July 31

1867  Ft. Fetterman given that name.  It was only in its second week of existence.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1868  Ft. Phil Kearny abandoned.

From:   Some Gave All:  Ft. Phil Kearny, Wyoming 

These are monuments at Ft. Phil Kearny, the command which suffered defeat at the Fetterman Fight, but endured an attack later at the Wagon Box Fight.

This blog does not attempt to document battlefields photographically, and the same is true of historic sites. For this reason, this entry does not attempt to depict all of Ft. Phil Kearny. Those wishing to see more photos of the post should look here. Rather, this only attempts to depict a few things topical to this blog.

The monument depicted above is an early one, placed by the State of Wyoming well before any archeology on the post had been done, and very little about its grounds was known. Now, because of archeology on the site, this monument is in a location where it is probably only rarely viewed.


These photographs depict a common device for historic sites in Wyoming, a pipe used for sighting a distant location. In this case, the location is the location of the post cemetery. The cemetary originally held the bodies of the soldiers, and civilians, killed at the Fetterman Fight, but the bodies were later removed to the national cemetery at Little Big Horn.

1892  Legendary Wyoming geologist and University of Wyoming geology professor, Samuel H. Knight, born.  His parents moved to Laramie in 1893, so he was associated with Laramie his entire life, save for attending Columbia for his doctorate, and his service in World War One.  The geology building at the University of Wyoming is named after him.

1898  Wyoming volunteers, the Wyoming Battalion, land at Manila and disembark from the Ohio.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1899  The Wyoming Battalion, having been in the Philippines for exactly one year, embarked on the Grant at Manila and started their journey home. Attribution:  On This Day.

1914  Twenty-five Yellowstone coaches robbed.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1914     The New York Stock Exchange closed due to the outbreak of World War I.

1916   The Wyoming Tribune for July 31, 1916.
 

Cheyenne's more dramatic paper, the Wyoming Tribune, with a grim headline for July 31, 1916.

\

Headlines like this one almost seem like something that's more from our own era, so perhaps it serves to remind us that giant natural disasters have been around for awhile.

The Wyoming National  Guard was still awaiting orders in that hot 1916 July.

1918  A milestone in aviation history: Aviators parachute from from moving aircraft in France. . . .and Texas. 

It was reported that on this day, in 1918, a French aviator, and an American one, both experimented with parachuting from moving aircraft.

Like all things aviation,  parachutes were advancing fairly rapidly under the pressure of World War One. They'd already been introduced for balloon crewmen, who could parachute out of balloons in combat scenarios.  Indeed, they typically did so when it became apparent a balloon was about to be attacked, as they had to put the parachute harness on in order to get out. They did not simply routinely wear it.  But up until this point in the war, it had not been the case that aviators wore parachutes or even could.

Indeed, it would not become standard until after the war.  While these experiments proved it could be done, it remained the case that wearing an early parachute in an early airplane was not easy to do, and indeed, was largely impractical for the most part.

Meanwhile, in the other local newspaper, the news was all about oil. . . and natural gas.

Indeed, this paper has a number of interesting things reported in it in the energy news that would predict the future.  Gasoline was coming on. . . but natural gas was arriving and replacing coal.

1919  Sportscaster Curt Gowdy born in Green River.

1930 The radio program The Shadow airs for the first time.

1937  Wyoming deeded Ft. Laramie to the Federal Government. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1943  The USS Sheridan, APA-51, an attack transport, commissioned.

1981     A seven-week strike by major league baseball players ended.

2003   Ft. Yellowstone designated a National Historic Landmark. Attribution:  On This Day.

2003  Jackson Lake Lodge designated a National Historic Landmarks. Attribution:  On This Day.

2006  Casper's Jonah Bank received its certificate of Federal Deposit insurance, essentially marking the commencement of its operations.

July 30

1863 Shoshone chief Pocatello signed the Treaty of Box Elder, bringing peace to the emigrant trails of southern Idaho and northern Utah.

1869  The first census of Wyoming Territory completed.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1869  Fort C. F. Smith burned down by Red Cloud's followers.

1916   The Black Tom Explosion: July 30, 1916
 

German saboteurs blew up New York's Black Tom pier, in a strike against the shipment of American munitions to the Allies.  The massive explosion caused some damage to the Statue of Liberty.  Necessarily, in a year in which the US had just averted one war, and was sliding towards another, a thing like this would have its impact.

The news hit the Cheyenne Leader that very day, suggesting that this paper, which I've been running some mornings, must have been an evening paper.

Note the rodeo news from Cheyenne.

