"Blizzard Largest In City's History"

So states the Tribune in a headline.

M'eh

I’m calling bull on this one.

For one thing, snow is measured at the airport, which gets pretty high winds, I might note. This is probably the largest blizzard the airport has recorded.

Folks on the mountain found and published an article from the Easter 1973 storm in which the Trib reported the mountain got "feet", as in around 10 feet, of snow.  I vaguely recall that storm.  Was it as bad as this one?  I suspect so.

Frankly, this storm just wasn't that unusual. We were just paying attention, as we aren't used to them anymore.

We may have to get used to them again.

Tumble Inn Powder River, Wyoming

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A familiar Natrona County landmark's history.

The Aerodrome: Delta receives a subsidty to continue serving the Natrona County International Airport.

The Aerodrome: Delta receives a subsidty to continue serving the ...:  I'm really not too certain what my view on this is.  Overall, I suppose it's a good thing. Delta is one of the two carriers, relyin...

Lex Anteinternet: Wyoming Music: Belle of Natrona County

Lex Anteinternet: Wyoming Music: Belle of Natrona County: 

Wyoming Music: Belle of Natrona County

I'm completely clueless about how this folk song titled after Natrona County, or rather a Natrona County beauty came about, but given as I've been married to a Natrona County beauty for over a quarter century, I like the tune.

This is the category of "Folk Music", and of the type that gave rise to "Country" music before it was categorized as Country & Western by music companies.  While I do not like Country & Western music as a rule, I do like this sort of folk music.

Richard's (Reshaw's) Bridge, Evansville Wyoming.

Reshaw's Bridge, or more correctly Richard's Bridge, was a frontier North Platte River crossing only a few miles downstream from Platte Bridge and like it, it was guarded by a contingent of soldiers.  As noted in the plaque below, it ultimately closed in favor of the slightly newer Guinard's Bridge, which Richard bought, which ultimately came to be referred to as Platte Bridge. 

In 1866, after the bridge had been abandoned, it was dismantled by the soldiers stationed at Platte Bridge Station.

While Platte Bridge Station is remembered for the battle that occurred there, Reshaw's Bridge saw its fair share of action as well. 

Indeed, as we've discussed previously on one of our companion blogs, which we'll link in here below, bodies exhumed at the post when Evansville's water treatment facility was built include what are certainly two soldiers and a pioneer woman.  Generally, the Army would reclaim bodies of troops, but my minor efforts to inform the Army of this failed.

From our companion blog, Some Gave All:

Richard's Bridge Cemetary Mausoleum, Evansville Wyoming

This mausoleum was built when at least part of the cemetery of the military post at Richards Bridge was located at the time Evansville, Wyoming built a water plant near the river. The former location of the Frontier Era bridge across the North Platte had not been precisely known up until that time. When three bodies, believed to be the bodies of two soldiers and one woman, were disinterred they were reburied here, on the grounds of the Evansville grade school. The school grounds were the only nearby public land at the time.

This creates a very odd situation in a variety of ways and the mausoleum is not well maintained. While worse fates could exists than spending eternity near a grade school, it is generally the case that the Army has recovered the lost remains of Frontier Era soldiers when they were located, and it would seem that moving these victims of Frontier conditions would be a positive thing to do.

The City of Casper ponders closing Fort Casper Museum for the winter.

 I've photographed Ft. Caspar a zillion times, but of course I can't find any of my photos of the post itself right now.  Anyhow, the restoration of the grounds (the post was burned down tot he ground after it was evacuated following Red Cloud's War) is excellent, and it appears much as it did in this drawing.

News has appeared in the Casper Star Tribune that the City of Casper is pondering closing the Fort Casper Museum  for the winter months.

This is, of course, a pondered budgetary move.  The thought is that by closing the museum during the winter months, when attendance is at its lowest, the City will save money on what is a city park. After all, I suppose, various other city facilities, like the swimming pools, are closed during the winter months.

Of course others, like the ski areas, are open.  But then they would be.

Anyhow, this is a potential mistake.

Ft. Caspar has gone from being a really second rate facility with a collection of really first rate restored buildings to being one of the best local museums in the state.  When I was a kid the nicely restored buildings, which had been restored for decades, were filled with collections of absolute junk.  Some buildings had nothing in them at all.  Some had piles of old trash, the donated valuables of people who had thought they were valuable whether they were or not.  Some really were.  Others were trash.

Some were odd.  There was, for example, the bones of an infants hand, probably an Indian infant, that somebody found out in the prairie. Sad, but something that isn't really properly on display next to dishes and kettles and the like, if on display at all.

