November 8

1861  Denver Colorado incorporated.

1864  President Lincoln reelected.

1873  Winnipeg becomes incorporated as Canada's first city in the West.

1876  Mary Davis was elected Justice of the Peace in Tie Siding, Wyoming, a small town outside of Laramie Wyoming. She was the first woman in Wyoming to be elected to the position (there had been women appointed to justice of the peace previously).

1881  Coloradans vote to make Denver the state capitol.

1887  Doc Holliday died in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. He'd lived over a decade longer than his doctor had first anticipated when he was diagnosed with TB.

1889  Montana achieves statehood.

1892     Former President Grover Cleveland beat incumbent Benjamin Harrison, becoming the only president to win non-consecutive terms in the White House.

Be that as it may, President Cleveland fared extremely poorly in Wyoming that year, which had representatives to the Electoral College for the first time, given its recent statehood.  The election of 1892 saw four candidates compete for electoral votes, and President Harrison ended up polling just over 50% of the Wyoming votes, with Populist James Weaver taking 46% of the Wyoming vote.  Amazingly, the remaining percentage of the vote seemingly went to John Bidwell of the Prohibition Party.  Cleveland's percentage of the Wyoming vote was infinitesimal.

 James Weaver

As surprising as this is, Wyoming was not unique in these regards.  Weaver polled so well in Colorado that he pulled out ahead of Harrison in that state and took that state's electoral votes.  He also one in Idaho, Nevada and North Dakota.  Cleveland was obviously very unpopular in the Rocky Mountain West in the 1892 election.  Indeed, Cleveland only took California and Texas in the West, and polled most strongly in the East and the South.  He polled particular well in the Deep South that year, although Weaver also, ironically, did well in the South.  Cleveland's status as a Democrat probably carried him in the South.

This probably is an interesting comment on both the evolution of political parties, and the make up of the Wyoming electorate at the time. Wyoming was a solidly Republican state then as now, but at that time the Republican Party was split between "progressive" and "conservative" factions.  While their fiscal policies significantly differed in general, the Democratic party had not yet started to have a significant populist branch.  The Democrats retained a very solid base in the South, were the party continued to favor the old Southern aristocracy.  The Republicans generally did well in the North and West.

This year, however, the factions that would eventually split the Republican Party wide open in the early 20th Century started to come to a head and a proto-progressive branch of the party started to emerge.  Interestingly, the Wyoming Republican Party apparently had a strong populist streak.  The strong polling by the Populists in the South reflected a split in that region in the Democratic Party, where the party was controlled by Southern aristocrats but had a large yeoman base.

In the following years Progressive and Populist branches of both parties would vie for control of the respective parties with William Jennings Bryan first making a serious run at converting the Democrats into a populist party and then the Republicans briefly becoming a progressive party during the Theodore Roosevelt years.  The Populist (or rather People's Party) would die after the election of the 1892 with a Progressive Party to emerge in 1912 very briefly.  The Progressive Party proved to be quite popular in  Wyoming when it briefly emerged, with Gov. Carey joining it during its brief existence.

1892  Henry A. Coffeen elected as Congerssman from Wyoming.

1892  John E. Osborne elected Governor.  Governor Osborne was a Democrat who was elected in the wake of the Johnson County War.

1893  Women granted the right to vote in Colorado.

1898  Battery A, Wyoming Light Artillery,  left San Francisco, CA, for Newport.and then on to the Philippines.  The battery arrived in Manila on December 7.

1901   Ben Kilpatrick, a Wild Bunch member, and, with Laura Bullion ({Della Rose"), a female associate of the gang, arrested in St. Louis.  He was carrying $7,000 in cash, a huge sum at the time, from a robbery but would not divulge the whereabouts of gang members.  Both were sentenced to prison.

1904  Theodore Roosevelt wins Presidential election.

1904  Bryant B. Brooks elected Governor.

1911  County attorney of Laramie County warned that all gambling must stop in the county.

1916   The Laramie Republican for November 8, 1916. Results Uncertain
 

The Laramie Republican, however, was only willing to go with "uncertain".

The Wyoming Tribune, the 3:30 edition. . not so sure now.

 

By 3:30 the Tribune was less certain, but still thought it was Hughes, probably.

And other news had crept back onto the front page.

Cheyenne State Leader for November 8, 1916. Getting the election right

 

The less dramatic leader, however, called the election correctly. 

 

The first edition of the Wyoming Tribune for November 8, 1916: HUGHES WINS
 

Except he didn't.  The Tribune had been hoping for Hughes. . . perhaps a little too much?