1918  News on the local boys. July 30, 1918.

More than anything, readers of Wyoming's newspapers likely were hoping for news on what was going on with Wyomingites who were serving in the Great War.  The Laramie Boomerang on this Tuesday, July 30, 1918, gave them that, letting them know what was going on with the Guard units that had been brought into service, and then formed into new units.

1918. Poet Joyce Kilmer, U.S. Army sergeant, killed in France.

TREES

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree .

 
1930  This photograph taken at Independence Rock.

1941  It was reported that a  29-year-old car, a true antique, was donated in a Rock Springs scrap aluminum drive.  This demonstrates the level of patriotism that such events exhibited, even if the level of attention focused on scrap was in part for propaganda purposes.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1971 Apollo 15 astronauts David R. Scott and James B. Irwin landed on the moon.

July 29

1776  Silvestre de Escalante and Francisco Dominguez, two Spanish Franciscan priests, leave Santa Fe for a journey through the Southwest.  Their journey would take them all the way to the Great Salt Lake and ultimately they would make a round trip of 1,700 miles in 159 days, although the journey would see them eating their horses in the end.

1872  First claimed assent of the Grand Teton.   Nathaniel P. Langford and James Stevenson made the claim, but it is disputed with some feeling that they reached a side peak.

1878  Thomas Edison and Henry Draper view a total eclipse of the sun from Rawlins.

1916   The Cheyenne Daily Leader for July 29, 1916. Hope on the border?
 

The Cheyenne Leader was reporting today that there appeared to be some hope that border difficulties might be mediated through a commission.  Of course, it can't help but be noted that Carranza, who appeared to be willing to do this, had not caused the original border difficulty in the first place and Villa wouldn't be participating.

Otherwise, Frontier Days was making the news, as was the Russian offensive on the Eastern Front.

1918  So it was Monday morning, July 29, 1918

And you picked up your morning paper and learned of the news from France. . . which seemed to reflect a turning of the tide.

1946  USS Natrona decommissioned.

1977 Cantonment Reno added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Elsewhere:  

1907    Sir Robert Baden-Powell forms the Boy Scout movement.

1932  The Bonus Army disperses and heads home.

1950 Lieutenant General Walton Walker, regarding the Pusan Perimeter,  issued his "stand or die" order to Eighth Army, declaring, "there will be no Dunkirk, there will be no Bataan."

1968  July 29, 1968. Humanae Vitae

2022  Pete Williams, Casper, Wyoming native, retired from his long time role as the Justice reporter for NBC news.

Williams had a very long career which stretched back to radio in Casper, starting off at KATI.  From there he went to KTWO radio and television.  In 1986, however, his career took a much different turn when he became a press spokesman and legislative assistant to then Congressman Dick Cheney.  He followed Cheney in that role into the Defense Department when he became Secretary of Defense.  He went to work for NBC in 1993.

July 28

1856  The Martin Handcart Company began its ill fated trip from Missouri, rather late in the season.

1865  Powder River Campaign commenced.  The campaign under the command of  Brigadier General Patrick E. Connor was to "rein in the Arapaho, Cheyenne and Sioux".

1866  Congress passed an act authorizing the Army to raise units of Black soldiers as part of the Regular Army.

1868     The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution went into effect.

1869  An Indian raid near Atlantic City kills three miners.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1898   Spain, through the offices of the French embassy in Washington, D.C., requested peace terms in its war with the United States.

1908.  The "Star", a Casper livery stable, burned down.  The fire was kept form spreading, but the fire was a major disaster in the town, resulting in the loss of eleven horses, a hearse, and a large amount of feed.

1913  Sheridan cattleman John B. Kendrick moves into his mansion "Trail's End."  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1914    July 28, 1914. WAR.

WAR

World War One had arrived, even as more remote press outlets reported hope that it might be averted.  Austro Hungaria transmitted its declaration of war against Serbia by telegram, something sort of weirdly akin to doing it by Twitter today, assuming that anyone actually bothered to declare war in our modern era.

Repression of the Catholic Church commenced in Mexico, and was to be an enduring feature of the Mexican Republic for decades, causing long lasting damage ot the faith of the nation.

The Royal Navy and the French Navy were ordered to capture the  Goeben and Breslau which had been under repair in the Adriatic.  The ships bolted for the Dardanelles.

The first launch of an aerial torpedo was accomplished by the Royal Navy Air Service.

1917   Cokeville Telephone Company incorporated.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1920  Pancho Villa surrendered to the Mexican government.