Then the town built a modern museum and hired a curator.  Things improved massively all the way around. All the buildings were put in the form that they original were in the 1860s.  I.e., infantry barracks were once again displayed as infantry barracks, with infantry items in them as if the infantrymen were still there.  The same for cavalry barracks.  The same for officers quarters, and so on.  It was very well done.

Post cemetery, Fort Caspar.  The graves themselves were moved when the Army consolidated its Frontier cemeteries. . .although bodies still occasionally occur and all of the dead from the nearby Battle of Red Buttes remain missing.

In the museum itself, displays change over time, the way a museum of this type should properly have it.  Themes for displays are had.  Various distinct presentations are made throughout the year on an annual basis.  A book about the fort, a very good one, was commissioned. The museum bookstore is one of the best western bookstores in the state, rivaling the one at Ft. Laramie. 

And now we read, in the Casper Star Tribune:

There may be fewer opportunities to visit Fort Caspar Museum next fall.

City officials are discussing seasonal closures at the facility as part of an ongoing effort to reduce Casper’s spending, said City Manager Carter Napier. Staff members are working on a recommendation for the City Council and plan to present the proposal within the next three months.

I hope that they don't do it.

I haven't commented much on the City of Casper's budget woes or the tasks of the City Council recently as I don't comment much on local politics as a rule.  I don't envy city councilmen their tasks in tough budgetary times.  And I'll freely concede that there isn't a thing that the city does that somebody doesn't have a vested interest in.  People like me, have a vested interest in history.  People who ski, have a vested interest in Hogadon, which the city also owns. And so on.

Oregon Trail markers at Fort Caspar.  The trails were the reason that the post was there.

But, having said that, places that loose their history have really lost something. And Wyoming has a highly transient population that is somewhat disinterested in its history to start with.  Closing the museum for the winter would sooner or later mean the loss of the curator and the decline of the museum.  It'd be inevitable.  And that's a mistake in general.  In an era in which one of the current political candidates maintains that tourism is one leg of the three legged stool of the Wyoming economy, and in which I think it's one of the legs of a four legged stool, its a particularly bad idea.  Casper has to be more than an economic crossroads if it wants to have a semi stable economy.

Indeed, my feeling on this is strong enough that I'd be tempted to suggest that maybe Fort Caspar would be better off as a state park.  But Wyoming in fact closes all of its historical sites for the winter and they all suffer because of it.  Sites like Fort Fetterman or Fort Phil Kearney are great sites, but they are seasonal and they show it. Natrona County would seemingly be a logical candidate to take over, as Fort Casper isn't really a purely Casper site.  Mills Wyoming is on the other side of the river and is where most of the Battle of Platte Bridge Station, and all  of the Battle of Red Buttes (really the same battle) were fought.  The Oregon Trail itself on this location crossed from what's now Casper into Mills.  Richard's Bridge, a small post some miles away is located in what is now Evansville Wyoming.  All of these locations are county sites of historical importance but they are not administered that way.  Nonetheless, Natrona County simply doesn't administer historical parks and I can't see it doing so now.  So it's up to the town.

And the town is short of cash.

Not so short, I suppose, that it didn't construct a big downtown plaza last year, which it is still working on this year.  So money can be found for some things.  I suppose it depends on what is important to you and what you think it achieves.

 

 Rotary clock at the new downtown Casper park.

For people who value history in the state, the Fort Caspar Museum is important.  I hope they keep it open year around.

 

Today In Wyoming's History: September 27. Disasters and ships.

From Today In Wyoming's History: September 27:

1923  Thirty railroad passengers were killed when a CB&Q train
wrecked at the Cole Creek Bridge, which had been washed out due to a
flood, in Natrona County.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical
Society.

1944 USS Natrona, a Haskell class attack transport, launched.

There's something in the county memorializing the latter (the ship's wheel, in the old courthouse), but not the former.

Such an awful disaster, you'd think there might be.

Joel Hurt – Sheepman - Mayor- Senator – Murderer

Joel Hurt – Sheepman - Mayor- Senator – Murderer

Note that the amount of the initial investment in the sheep ranch, $200,000, was truly a huge sum, if the effects of inflation are considered. Well into the millions in today's money.

December 23

1620   One week after the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth harbor in present-day Massachusetts, construction of the first permanent European settlement in New England begins.

Comment:   I remain really curious about the timing of this. Why December? Was the thought that they could get a crop in that Spring,if they hit ground mid winter?

1776  Thomas Paine wrote The Crisis:

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER" and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious; for so unlimited a power can belong only to God.