1921  Tuesday November 8, 1921. Dignatary.

Crow Chief Plenty Coups, (b circa 1908), a Crow leaders since 1876 when he was 28 years old, was back East in order to serve as the Native American representative at the upcoming dedication of the Tomb of the Unknowns.

 
Plenty Coups was a renowned Plains Indian figure and a significant Crow leader.  The last Crow chief to be elected by other chiefs, he foresaw the ultimate European American victory coming and allied his people with the United States. The alliance was a natural one in that the Crow were fighting to retain their lands in Montana and Wyoming from Sioux incursions.

A strong proponent of education, he remained a significant figure until his death in 1932.

1932     New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president over incumbent Herbert Hoover.

1932  Leslie A. Miller elected Governor.

 Governor Miller on left meets with the Secretary of Agriculture.

1942  Two United States Army Air Corp fighters conducted a demonstration over Lusk, with one of them being flown by a resident of Lusk, now in the USAAC.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1957  The Most Reverend Patrick A. McGovern, Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Cheyenne, dies after occupying his office for 39 years. Bishop McGovern had been an orphan and grew up in Omaha Nebraska. As Bishop of the Diocese of Cheyenne, he was active in his concern for the plight of Wyoming's orphans.

1960  John F. Kennedy was elected 35th President.  He did not, however, take Wyoming's vote.  Wyoming voters chose Richard Nixon that year, giving him 55% of the Wyoming vote.

1960  Jack R. Gage elected Governor.

1960  William Henry Harrison, great great grandson of President William Henry Harrison, and a lawyer from Sheridan, elected to the House of Representatives from Wyoming.  He had earlier served in that capacity from 1951 to 1955.  He was unusual that he had more than one interrupted periods of representation.

1984  The Lincoln County Courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

1988  George H. W. Bush elected President.

November 7

1805  The Corps of Discovery reached the Pacific Ocean.

1835  Texas' Declaration of November 7, 1835 adopted by the Consultation at San Felipe documenting Texas' reasons for taking up arms against Mexico. Attribution:  On This Day.

It stated:

November 7, 1835.

DECLARACION DEL PUEBLO DE TEJAS, Reunido en Convencion General. Por cuantoel general Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana, asociado con otros gefes militareshan destruido por medio de la fuerza armada las Instituciones Federalesde la Nacion Mejicana, y disuelto el pacto social que existia entre el Pueblo de Tejas y las demas partes de la confederacion Mejicana, el buen Pueblo de Tejas, usando de sus derechos naturales, DECLARA SOLEMNEMENTE,

Primero. Que ha tomado las armas en defensa de sus derechos y libertad esamenezados por los ataques del despotismo militar; y en defensa de losprincipios republicanos de la Constitucion Federal de Mejico, sancionadaen 1824.

Segundo. Que aunque Tejas no esta ya ni politica ni moralmenteligado por los lazos de la Union Federal, movido por la simpatia y generosidadnaturales a los pueblos libres, ofrece ayuda y asistencia a aquellos miembrosde la confederacion que tomasen las armas contra el despotismo militar.

Tercero. Que no reconoce en las actuales autoridades de la nominal Republica Mejicana ningun derecho para gobernar en el territorio de Tejas.

Cuarto.Que no cesara de hacer la guerra contra las mencionadas autoridades mientrasmantengan tropas en los terminos de Tejas.

Quinto. Que se considera conderecho de separarse de la Union a Mejico durante la desorganizacion delSistema Federal y el regimen del despotismo, y para organizar un gobiernoindependiente o adoptar aquellas medidas que sean adecuadas para protegersus derechos y libertades; pero continuara fiel al gobierno Mejicano enel caso de que la nacion sea gobernada por la Constitucion y las leyesque fueron formadas para el regimen de su asociacion politica.

Sesto. Que Tejas se obliga a pagar los gastos de sus tropas en actividad actualmenteen la campana.

Septimo. Que Tejas empena su credito y fe publica para elpago de las deudas que contrageren sus agentes.

Octavo. Que recompensaracon donaciones de tierra y los derechos de ciudadania a los voluntariosque prestasen servicios en la presente lucha. Esta es la declaracion queprofesamos delante del mundo, llamando a Dios por testigo de la sinceridadde nuestras intenciones, invocando su maldicion sobre nuestras cabezasen el caso de faltar a ella por doblez o intencion danada.

B.T. ARCHER, Presidente.