1932     Federal troops dispersed the "Bonus Army".

1938  Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power began to purchase power from the Seminoe Dam.

2018  Today was National Cowboy Day for 2018.

2018  Tornadoes touch down south of Douglas and near Glendo Reservoir.

July 26

1845  The U.S. flag was raised on St. Joseph Island, Texas by a detachment of United States troops. Attribution:  On This Day.

1849   Company C, U.S. Mounted Rifles, arrived at Fort Laramie. Attribution:  On This Day.

1863  Sam Houston died in Huntsville Texas.

1865. On this day two battles were fought in what is now Natrona County, Wyoming, with the first being fought in attempt to avoid having the second occur.

The first battle is the Battle of Platte Bridge Station. Platte Bridge Station was one of a series of posts built on the Oregon Trail through Wyoming, which guarded both the trail and the telegraph line which already ran alongside the trail by that time. It was garrisoned by men of the 11th Kansas Cavalry as well as infantrymen from a galvanized Yankee unit.

Cheyenne, Sioux and Arapahoes gathered out side the fort in the days immediately prior to it, just across from it in what is now Mills Wyoming, in an attempt to draw the troops out. The Cheyenne and the Sioux were at war with the United States as a byproduct of the Sand Creek Massacre the prior winter. As a result of that they had fled north into the Powder River Basin, and had waged a war of raids. The strategy of trying to draw the soldiers out, which failed, is sometime attributed to Crazy Horse who may have been at the battle, although it is difficult to tell.

While the soldiers remained safely in the fort, and the Indians abstained from assaulting it directly (as they usually did) it became necessary to try to move the tribesmen off as an Army wagon train was expected to arrive. When it was in sight, a relief party lead by Lt. Caspar Collins, 11th Ohio Cavalry, crossed the bridge.

The battle was a short one as the troopers were outnumbered and the combined Indian forces had the advantage of terrain. The 11th Kansas attempted to rapidly advance to the trail, but were flanked by tribesmen from the hills, who had been hidden in the area which is now Boatright Smith, a gravel contractor in Mills, WY. Retreat was sounded, but several men were killed in the fight, including Collins. Stories as to Collins actions vary, but his horse is known to have turned into the advancing tribesmen. Some stated that he was attempting to rescue a wounded trooper. Others stated that his horse bolted. The Indian who acquired the horse later gave it away as it was excessively rank.

Collins was not posted to Platte Bridge Station, but had volunteered to lead the relief party after there had been some debate at the post as to who should do it. That has remained an enduring controversy. He wore his full uniform, frock coat and all, on the hot July day, as he did not expect to survive the battle.

The second battle is the Battle of Red Buttes. This occurred within sight of Platte Bridge Station, after the Battle of Platte Bridge Station. This battle occurred when the tribesmen discovered the wagon train that was coming east down the Oregon Trail, on its way in from the stations at Independence Rock and Sweetwater Station. Troopers of the 11th Kansas Cavalry who were posted with the horse herd some miles away, in Bessemer Bend, had attempted to dissuade the wagon train, with men of the 2nd Infantry, from going on as they had seen the large Indian party, but Sgt. Custard, who was in command of the wagon train, insulted the cavalrymen declaring them to be cowards, and proceeded on. Custard, a veteran of fighting in the East during the Civil War, shared the common trait that many with similar experience had, and greatly under estimated the fighting capacity of native inhabitants. When the wagon train neared the post, and the Indians noticed it, they attacked it and killed nearly every soldier save for a few with the train. A very few managed to escape on horseback, cross the Platte, and make their way to Platte Bridge Station.

A grand total of 26 US troops were killed in the combined battles, with 21 of those being at Red Butttes.  The mass grave of those who died at Red Buttes has been lost, and therefore its location is not known today. The town of Mills has undoubtedly grown out towards that location, and now Casper is as well.

A different account of the battle can be found here.

In recognition of his heroism, Platte Bridge Station was renamed Ft. Caspar, with the term "fort" recognizing  the more important and permanent nature of the post, over that of a "station".  Collin's first name was used, rather than his last, as the name Collins had already attached to Ft. Collins in Colorado, named after Gen. Collins, Caspar's father.  The honor was in some ways short lived, as the post was abandoned as part of the agreement that ended Red Cloud's War.  It was revived, however, when the town of Casper was founded a couple of decades later, albeit with a different spelling.