Whether the independence of the continent was declared too soon, or delayed too long, I will not now enter into as an argument; my own simple opinion is, that had it been eight months earlier, it would have been much better. We did not make a proper use of last winter, neither could we, while we were in a dependent state. However, the fault, if it were one, was all our own; we have none to blame but ourselves. But no great deal is lost yet. All that Howe has been doing for this month past, is rather a ravage than a conquest, which the spirit of the Jerseys, a year ago, would have quickly repulsed, and which time and a little resolution will soon recover.

I have as little superstition in me as any man living, but my secret opinion has ever been, and still is, that God Almighty will not give up a people to military destruction, or leave them unsupportedly to perish, who have so earnestly and so repeatedly sought to avoid the calamities of war, by every decent method which wisdom could invent. Neither have I so much of the infidel in me, as to suppose that He has relinquished the government of the world, and given us up to the care of devils; and as I do not, I cannot see on what grounds the king of Britain can look up to heaven for help against us: a common murderer, a highwayman, or a house-breaker, has as good a pretence as he.

'Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country. All nations and ages have been subject to them. Britain has trembled like an ague at the report of a French fleet of flat-bottomed boats; and in the fourteenth [fifteenth] century the whole English army, after ravaging the kingdom of France, was driven back like men petrified with fear; and this brave exploit was performed by a few broken forces collected and headed by a woman, Joan of Arc. Would that heaven might inspire some Jersey maid to spirit up her countrymen, and save her fair fellow sufferers from ravage and ravishment! Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them, and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered. In fact, they have the same effect on secret traitors, which an imaginary apparition would have upon a private murderer. They sift out the hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the world. Many a disguised Tory has lately shown his head, that shall penitentially solemnize with curses the day on which Howe arrived upon the Delaware.

As I was with the troops at Fort Lee, and marched with them to the edge of Pennsylvania, I am well acquainted with many circumstances, which those who live at a distance know but little or nothing of. Our situation there was exceedingly cramped, the place being a narrow neck of land between the North River and the Hackensack. Our force was inconsiderable, being not one-fourth so great as Howe could bring against us. We had no army at hand to have relieved the garrison, had we shut ourselves up and stood on our defence. Our ammunition, light artillery, and the best part of our stores, had been removed, on the apprehension that Howe would endeavor to penetrate the Jerseys, in which case Fort Lee could be of no use to us; for it must occur to every thinking man, whether in the army or not, that these kind of field forts are only for temporary purposes, and last in use no longer than the enemy directs his force against the particular object which such forts are raised to defend. Such was our situation and condition at Fort Lee on the morning of the 20th of November, when an officer arrived with information that the enemy with 200 boats had landed about seven miles above; Major General [Nathaniel] Green, who commanded the garrison, immediately ordered them under arms, and sent express to General Washington at the town of Hackensack, distant by the way of the ferry = six miles. Our first object was to secure the bridge over the Hackensack, which laid up the river between the enemy and us, about six miles from us, and three from them. General Washington arrived in about three-quarters of an hour, and marched at the head of the troops towards the bridge, which place I expected we should have a brush for; however, they did not choose to dispute it with us, and the greatest part of our troops went over the bridge, the rest over the ferry, except some which passed at a mill on a small creek, between the bridge and the ferry, and made their way through some marshy grounds up to the town of Hackensack, and there passed the river. We brought off as much baggage as the wagons could contain, the rest was lost. The simple object was to bring off the garrison, and march them on till they could be strengthened by the Jersey or Pennsylvania militia, so as to be enabled to make a stand. We staid four days at Newark, collected our out-posts with some of the Jersey militia, and marched out twice to meet the enemy, on being informed that they were advancing, though our numbers were greatly inferior to theirs. Howe, in my little opinion, committed a great error in generalship in not throwing a body of forces off from Staten Island through Amboy, by which means he might have seized all our stores at Brunswick, and intercepted our march into Pennsylvania; but if we believe the power of hell to be limited, we must likewise believe that their agents are under some providential control.