Municipalidad de Gonzales-- J. D. Clemens

Municipalidad de Austin --Benjamin Fuqua, Thomas Barnett, James Hodges, Wyly Martin,
William Arrington, Randall Jones, William S. Fisher, Wm. Menifee, G.W. Davis. Jesse Burnam.

Municipalidad de Viesca.

Municipalidad de Matagorda.-- S.T. Allen, R.R. Royall, A.G. Perry, Charles Wilson, J.G.W. Pierson

Municipalidad de Washington-- Alexander Thompson, Asa Mitchell, J.W.Parker. Philip Coe

Municipalidad de Nacogdoches-- Elijah Collard, Samuel Houston, Jesse Grimes, Daniel Parker, A. Hoxie, James W. Robertson

Municipalidad de Mina-- William Whitaker, J.S. Lester

Municipalidad of Bevil-- D.C. Barrett, John Bevil, R.M. Williamson. S.H. Everett

Municipalidad de Columbia-- Wyatt Hanks, Henry Smith

Municipalidad de San Augustin --Edwin Waller, A. Houston, J.S.D. Byrom, Wm. N. Sigler, John A. Wharton, A.E.C. Johnson, W.D.C. Hall, Martin Palmer, A. Horton

Municipalidad de Harrisburgh --Henry Augustin, Lorenzo de Zavala, A.G.Kellog. Wm. P. Harris

Municipalidad de Liberty -- C.C. Dyer, J.B. WoodsMeriwether W. Smith, A.B. Hardin, John W. Moore, Henry Millard, D.B.Macomb, C. West.

Sala de la Convencion en San Felipe de Austin, 7 deNoviembre de 1825. P.B. Dexter, Secretario.

1848  Zachary Taylor was elected president of US.

1871  The second session of Wyoming's Territorial Legislative Assembly began. It continued until December 16.

1876 Rutherford B. Hayes was elected 19th president of the US.

1877  The fifth session of Wyoming's Territorial Legislative Assembly began.  

1885   Donald A. Smith, later Lord Strathcona drives in the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway at Craigellachie, in the Eagle Pass, British Columbia.

1893  Colorado grants women the franchise.

1913 The school house in Guernsey was destroyed by fire.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916  President Woodrow Wilson was re-elected over Charles Evans Hughes, but the race was so close that the results were not known until November 11.Wyoming's electorate gave 55% of the vote to Wilson.

1916  John B. Kendrick elected to the Senate from Wyoming.

1916     Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress.  She would boldly cast "no" votes on the measures to declare war in World War One and World War Two.

 The Laramie Daily Boomerang for November 7, 1916. Wars and highways.
 

The Laramie Daily Boomerang, which is still published today, didn't bother much with elections in its November 7, 1916 edition.  It focused on the news of other things, including the crisis in Mexico, prohibition in Virginia, Polish independence and the Lincoln Highway eliminating polls.

The Boomerang, perhaps, may have felt that the voters had made up their minds and focused on other things.

The Douglas Budget for November 7, 1916. Be loyal to our party.

 

The newspaper for the small town of Douglas simply urged voters to Republican party loyalty.  A. R. Merritt, however, of the RCU Store, didn't worry about whether you were a member of the "the Republican and Progressive Party, the Democratic Party, the Socialist Party and the Prohibition Party" (all parties that were actually fielding candidates on a serious basis), as long as you had the right party dress.

The Wyoming Tribune for November 7, 1916, 3:30 Edition: Early reports indicate Hughes

 

The Wyoming Tribune, which had been solidly Republican in the 1916 campaign, looked forward to Hughes being elected and was predicting John B. Kendrick's "Waterloo" in its 3:30 edition.

The early reports, as we'll see, may have not been right.

The Cheyenne Leader for November 7, 1916: The Leader takes a shot at the Tribune.

 

The Cheyenne Leader was backing Wilson and Kendrick, and it had apparently had enough of the Tribune.

Of note, the Leader was taking a "bring the boys back home" approach to the election, in part, obviously indicating that a vote for Hughes was a vote for prolonged entanglement in Mexico.

The Casper Record for November 7, 1916. All America Joins Shout "Wilson's The Man!"
 

The Casper Record confidently predicted that "all America" would shout for Wilson.  It also came out for Pat Sullivan, rising local politician, Irish immigrant, and very successful local sheepman.  He built a house which was, up until recently, the largest house in Casper.  Of interest, at least one of the ranching families mentioned in the article is still ranching in the same location, which is a bit comforting.

We also learn that the Midwest Hotel was about to go up, which it did.  And C. H. Townsend directed our attention to rugs.

1918Countdown on the Great War, November 7, 1918: The False Armistace, the Bavarian monarchy falls, the French and British explain the war against the Ottomans.