 Collins statute at Casper's All Events Center

1871  Ferdinand Hayden and his government sponsored team arrived at the Yellowstone Lake and the geyser fields.

1915  The Casper Brewing Co. commenced operations in Casper.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1935  A section of the dance floor at Thermopolis' Washakie Ballroom gave way sending 50 people into the basement, none of whom were injured.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1936  A reconstructed Ft. Caspar is dedicated.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1977  A Thunderbird pilot's aircraft crashes at Frontier Park in Cheyenne resulting in the death of the pilot.

2016  The Wyoming Game and Fish Department reintroduced black footed ferrets to  the Lazy BV and Pitchfork Ranches in Park County after they were first rediscovered there, after they were believed to be extinct, thirty five years ago.

July 25

1839   Stephen Wheeler Downey was born in Westport Maryland.  He served as a officer in the Union Army up until the Battle of Harpers Ferry, at which he was wounded.  Thereafter he resumed his studies and was admitted to the Washington D.C. bar in 1863.  In 1869 he moved to Wyoming where he practiced law, usually as a prosecutor, for the balance of his life, save for a period of time in which he was a territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress.  He also operated a survey office.  As a member of Wyoming's legislature, he introduced the bill sponsoring the University of Wyoming in 1886 and is therefore regarded as the Father of the University of Wyoming.  Downey Hall at the University is named after him.

1865  Lt. Bretney of Company G, 11th Ohio Cavalry, leaves Sweetwater Station with Cpt. A. Smyth Lybe of the 3d U.S. Vol. Infantry to go to Ft. Laramie, about 150 miles away, to collect their units pay.  On the way they learn of the presence of Indian activity.  They encounter Sgt. Amos Custard of the 11th Kansas Cavalry with a party of wagons about 25 miles west of Platte Bridge Station and encourage him to proceed on that day with them, but Custard refuses on the basis that his animals were tired.  Bretney and Smyth would not arrive at Platte Bridge Station until 2:00 am.

1865   Sioux and Cheyenne attacked "Camp Dodge" near present day Casper.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1868    Congress passed an act creating the Wyoming Territory.

1895 Bannock Indians surround 250 settlers in Jackson Hole but are dispersed by the 9th Cavalry.  This was part of the Bannock War of 1895, which was spared by the State of Wyoming prohibiting the killing of elk for their teeth and the subsequent arrest of several Bannock hunters that year.

Bannock Indians in Jackson's Hole by Frederic Remington.

1904  The Wyoming Humane Society was incorporated.Generally, Humane Societies did not have the same focus at the time, as they do now.  Indeed, a major effort of early humane organizations was in providing water for urban horses.

1910  A moderate earthquake near Rock Springs shook houses and could be felt in mine shafts.

1918   Letter From The Hygeia Antiseptic Toothpick Company to The United States Food Administrator Regarding Sugar. July 25, 1918 (from National Archive's "Today's Document" blog)
 

Checking on on what we in Wyoming were doing about sugar consumption. . . .
1918   The Allies Intervene In Embattled Russia
 

Finding an actual date, at least on the net, for the commencement of the Allied intervention in Russia is difficult.  Generally, you'll just get "July, 1918".

Well, whatever the actual date was, it was obviously close to this day in 1918, as the Soviets were complaining about Allied landings on Murman Coast, near Murmansk.  That was in fact one of the two three locations for the Allied intervention and it may well have been the first location.

The landings near Murmansk would be made up of a joint Anglo American force of which 5,000 men were American troops.  6,000 were English, 1000 Canadian and approximately another 1,000 or so were French.  The force was under the overall command of an English commander and it actively participated in combat in the region, which was generally contrary to the vague instructions that the Administration had issued to the American forces that were going into Russia.  The fact that they were engaged in combat was not due to insubordination so much as it was due to poor communication of the intended restrictions on American troops.

A little over 160 Americans would loose their lives in the intervention, far fewer than the British loss which amounted to over 500.  It's always been speculated that some Americans may have been left behind due to the hasty nature of the withdrawal in 1919.  Following that withdrawal, White resistance in Northern Russia, which was not doing well by that time in any event, collapsed.

Because, of course, the Kreigsmarine couldn't have pulled that off on their own. . . .

 

that submarine in Cape Cod, that is.

Of course, German residents of that area had to be helping. . . . right?

Another example of the degree of ethnic paranoia in the US during World War One.

1923  Wednesday, July 25, 1923. Flooding in Thermopolis.

 Floods struck Thermopolis after having struck Natrona County only recently.

President Harding went fishing at the Campbell River in British Columbia.

1925  Vice President Charles Dawes visited the set of the movie The Pony Express in Cheyenne.

1962  Caroline Lockhart dies in Cody. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1977   Captain Charles M. Carter, a Thunderbird USAF pilot, was killed when his T-38 crashed at the Cheyenne airport.