I shall not now attempt to give all the particulars of our retreat to the Delaware; suffice it for the present to say, that both officers and men, though greatly harassed and fatigued, frequently without rest, covering, or provision, the inevitable consequences of a long retreat, bore it with a manly and martial spirit. All their wishes centred in one, which was, that the country would turn out and help them to drive the enemy back. Voltaire has remarked that King William never appeared to full advantage but in difficulties and in action; the same remark may be made on General Washington, for the character fits him. There is a natural firmness in some minds which cannot be unlocked by trifles, but which, when unlocked, discovers a cabinet of fortitude; and I reckon it among those kind of public blessings, which we do not immediately see, that God hath blessed him with uninterrupted health, and given him a mind that can even flourish upon care.
I shall conclude this paper with some miscellaneous remarks on the state of our affairs; and shall begin with asking the following question, Why is it that the enemy have left the New England provinces, and made these middle ones the seat of war? The answer is easy: New England is not infested with Tories, and we are. I have been tender in raising the cry against these men, and used numberless arguments to show them their danger, but it will not do to sacrifice a world either to their folly or their baseness. The period is now arrived, in which either they or we must change our sentiments, or one or both must fall. And what is a Tory? Good God! What is he? I should not be afraid to go with a hundred Whigs against a thousand Tories, were they to attempt to get into arms. Every Tory is a coward; for servile, slavish, self-interested fear is the foundation of Toryism; and a man under such influence, though he may be cruel, never can be brave.

But, before the line of irrecoverable separation be drawn between us, let us reason the matter together: Your conduct is an invitation to the enemy, yet not one in a thousand of you has heart enough to join him. Howe is as much deceived by you as the American cause is injured by you. He expects you will all take up arms, and flock to his standard, with muskets on your shoulders. Your opinions are of no use to him, unless you support him personally, for 'tis soldiers, and not Tories, that he wants.

I once felt all that kind of anger, which a man ought to feel, against the mean principles that are held by the Tories: a noted one, who kept a tavern at Amboy, was standing at his door, with as pretty a child in his hand, about eight or nine years old, as I ever saw, and after speaking his mind as freely as he thought was prudent, finished with this unfatherly expression, "Well! give me peace in my day." Not a man lives on the continent but fully believes that a separation must some time or other finally take place, and a generous parent should have said, "If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace;" and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty. Not a place upon earth might be so happy as America. Her situation is remote from all the wrangling world, and she has nothing to do but to trade with them. A man can distinguish himself between temper and principle, and I am as confident, as I am that God governs the world, that America will never be happy till she gets clear of foreign dominion. Wars, without ceasing, will break out till that period arrives, and the continent must in the end be conqueror; for though the flame of liberty may sometimes cease to shine, the coal can never expire.

America did not, nor does not want force; but she wanted a proper application of that force. Wisdom is not the purchase of a day, and it is no wonder that we should err at the first setting off. From an excess of tenderness, we were unwilling to raise an army, and trusted our cause to the temporary defence of a well-meaning militia. A summer's experience has now taught us better; yet with those troops, while they were collected, we were able to set bounds to the progress of the enemy, and, thank God! they are again assembling. I always considered militia as the best troops in the world for a sudden exertion, but they will not do for a long campaign. Howe, it is probable, will make an attempt on this city [Philadelphia]; should he fail on this side the Delaware, he is ruined. If he succeeds, our cause is not ruined. He stakes all on his side against a part on ours; admitting he succeeds, the consequence will be, that armies from both ends of the continent will march to assist their suffering friends in the middle states; for he cannot go everywhere, it is impossible. I consider Howe as the greatest enemy the Tories have; he is bringing a war into their country, which, had it not been for him and partly for themselves, they had been clear of. Should he now be expelled, I wish with all the devotion of a Christian, that the names of Whig and Tory may never more be mentioned; but should the Tories give him encouragement to come, or assistance if he come, I as sincerely wish that our next year's arms may expel them from the continent, and the Congress appropriate their possessions to the relief of those who have suffered in well-doing. A single successful battle next year will settle the whole. America could carry on a two years' war by the confiscation of the property of disaffected persons, and be made happy by their expulsion. Say not that this is revenge, call it rather the soft resentment of a suffering people, who, having no object in view but the good of all, have staked their own all upon a seemingly doubtful event. Yet it is folly to argue against determined hardness; eloquence may strike the ear, and the language of sorrow draw forth the tear of compassion, but nothing can reach the heart that is steeled with prejudice.