1. The False Armistice resulted in celebrations throughout the Allied nations as a false report that Germany had entered into an Armistice circulated and was widely reported.

A couple of Wyoming's newspapers, including the Casper Daily Tribune, did note the reports, but were hesitant about reporting them as fully accurate.  They would turn out not to be.

2.  The German Revolution spread to Hanover, Brunswick, Frankfurt, and Munich.  King Ludwig III of Bavaria was forced to flee with his family for what he thought would be a temporary departure, but which would not see him return as king.

The Bavarian Royal Family.

There was some irony to his being the first German monarch to fall.  He was already in his upper years at the time he had become king, in 1913, and therefore was not a long reigning German monarch.  He was additionally a staunch supporter of the direct right to vote, thereby putting him in sympathy with democratic aims.  Indeed, he'd run, unsuccessfully, as a candidate for the Reichstag and there was some belief that if the German Emperor were an elected position, he would likely have been the Emperor.

He was not in the direct line of succession for the Bavarian crown and also came to it by way of a change in the Bavarian constitution which allowed for the regent to declare himself king upon the incompetency of the rightful occupant, which he then did, thereby ending his regency for the severely mentally ill King Otto.

Ludwig was a direct descendant of both the French King Louis XIV and the Norman Duke and English King William of Normandy.

3.  The UK and France issued (maybe. . .it might have been November 9) the Anglo French Declaration retroactively declaring their war aims in the fight against the Ottoman Empire to have been the "complete and final" liberation of nations that had been part of the Ottoman Empire.

4.  The U.S. Third Army was established at Chaumont, France.  It would not see a mission until after the Armistice.

5. The English fishing smack Conster hit a mine and sank.

1922.  Democrat William B. Ross won election to the Governor's office, defeating John W. Hay, a Republican who had defeated the incumbent Republican Governor Robert D. Carey for the GOP ticket.

Ross.

The Republican Party was split due to the extremely contentious primary race and Ross was able to use this to appeal to Carey's supporters through his strong Prohibition stance.  The 48 year old Carey was a lawyer by profession.

Democrat John B. Kendrick won a second term to the Senate, defeating Congressman Frank W. Mondell who was the Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives at the time.

Replacing Mondell was Charles E. Winter, a lawyer from Casper who had also been a State District Court judge.

Winter.

Winter would serve in that role until 1929, as in 1928 he reprised Mondell's path and attempted unsuccessfully to move to the Senate.  He was thereafter the Attorney General of Puerto Rico and then returned to Casper, where he died in 1948.  One of my aunts worked for him in his later years, and his son, who lived to be nearly 100, was a lawyer who practiced in the office building which I do and still was when I first worked there.

Winter wrote the lyrics for the song Wyoming, which is one of the two state songs.  He was also a novelist.

1944     President Franklin D. Roosevelt won a fourth term in office, defeating Thomas E. Dewey.

1969  Thurmon Arnold, Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust actions in the Roosevelt Administration from 1938 to 1943, and former Mayor of Laramie, born in Laramie, died on date.  The Thurman Arnold Building in Washington D. C. is named after him.  He was later a Justice of the D. C. Circuit.

1972 President Richard M. Nixon was re-elected in a landslide over Democrat George McGovern.

Cliff Hanson won reelection to the U.S. Senate.  Teno Roncalio won reelection against Republican candidate Bill Kidd.

1972.  A Sublette County straw poll shows 970 people opposed to, 279 in favor of and 105 undecided on the "Wagon Wheel Project" which would extract natural gas in the area with five underground nuclear explosions.  Yikes!  Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.
   
1976   The Johnson County Library (Carnegie Public Library) was added to the National Register for Historic Places.

2000     George W. Bush was elected president.

 

October 22

1812  Robert Stuart and a small party of Astorians crossed South Pass, making them the first Euro-Americans to do so.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1844 Louis Riel, Metis leader, Montana school teacher, was born, the eldest of eleven children, in a log cabin near St-Boniface, Manitoba.

1861 The first telegraph line linking West & East coasts of the US was completed.  The route went along the Oregon Trail.

1885 The Canadian Judicial Committee of the Privy Council rules against the appeal of Louis Riel's sentence resulting from the Metis Rebellion..

1943  Faced with the shortages caused by wartime,  the Green River Sportsman's Club discussed ammunition shortage situation and a rumored black market operating in the vicinity.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1964  Richard Nixon campaigned in Wyoming for Barry Goldwater. Attribution:  On This Day.