2001  The Queen's Laundry Bath House in the Lower Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park added to the National Register of Historic Places.  Attribution:  On This Day.

July 24

Today is Pioneer Day in Utah.

Today is Stirling Settlers Day in Alberta.

1832 Benjamin Bonneville leads the first wagon train to cross the Rocky Mountains at South Pass. Bonneville was an Army officer on a two year leave of absence from the Army at the time, during which time he acted as a fur trader, but during which he also spent a great deal of time exploring.

1865  Sioux go into camp near Platte Bridge Station.

1866  The Battle of Clear Creek occurred near present day Buffalo in which Indians besieged a wagon train. The wagon train was able to send word to Ft. Phil Kearny and was relieved by a part of soldiers the following day.

1884   "Stuart's Stranglers", an anti rustling vigilante group,organized at Granville Stuart's DHS ranch in Montana.

1890  Ester Hobart Morris was an honored guests at a banquet celebrating Wyoming's statehood.

1897 African-American soldiers of the 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps arrived in St. Louis, Mo., after completing a 40-day bike ride from Missoula, Montana.  Their route took them across north east Wyoming.

1915  A Cheyenne man beat a train in a Denver to Cheyenne race, of sorts. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1925   Vice President Charles Dawes visited the movie set of The Pony Express in Cheyenne.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1928  Frontier Days started.  Apparently at this time it was the "daddy", not the "granddaddy" of them all.

1935  Frontier Days started.

1938 Instant coffee was invented. Nestle came up with the first instant coffee after 8 years of experiments leading to the Allied victory in World War Two.

1945  Frontier Days started.

1969 Apollo 11, the first manned mission to the moon, splashed down safely in the Pacific.

1972   Ames Monument added to the National Register of Historic Places.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1994  Union Pacific turntable and roundhouse in Cheyenne added to the National Register of Historic Places.

UP Cheyenne roundhouse.

2000  The entrance road, entrance station and the tower ladder at the Devils Tower National Monument added to the Nation Register of Historic Places.  Attribution:  On This Day.

July 23

1632  Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France.

1847  Founding of Salt Lake City by Mormons.

1864  The USS Wyoming docked for extensive repairs.

1874  George Custer climbs Inyan Kara Mountain in the Black Hills of Wyoming and carves his name there.

1888  Construction commenced on the State Penitentiary in Rawlins. 

1890   The official celebration of Wyoming statehood held in Cheyenne.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1890  Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show opened in Berlin, Germany.

1903  The Ford Motor Company sold its first car.

1923 Monday, July 23, 1923. Disasters. First ascent of Clyde Peak. French Foreign Legion failure. Squamish Nation, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw amalgamation. Sigsbee funeral.

I'm often amazed, particularly in regard to weather disasters, how often headlines from 1923 read like those from 2023.

That't not to draw a conclusion that I do not intend to suggest, I m'just noting it.

Clyde Peak, left, Blackfoot Mountain, right in 1925.

Norman Clyde became the first man to climb Clyde Peak in Glacier National Park.

Clyde Peak, now. By Owen Jones - File:Red Eagle Lake.jpg, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=109050999

1929  Cheyenne Frontier Days commenced for 1929.  

1973   Old Faithful Inn was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Attribution:  On This Day.

1989  The Lake DeSmet portion, Stinking Water Gulch segment and Ross segment of the Bozeman Trail added to the National Register of Historic Places.

1989  The Powder River Crossing at Kaycee added to the National Register of Historic Places.

1989  Trabing Station in Johnson County added to the National Register of Historic Places.

1989  Antelope Crossing at Ross added to the National Register of Historic Places.

1989  Sage Creek Station in Converse County added to the National Register of Historic Places.

1993  A magnitude 3.7 earthquake occurred about 80 miles from Laramie.

July 22

1890  A marble quarry opened near Rawlins.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1894   The first ever motorized racing event is held in France between the cities of Paris and Rouen.

1897   The Hole In The Wall Fight between ruslters and ranchers happened near the Hole In The Wall.

1916  In San Francisco, a bomb at a Preparedness Day parade on Market Street kills ten people and wounds forty.

This item is particularly notable on this date in this current year, 2012 (when first posted), as we've just seen somewhat similar casualties in an act of violence in Denver Colorado.  In the 1916 event, the attack was no doubt politically motivated, but clearly by a person who had a complete disregard for human life.  In the Colorado act the disregard for human life is likewise evident, but it lacks even the cover of a political motivation which, at least, would provide the thin camouflage of deluded justification for such an act.

