Scots.

 The dramatic protagonist of the Cattle Raid of Cooley.

Horses, for their part, were and remain an Irish national obsession.  Unlike the English and Scots, whose routine farmers had little interest in riding stock, the Irish developed an early love of horse riding and everything associated with it. The Steeple Chase was and is an Irish national sport, followed intensively even now, and in earlier eras widely engaged in.  A person has to wonder, therefore, if the heavy Irish representation in cavalry formations in the U.S. Army of the 19th Century reflected that fact.  It certainly did in the English Army, which had at least one Irish cavalry regiment up until Irish independence.

All of this made the Irish a people that was particularly inclined to go into animal husbandry.  Other agricultural Europeans, except perhaps the Scots, had less exposure to this sort of agriculture than the Irish did.  It's no wonder therefore, that the Irish were well represented amongst 19th Century cowboys and, ultimately, amongst small scale 19th Century and 20th Century ranchers.  Indeed, in more than one occasion, Irish immigrant ranchers were able to convert humble beginnings into enormous agricultural enterprises.  One such example was that of Patrick J. Sullivan, an Irish immigrant who started ranching sheep near Rawlins. As his ranch grew, he moved to Casper and became a wealthy man from sheep ranching, which then translated into politics as he became Mayor of Casper, and ultimately a U.S. Senator upon the death of Francis Warren.  Sullivan had come a long way from his humble beginnings in Bantry Bay.  His Irish roots were reflected in the balcony of the large house he built in Casper, which featured a shamrock on the banister of the widow's walk, although that feature is now gone.

No story about the Irish in the United States would be complete without noting the role that Irish born clerics played, as the Irish were always closely identified with the Catholic Church, a fact which ultimately was pivitol in Ireland's independence following World War One.  In Wyoming, the presence of the Irish guaranteed the presence of the Catholic Church, and in many areas, but not all, Irish born parishioners and Irish American parishioners were the largest segment of any one congregation (although, again, this is not true everywhere in Wyoming).  Because the church was essentially a missionary church in Wyoming, the Church relied for decades on Irish priests.  The first Bishop of the Diocese of Cheyenne was the Irish born Maurice Burke, who served from 1887 until 1893, and who had to defend his Diocese from hostility from nativist elements, which were strong at the time.  He was succeeded by Thomas Lenihan, who was also Irish born.  Irish born priests continued to be very common well into the 20th Century and it only came to a slow close after World War Two, although at least one Irish born retired priest in residence remains at St. Patrick's in Casper.

In a state where they were fairly strongly represented, it's perhaps not surprising that the Irish were able to have some success in politics in the state even though there remained a strong anti Catholic prejudice in much of the United States prior to World War One.  Indeed, at least according to one source, some early Irish businessmen and politicians in the State made efforts not to make their Catholicism generally well known and were muted about their faith, being aware of the prejudice that existed against ti.  None the less, as the example of Patrick Sullivan provides, there were successful Irish born and Irish American politicians in the state fairly early.  Sullivan may provide the best early example, but others are provided by mid 20th Century politicians Joseph O'Mahoney and Frank Barrett.

An identifiable Irish presence in the state remained through most of the 20th Century, but by the last decade of the 20th Century it began to fade, as Irish immigrants aged and began to pass on.  Some still remain, but the era of Irish immigration to Wyoming is over.  Like most of the United States, a residual Irish influence lingers on in subtle ways, and in the memories of Irish descendants, many of whom, perhaps most of whom, can also claim ancestry from other lands by now.  But the impact of the Irish on the state, while not as open and apparent as it once was, continues on, and always will, given their significant role in the the 19th and 20th Century history of the state.