If anyone has the specifics on this item, I'd really appreciate knowing them. 

October 5

1877 Nez Perce Chief Joseph and 418 survivors were captured in the Bear Paw mountains.

1879 Final day of several days of action by the 5th and 9th Cavalry at Milk River, Colorado.

1911 President William H. Taft addressed an audience at Rock Spring.

1918  The Spanish Flu Claims Its First Casper Victim and The Danger of Even Home Guard Service Is Made Plain: October 5, 1918.

As the war raged in Europe, while peace feelers started to be sent out, the Spanish Flu claimed its first victim in Casper.

And Home Guard service proved lethal for Pvt. O. B. Duncan, who fell from a train and was run over it by it. Why Pvt. Duncan was riding on the train isn't clear, but at least as late as World War Two the Home Guard did guard the rail yards for a time in Casper, so presumably something similar was occurring.

Oddly, Thermopolis was a setting for both tragedies.

1927  Mount Owen named that by the United States Geographic Board.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1942  Children at the Heat Mountain Internment Camp started school.

August 30

1864  Gold discovered near the location of present day Livingston, Montana

1869   Major John Wesley Powell's expedition arrived at the foot of the Grand Canyon, having left Green River on May 24.  Attribution:  On  This Day.

1877 "Cantonment Reno" renamed Fort McKinney.  Attribution:  On This Day.

 The location of the former Cantonment Reno.

1886  The first homicide in the new town of Lusk occurred. Attribution. Wyoming State Historical Society.

1890  First oil strike at the Salt Creek field.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1898  James Judson Van Horn, former temporary commander of the Department of Colorado in Denver, commander of a regiment and infantry division at Camp Thomas, Georgia, and the first brigade, second division, Fifth Corps, at Tampa, Florida, died while on sick leave at Ft. D. A. Russell. 

1916. A horse and rider were killed near Medicine Bow by lightening.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1918  The 100 Days Offensive: The 32nd Division takes Juvigny

Insignia of the 32nd Division.

If you've been reading the posts here (and I know that darned few do), you will have been reading a fair amount the British Expeditionary Force, which comprised of units from all of the British Empire, advancing on the Allied left flank.

At the same time, you will have been reading of French advances, although I have not posted any of the campaigns in detail. Suffice it to say, the French were advancing as well, as the headlines indicated.

On this day, the U.S. 32nd Division, which was part of the French Tenth Army, took Juvigny, a strategically important location in the line of the French advance.  The 32nd was a National Guard comprised unit made up of units from Wisconsin and Michigan.  The unit compelled the Germans to withdraw in their sector and on September 9 the 32nd would become part of the U.S. First Army.

Juvigny is not a battle that's thought much of today, but the accomplishment of the 32nd was significant.  Moreover, the event demonstrates that while the U.S. First Army had only come into existence on this day, US units were engaged in the 100 Days Offensive already, attached to French and British commands.

1918  Mutiny in the Home Guard?, Mexican border pacific, and bar tenders won't march: The Casper Daily Tribune, August 30, 1918.

A rumor that casualty figures were being suppressed was circulating in Casper's Home Guard, and causing discontent.  The story was originally attributed to Gen. Leonard Wood, who denied its accuracy.

Well, while things were getting heated in Casper, things seemed to be calming down on the border with Mexico.

But they were getting heated as to alcohol.  The Bartenders Union refused to march in the upcoming Labor Day parade in protest of the looming specter of Prohibition.  The Anti Saloon League was being asked to fill in.

1999  Leonard Frank "Fritz" Shumer died in Suamico Wisconsin.  He had been  head coach of the University of Wyoming Cowboys from 1971 to 1974 and defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers from 1994 to 1998.

He is the father of well known Casper Star Tribune and Wyoming Catholic Register reporter Sally Ann Shumer.

August 9

1832  Stockade at Ft. Bonneville completed.

1854    Henry David Thoreau published "Walden," which described his experiences living near Walden Pond in Massachusetts.

1867  Cheyenne's residents form ad hoc city government.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1877   Nez Perce clash with the U.S. Army near the Big Hole River in Montana.

1887  The Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne formally established.

1887  Henry Longabaugh (the Sundance Kid) convicted of larceny in Sundance.

1894  The State's Populist Party held its convention:  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1895  According to my Wyoming History Calendar, "New Woman" appeared on the streets of Thermopolis wearing "bifurcated skirts".  Bifurcated skirts were suitable for riding, and  seem to have made their appearance about this time.  I'm not really sure from this entry, however, if a Thermopolis newspaper was noting the arrival of the "New Woman" as a type in Thermopolis, or if they were actually noting a singular new woman.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916  The Cheyenne State Leader for August 9, 1916. The Inglorious Reappearance of Pvt Dilley?
 