Now, in the US, there will be, and indeed already are, endless efforts to try to deduce the cause of the senseless act.  Was the perpetrator insane?  Was he motivated by some warped political or social goal? Was it the implements, and not the man, that was the cause.

None of this will serve in the end to reveal anything.  And next to none of it, if any of it, will address a simple fact which, in the modern world, is a fact that cannot be stated.

That fact is is that Evil is in the world, and some people are motivated by Evil.

That Evil is in the world should be self evident.  Hitler, Himmler, Stalin and a host of similar tyrants were not insane.  They were servants of evil.  Likewise, thousands of people in this era are simply evil.  Evil people have always been around. What hasn't always been around, however, is a denial that evil exists. And we're paying for it, and will continue to do so, until we realize that evil is an antiquated concept, but a reality.

1967  Cpt. William B. Graves shot down while piloting a OV-1C in Vietnam.

1922 Mount Moran ascended for the first time.  the climb was made by LeGrand Hardy, Bennet McNulty and Ben C. Rich of the Chicago Mountaineering Club via the Skillet Glacier route.

1937 The Senate rejected President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court.

1942 US initiates gasoline rationing 

1950 The Department of the Army asked reserve officers to volunteer for active duty due to the Korean War.

1966  Six people were injured when a category two tornado struck Gillette.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1967   Capt. William B. Graves of Douglas is killed when his OV 1-C  Mohawk aircraft crashes in Vietnam.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

July 21

1860  Fenimore Chatterton, born in Oswego County, New York. He was a businessman, politician and lawyer who had relocated to Sheridan and then was elected Wyoming's Secretary of State in 1898, after having served in two terms of the legislature.  The death of Governor DeForest Richards made Chatterton governor in 1903, but he was not reelected in 1905.  He resumed the practice of law thereafter.

1867 Ft. D. A. Russell established outside of Cheyenne on  Crow Creek.  It survives as an active duty military post today, now as Warren Air Force Base.

Veterinary Hospital at F. E. Warren.

1885  Owen Wister was in Medicine Bow again, this time spending the night in the corner of a store.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1890  H. G. Welch demonstrated that strawberries could be raised on the Laramie Plains, which are generally at least 7,000 feet in elevation. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1941  President Roosevelt asks Congress to extend the draft period from one year to 30 months and to make similar increases in the terms of service for the National Guard.

So much for the lyrics of one of the then popular songs:

GOODBYE DEAR, I'LL BE BACK IN A YEAR

Goodbye Dear, I'll be back in a year
'Cause I'm in the army now
They took my number right out of the hat
And there's nothing a guy can do about that

But when you get back you'll be all tanned and brown
Say, couldn't we buy that cottage right outside of town

Goodbye Dear, I'll be back in a year
Don't forget that I love you

Don't fear, Dear, I'll be here in a year
'Cause I'm true to the Army now
Ah, what a soldier, you wait and see
Why, I'll be a big gun in the artillery

Now honey, be sure and keep cozy and warm
Gee, you look cute in that new uniform:
Oh, goodbye Dear, I'll be back in a year
Don't forget that I love you

Goodbye Dear, well I'm here for a year
I'm in the Army now
But don't you worry, the General and I
Are the greatest of pals

Now, Ronnie, don't you lie
Well, he fixed it up so I could have breakfast in bed
Well, why are you peeling potatoes instead?
Oh, he's just kidding me
Good bye dear, I'll be back in a year
Don't forget that I

Don't forget that I
BOTH: Don't forget that I love you

Another versions (multiple versions in one year were common at the time):

Goodbye Dear, I'll be back in a year
'Cause I'm in the army now
They took my number out of the hat
And there's nothing a guy can do about that

But when I get back, I'll be all tanned and brown
And we'll buy that cottage just outside of town
So, goodbye Dear, I'll be back in a year
Don't forget that I love you

Goodbye Dear, I'll be back in a year
'Cause I'm in the army now
Don't I look handsome dressed up like this
Stop your cryin' and give your soldier a kiss

They may send me out to the old Philippines
But, Sweetheart, you'll still be the girl of my dreams
So, goodbye Dear, I'll be back in a year
Don't forget that I love you

1942  Big Horn County's Fair cancelled.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1952 John Barrasso born in Reading Pennsylvania.  He was appointed to the U.S. Senate after the death of Craig Thomas in 2007 and has been serving in that office since that date.

1974  The Campbell County Rockpile Museum opened.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1987  The most powerful tornado in Wyoming's history,  the Teton–Yellowstone tornado,an F4, touched down in Yellowstone National Park and left a path of destruction 1 to 2 miles wide, and 24 miles long while leveling 15,000 acres of mature pine forest.

2010  The State Code adopted by the Legislature.

Wyoming, like most states has a set of state symbols.  I think I've listed them all over time, including now this one, the most recent to be adopted.

I've generally abstained from commenting on the symbols, even though a few of them strike me as a bit odd. For example, we have a State Insect, which I don't know that we need.  But so be it.

Here, however, I can't help but comment.

The State Code I guess, is okay enough.  Here's the statute that sets it out:

 8-3-123. State code.

(a) The code of the west, as derived from the book Cowboy Ethics by James P. Owen, and summarized as follows  is the official state code of Wyoming. The code includes:

(i) Live each day with courage;

(ii) Take pride in your work;

(iii) Always finish what you start;

(iv) Do what has to be done;

(v) Be tough, but fair;

(vi) When you make a promise, keep it; 

(vii) Ride for the brand; 

(viii) Talk less, say more; 

(ix) Remember that some things are not for sale; 

(x) Know where to draw the line.

There's nothing in here in particular that I disagree with, although that "ride for the brand" item doesn't really reflect a lot of Wyoming's history very accurately.  The central conflict in the state from the 1876 to 1900 time frame really centered around individuals who started out riding for one brand, and then acquired their own brand and quit riding for the Brand No. 1.  Indeed, it might justifiably be argued that Individuals, rather than Ride For The Brand, is the true mark of a Wyomingite.

My greater problem, or perhaps irritation, with the State Code is, I suppose, similar to my comments regarding "state" authors, in that in supposedly finding a "code" that identifies us, we had to copy it from a Wall Street figure and not a Wyomingite.  The code comes from a book that Owens wrote in which he identified what he though were "Cowboy Ethics" and argued that this simple Code of the West could teach the nation something.  I'm not arguing that it couldn't, but I tend to doubt that a Wall Street figures is really capable of capturing the ethics of a class and group so very foreign to his own.

Again, as noted, having been around a lot of cowboys and rural workers, one thing I think is totally missing is that they all tend to have a high degree of independence and its not unusual at all to find actual working cowboys who switch employers a lot.  Perhaps they "ride for the brand", but often only briefly.  The "talk less, say more" item is a nice toss to a certain Gary Cooper view of the cowboy (and Gary Cooper was raised on a Montana ranch) but truth be told, being an isolated group, quite a few cowhands like to talk quite a bit, if given the opportunity to.  One Wyoming politician, the former Senator Simpson, is widely celebrated in Wyoming for his gift of gab at that, which has occasionally gotten him into trouble.  But the general list is not a bad one.  I only think it a bit sad that in order to define what our ethics are, we had to borrow them from a Wall Street figure who wrote what he thinks ours our.  It would seem that we could have defined them ourselves.

2022.  Wyoming Attorney General Bridget hill informed the Governor that nothing precluded Wyoming's "trigger law" prohibiting most abortions from going into effect following the Dobbs decision.

July 20

1862  Ft. Halleck, near Elk Mountain, established.   It patrolled a section of the overland trails.  Attribution  On This Day.

1866  A wagon train was attacked on Crazy Woman Creek by the Sioux and Cheyenne..  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1874   Monday, July 20, 1874. Custer enters Wyoming.

Obviously posed photograph of George adn Libby Custer in their Ft. Abraham Lincoln quarters in 1874.  Custer, wearing his dress uniform, still sports his famously long hair in this photograph.

The 7th Cavalry under Lt. Col George Armstrong Custer crossed into Wyoming Territory from Montana Territory.

1881 Sitting Bull surrendered at Ft. Buford, North Dakota.

1885 Trial of Louis Riel for treason begins at Regina, the capital of the North-West Territories; Riel wishes to plead not guilty, but his lawyers enter an insanity plea over his objections.

1886  Lusk town lots went on sale.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1889 Ellen Watson and Jim Averell hung by area ranchers in the region of the Sweetwater River.  This event has been one of the most enduring controversial in Wyoming's history, with many different variants of it having been written.  There are now so many variants, that sorting out the true reasons that Ellen "Cattle Kate" Watson and Jim Averell is now nearly impossible.  It can't even be fully determined if Watson and Averell were married, which they might have been (they did take out a marriage license) or if Watson was a prostitute who took payment in cattle, which she might have been.

The murder is often placed in the context of the Johnson County War, where it doesn't properly belong.