It seems that Pvt. Dilley's circumstances were not quite as tragic as reported yesterday, maybe.

A person has to wonder a bit about his fate, assuming he was tracked down and arrested.  His desertion came at that point in time at which the Army was evolving from the Frontier Army practice, in which 1/3d of the enlisted men went AWOL or deserted annually, and which the offense was not too seriously worried about unless the departing troops took equipment with them, to one which would regard this as a much more serious matter.  And, to add to it, when conscription came for World War One public sentiments were so strong that in some areas a man of military age could not walk for more than a couple of blocks without being accosted by citizens wondering if they were shirking their duty.  Young women, in fact, were particularly zealous in offering offense to men who appeared to be less than enthusiastic about military service.  Pvt. Dilley's actions may have had implications he didn't consider at the time.

Assuming, of course, that he had deserted.  Which perhaps, he had not.  He never reappeared, in spite of having family and friends in the state.  His father was certain that he'd been murdered, which he may very well have been.

If he left service without discharge, he certainly wasn't the only one to attempt it.  Disciplinary problems were a huge factor with the Wyoming Guard, including desertions, which were not all that uncommon.  As we've seen, going AWOL was fairly common as well, at least in the context of briefly leaving to marry.

On other matters, 2ar was in the air, with the Guard being inspected and the paper contemplating what war with Mexico might mean, which apparently meant war with Japan.  Odd to see that speculated on in this context.

Love was also in the air, and yet another Guardsman went AWOL to elope, something that seems to have been a regular occurrence.

1918  The U. S. government ordered automobile production to halt by January 1, 1919, and convert to military production.

1918  The news of Amiens hits home and brewers lose a fight. The Laramie Boomerang, August 9, 1918.

The Germans were losing the war, and brewers were losing the fight for coal, as German reversals began to set in, and prohibition started to come in through the side door.

The intervention in Russia began to build steam. . . even at the point where its relation to the war in Europe started to become questionable.

And nice weather was predicted.

All on a Friday in early August, 1918.

1919 August 9, 1919. The Motor Transport Convoy reaches the Gem City of the Plains.

On this day in 1919, the 1919 Motor Transport Convoy went over Sherman Hill and on down into Laramie.

Sherman Hill is a legendary grade, so making the 57 miles in 11.5 hours is all the more impressive.

The entries noted that on this day, and the prior one, the weather was cool.

The prior day in Cheyenne the convoy had been feted with a rodeo and celebration.  To my surprise, this story does not seem to have regarded as anywhere near as important as I would have thought.  The arrival of the convoy was on the front page of both Cheyenne papers the day it occurred, but it didn't make the front page of the Laramie or Casper paper, both of which had wire service. The arrival of the convoy in Laramie didn't seem big news anywhere else and only made the cover of one of the two Laramie papers.

The convoy was headed to the Pacific coast, of course, and if things in the interior seemed a bit primitive. . . or not, things on the coast were definitely not.

1920 

1937  The Casper Alcova Project renamed the Kendrick Project in honor of John B. Kendrick.

1944   The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time.  It's interesting to note that at least some WWII era anti forest fire campaigns were very war themed.

Smokey's first appearance.

1974    Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States following the resignation of Richard M. Nixon.  Ford has a connection with Wyoming in that his father was part of a family that had shipping and commercial interest in Wyoming and Nebraska.  Ford was born on Omaha Nebraska as Leslie Lynch King, and his parents divorced almost immediately after his birth.

Nixon departing the White House on August 9, 1974.

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.

June 30

1868  Fort Fred Steele established where the Union Pacific Railroad crossed the North Platte River.  Attribution:  On This Day.

Ft. Fred Steele, Carbon County Wyoming

In the past, I haven't tended to post fort entries here, but for net related technical reasons, I'm going to, even though these arguably belong on one of my other blogs.  I'll probably cross link this thread in.

These are photographs of Ft. Fred Steele, a location that I've sometimes thought is the bleakest historical site in Wyoming.

One of the few remaining structures at Ft. Steele, the powder magazine.  It no doubt is still there as it is a stone structure.

The reason that the post was built, the Union Pacific, is still there.

Ft. Steele is what I'd regard as fitting into the Fourth Generation of Wyoming frontier forts, although I've never seen it described that way, or anyone other than me use that term.   By my way of defining them, the First Generation are those very early, pre Civil War, frontier post that very much predated the railroads, such as Ft. Laramie.  The Second Generation would be those established during the Civil War in an effort to protect the trail and telegraph system during that period during which the Regular Army was largely withdrawn from the Frontier and state units took over. The Third Generation would be those posts like Ft. Phil Kearney that were built immediately after the Civil War for the same purpose.  Contemporaneously with those were posts like Ft. Steele that were built to protect the Union Pacific Railroad.  As they were in rail contact with the rest of the United States they can't really be compared to posts like Ft. Phil Kearney, Ft. C. F. Smith or Ft. Caspar, as they were built for a different purpose and much less remote by their nature.

What the post was like, when it was active.

A number of well known Wyoming figures spent time at Ft. Saunders.

Ft. Sanders, after it was abandoned, remained a significant railhead and therefore the area became the center of a huge sheep industry. Quite a few markers at the post commemorate the ranching history of the area, rather than the military history.

One of the current denizens of the post.

Suttlers store, from a distance.

Union Pacific Bridge Tenders House at the post.

Current Union Pacific bridge.

Some structure from the post, but I don't know what it is.

The main part of the post's grounds.

Soldiers from this post are most famously associated with an action against the Utes in Utah, rather than an action in Wyoming.  This shows the high mobility of the Frontier Army as Utah is quite a distance away, although not so much by rail.

This 1914 vintage highway marker was on the old Lincoln Highway, which apparently ran north of the tracks rather than considerably south of them, like the current Interstate Highway does today.

About 88 people or so were buried at this post, however only 60 some graves were later relocated when the Army undertook to remove and consolidate frontier graves.  Logic would dictate, therefore, that some graves likely remain.

Unusual civilian headstone noting that this individual had served with a provisional Confederate unit at some point that had been raised in California.  I'm not aware of any such unit, although it must have existed.  The marker must be quite recent.

1876  7th Cavalry wounded reach the Far West on the Yellowstone.

1894  It was reported that 40,000 trout were shipped to Casper to be distributed to area streams.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1903   A deadly mine explosion in Hanna killed 169 miners.

1919  Monday, June 30, 1919. The last day of legal drinking in Wyoming. . .

and for that matter, much of the rest of the United States as wartime prohibition came into effect on June 30, just as Wyoming's state prohibition act also did.

New York City bar on the last day of legal drinking, June 30, 1919.  Note the hot dogs or sausages on the small grill.

The fact that a lot of places went "dry" on this day, prior to the passage of the Volstead Act, shows that the arrival of prohibition was more complicated than many might remember and accordingly the headlines are confusing.

What occurred was this.

Casper was reported as being in a "Hilarious Mood" on the eve of Prohibition.  It's probable that not everybody was approaching the deadline of midnight with hilarity, including most particularly tavern owners.

The movement to ban alcohol had been growing strength for years prior to World War One, inspired in no small part by the fact that the "Saloon Trade" was unregulated.  Widespread unregulated drinking was a huge social problem that had reached the point of disgusting a lot of people. There's only so many drunk seven year olds, basically, that you can take.

In addition to that, however, the Temperance Movement was boosted by the fact that it was a Progressive movement, and one of many.  Often missed in the story of any one movement is that movements tend to travel in packs, and indeed the limit of their success usually is the enactment of a bad idea into law that was travelling along with other movements that were good or better ideas. Then the reaction sets in.

The Laramie newspaper addressed the national law but, oddly, not the local one.

In this case, Prohibition oddly has a fairly straight line back to the mid 19th Century when the movement to abolish slavery reached full steam and ultimately success, albeit due to the Civil War.  Abolitionist typically had that as their focus, but some were generally fairly "progressive" in the modern context on other issues as well.  Quite a few of those individuals went right from the Abolitionist movement to the the issue of full franchise for women which, as we've seen, also just achieved success in 1919.

With those movements came also Temperance, which was thought of by many as being a generally a progressive platform.  As the country entered World War One it received a big boost for an interesting mix of reasons.

In contrast to nearby Laramie, Cheyenne's headlines featured Wyoming going dry.

One reason was that it consumed a lot of grain, and there was a genuine desire to conserve grains during the stretched wartime years.  That lead to the law that came into effect today, which brought distilling. . . and maybe brewing and vinting, illegal during the war.  Ironically the date that law came into effect was June 30, 1919.  I.e., the last legal day for hard alcohol nationwide, and maybe beer and wine, was this day.  July 1 was sort of dry.

Maybe.  As can be seen, the Federal government was having a hard time figuring out what the law actually applied to.