It should be noted that this event is probably subject to more interpretation, evolution, and revision than any other single event in  Wyoming's history, much of it quite recent.  For much of the 20th Century Ellen Watson and Jim Averell were regarded as victims of an unwarranted extrajudicial lynching, but not as totally innocent characters.  The generally accepted view, for many decades (and I believe the one that is recounted in the the excellent "War On Powder River", is that Watson was a prostitute (which does not preclude her being married to Averell) and that she took payment in cattle, if no other currency was available.  This got her into trouble with area ranchers, this thesis maintains, as the cattle were often stolen by the cowhands who paid for her services. Averell, according to this view, lost his life essentially for living with her and benefiting from her activities.

More recently, however, there have been serious, and not always entirely grounded, efforts to revive her reputation and there have even been those who have viewed her as an early feminist businesswoman, with a wholly legitimate business activity, who was murdered simply for being a self assertive woman.  Frankly, that doesn't wash, and independent Frontier women were not really novel.  A more serious revisionist view holds that Averell and Watson were small time homesteaders who were trespassing on the lands that were controlled by rancher Albert Bothwell.  It may be that there is some truth to this view, which might also explain why the marriage, or lack thereof, of Averell was either not completed (a serious crime at that time) or kept secret, as it would have allowed both Averll and Watson to file separate homesteads.

Of course, it may be that both the earlier accepted version of events or the standard revisionist views are correct.  Watson and Averell were homestead entrants and that may have seriously irritated Bothwell and his companions, and Watson might also have been a prostitute.  The vast expanse of time that has gone by since this 1889 event effectively means that the truth will never be really known now.  What is undoubted is that Watson was the only woman ever lynched in Wyoming, and none of the perpetrators of the act made any effort to keep the deed secret.  One even rode into Casper shortly after the news broke on the story, admitted his role, and was basically left alone.

Ellen Watson.

1903  The Ford Motor Company shipped its first car.

1917 The U.S. World War I draft lottery began.

As can be seen, the papers published the name of the men selected right on the front page.

In some counties, however, the draft proved unnecessary as the counties had already filled their quotas, which were apparently on a county by county basis, through volunteers.

1948 President Harry S. Truman institutes a military draft with a proclamation calling for nearly 10 million men to register for military service within the next two months. My father is one of those to register under the 1948 law.

1969 Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.

July 19

1814         Samuel Colt, firearms inventor, born.

1864  The USS Wyoming returned to a U.S. port after extended service in the Far East, which she would soon see again.

1867.  The Army commences construction of Ft. Fetterman.  The fort is located on a windy bluff overlooking the Platte River.  The site requires those detailed to walk some distance to water, and for a period of time the post would have the highest insanity rate in the Army.

1877  .Union Pacific employees wrote Yale paleontologist William Carlin about the discovery of fossils at Como Bluff.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1885  Owen Wister takes his legendary snooze on the counter of the general store at Medicine Bow, while waiting for a train.  The Philadelphia born Wister, was very well educated and had hoped for a career in music, but instead obtained a law degree from Harvard due to the urging of his father.  He practiced law in Philadelphia.  During that period he commenced vacationing in the West, with his first trip to Wyoming being this one, in 1885.  It would lead to his legendary book, The Virginian. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1890  Laramie granted a franchise for a street railway.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1907  Isabel Jewell born in Shoshoni.  Jewell was a successful Broadway and screen actress in the 1930s and 1940s.

1918  The headline says it all. Laramie Boomerang, July 19, 1918.

1922 Cheyenne's mayor banned the sale of firearms during a railroad strike.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1923 Wednesday, July 18, 1923. Special Session Ends.

The Special Session of the Legislature was already over.

Bet it wouldn't be that quick now.

And the shocking murder trial resulting from the shooting of a woman in a car which would not dim its lights, at the hands of law enforcement, was set for September.

1924  Stan Hathaway born in Osceola, Nebraska.  He was raised by an aunt and uncle in Hunley Wyoming after his mother died when he was two, and was the valedictorian of Huntley High School in 1941.  He served in the Army Air Corps in World War Two, became a lawyer after the war, and was elected governor in 1967.  He was briefly the Secretary of the Interior under President Gerald Ford.

1925  A collection of farm and ranch photographs was taken.

1964  The Swan Land and Cattle Company Headquarters was designated a National Historic Landmark.  Attribution:  On This Day.

2012  W. N. "Neil" McMurry, a giant in Wyoming's heavy construction industry for many years, and a significant figure in the oil and gas industry in his later years, died.  His activities in these fields were particularly noticeable in Casper, where foundations related to his activities had a significant impact on the area.