Sheridan, which like Cheyenne, had a military post claimed that Cheyenne had already depleted its stores of alcohol.

In addition to that, there was a visceral reaction to all things German, which beer was conceived of being, during the war and Prohibitionist took advantage of that to boost their cause.  As we've seen here earlier, there were a lot of accusations against brewers, some backed by Prohibitionist, claiming they were funded by or in league with the Germans.  The whole thing seems silly now, but it was front page news then. 

Indeed the war had the effect of actually effectively destroying German culture in the United States as many German institutions came to an abrupt end.  For many urban German Americans there had been a long tradition (as indeed their had been in England prior to the Reformation) of gathering after church for fellowship of one kind or another.  In rural areas that included such things as summertime shooting events of a special type, called a Schützenfest.  These events would feature shooting from special precision rifles, but also a fair amount of beer drinking.

Whimsical road sign in contemporary Germany put up for a From Wikipedia Creative Commons, with a special sign for a Schützenfest.  MalteFilmFan

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sign_-_Attention_%22Sch%C3%BCtzenfest%22_.jpg.  Use restricted in accordance with license.

While the tradition was just as strong, it might be noted, in the Irish American culture, the war did not impact the Irish culturally the same way. As part of the United Kingdom they were, of course, on the winning side of the war and, more importantly, on the same side as the United States, and they were also used to being a struggling minority.  It'd take economic success to really put a dent in Irish culture.

Compounding the story, quite a few Americans, and the United States was a more rural nation at the time with many more small communities that were more stable and less mobile than they are now, were horrified by the thought of their young men going over to booze drenched France, where they'd be confronted, they supposed, with gallons of wine and French women of questionable virtue.  That seems extreme, of course, and I'm putting it in that fashion clearly, but you can find examples of statements to just that effect.  One Wyoming legislator, for example, stated that he'd rather is boy die in France having never tasted alcohol than live on imbibing. 

World War One postcard that was part of a series on American soldiers in France.  This soldier is giving a ride on his horse to a French girl as two French villagers observe.  This is just what quite a few Americans feared was going to be going on while their sons were overseas. For what it's worth, the saddle on the horse is a M1917 packer's saddle, so this soldier is likely in the Quartermasters Corp, although not necessarily so.  Of note, he's wearing a watch.

Which takes us to the fact that this particular era was one of Evangelical Protestant revival.

Christianity has no prohibition on alcohol at all, and many of those ordering a draft at East Coast taverns on Sunday afternoons had no doubt been to Mass than morning, in the case of German and Irish Americans.  The concept that Christianity is antithetical to alcohol is a false one, although it very clear is opposed to drunkenness.  At any rate, some Evangelical Christians in the English speaking world saw alcohol as a prohibited substance and they accordingly were very much against it. As they were in the rise at the time, that contributed to the movement.

Another French postcard, one that most soldiers would have been ill advised to send home.  The French translation does not match the English, with the French one stating "We quickly get to know each other.".  By 1919, Americans had somewhat overcome their concern about French women, who were now entering the United States as war brides in large numbers.  Newspaper articles had gone from soldiers' reports about how they still looked back at the girl back home more favorably, to ones in which they were impressed with the French lasses, to reports of a lot of them coming home as the spouses of the troops.  Those women, of course, were coming from a culture in which wine made up a substantial portion of the average person's daily caloric intake to another which was now officially dry.

For this reason, even without the wartime act, alcohol was on its way out in the United States.  Many states had already banned it, and Wyoming was one of them.  This adds to the confusion of the headlines, however, as the local papers were following the national news on the wartime ban, and the local news on the arrival of state Prohibition.

And added to that was the passage of the Volstead Act, which we've just read about.  That act was to bring about the enforcement of the 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which was not self enacting.  It was only introduced in June of 1919, so the full Federal law on permanent Prohibition hadn't arrived.  Indeed, a person has to speculate on the extent to which the decision to enforce "wartime" Prohibition in 1919 was due to that fact. The wartime measure could have been viewed as a stopgap until the full law arrived.

At any rate, if you were in far off Wyoming, this was your last day to get a drink.

1945  It was reported that 23,611 men and 515 women from Wyoming were in the armed forces.  Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.

1945  The USS Wyoming departed Norfolk for the Brooklyn Navy Yard for alterations. Attribution:  On This Day.

1975  A magnitude 6.4 earthquake occurred in the Yellowstone National Park region.  Attribution:  On This Day.

2009 In a move that was controversial amongst alumni of the University of Wyoming's geology department, the Geological Museum was closed due to state budget cuts.Attribution:  On This Day.