Quitting this class of men, I turn with the warm ardor of a friend to those who have nobly stood, and are yet determined to stand the matter out: I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on this state or that state, but on every state: up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake. Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it. Say not that thousands are gone, turn out your tens of thousands; throw not the burden of the day upon Providence, but "show your faith by your works," that God may bless you. It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach you all. The far and the near, the home counties and the back, the rich and the poor, will suffer or rejoice alike. The heart that feels not now is dead; the blood of his children will curse his cowardice, who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole, and made them happy. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death. My own line of reasoning is to myself as straight and clear as a ray of light. Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me to support an offensive war, for I think it murder; but if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to "bind me in all cases whatsoever" to his absolute will, am I to suffer it? What signifies it to me, whether he who does it is a king or a common man; my countryman or not my countryman; whether it be done by an individual villain, or an army of them? If we reason to the root of things we shall find no difference; neither can any just cause be assigned why we should punish in the one case and pardon in the other. Let them call me rebel and welcome, I feel no concern from it; but I should suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul by swearing allegiance to one whose character is that of a sottish, stupid, stubborn, worthless, brutish man. I conceive likewise a horrid idea in receiving mercy from a being, who at the last day shall be shrieking to the rocks and mountains to cover him, and fleeing with terror from the orphan, the widow, and the slain of America.

There are cases which cannot be overdone by language, and this is one. There are persons, too, who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them; they solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if he succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly, to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war; the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf, and we ought to guard equally against both. Howe's first object is, partly by threats and partly by promises, to terrify or seduce the people to deliver up their arms and receive mercy. The ministry recommended the same plan to Gage, and this is what the tories call making their peace, "a peace which passeth all understanding" indeed! A peace which would be the immediate forerunner of a worse ruin than any we have yet thought of. Ye men of Pennsylvania, do reason upon these things! Were the back counties to give up their arms, they would fall an easy prey to the Indians, who are all armed: this perhaps is what some Tories would not be sorry for. Were the home counties to deliver up their arms, they would be exposed to the resentment of the back counties who would then have it in their power to chastise their defection at pleasure. And were any one state to give up its arms, that state must be garrisoned by all Howe's army of Britons and Hessians to preserve it from the anger of the rest. Mutual fear is the principal link in the chain of mutual love, and woe be to that state that breaks the compact. Howe is mercifully inviting you to barbarous destruction, and men must be either rogues or fools that will not see it. I dwell not upon the vapors of imagination; I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as A, B, C, hold up truth to your eyes.

I thank God, that I fear not. I see no real cause for fear. I know our situation well, and can see the way out of it. While our army was collected, Howe dared not risk a battle; and it is no credit to him that he decamped from the White Plains, and waited a mean opportunity to ravage the defenceless Jerseys; but it is great credit to us, that, with a handful of men, we sustained an orderly retreat for near an hundred miles, brought off our ammunition, all our field pieces, the greatest part of our stores, and had four rivers to pass. None can say that our retreat was precipitate, for we were near three weeks in performing it, that the country might have time to come in. Twice we marched back to meet the enemy, and remained out till dark. The sign of fear was not seen in our camp, and had not some of the cowardly and disaffected inhabitants spread false alarms through the country, the Jerseys had never been ravaged. Once more we are again collected and collecting; our new army at both ends of the continent is recruiting fast, and we shall be able to open the next campaign with sixty thousand men, well armed and clothed. This is our situation, and who will may know it. By perseverance and fortitude we have the prospect of a glorious issue; by cowardice and submission, the sad choice of a variety of evils — a ravaged country — a depopulated city — habitations without safety, and slavery without hope — our homes turned into barracks and bawdy-houses for Hessians, and a future race to provide for, whose fathers we shall doubt of. Look on this picture and weep over it! and if there yet remains one thoughtless wretch who believes it not, let him suffer it unlamented.

1820  Moses Austin arrived in the Mexican territory of Texas seeking to secure permission for 300 families to immigrate there.

1823 The poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement C. Moore was first published, in the Troy (N.Y.) Sentinel.

A Visit from St. Nicholas

By Clement Clarke Moore

’T WAS the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that ST. NICHOLAS soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her ’kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
“Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack.
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle,
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.”

1869     Louis Riel replaces John Bruce as President of the National Committee of Metis.

1889  A monument was erected in Natrona County Wyoming to S. Morris Waln and C.H. Strong, who had been murdered by their guide while hunting and prospecting in the Spring of 1888.  Waln was from Philadelphia, and Strong from New York City, and they hired a guide/cook from Denver. The guide was later tried and convicted in Colorado of horse theft, but was never tried for the Wyoming murders.

1916   The Cheyenne State Leader for December 23, 1916: Stock Raising Homestead Act passed
 

While it only merited a single paragraph, it did make the front page.  The Stock Raising Homestead Act of 1916 had passed.

This was a major change in the homesteading laws in that it was the first of two homestead acts that recognized the stock raising and arid nature of the West. Rather than grant 40 acres, as the original Homestead Act had, it allowed for 640, an entire section.  It would be signed into law by President Wilson on December 29.

While we do not associate this period with homesteading it was actually the height, and close to the finish, of it.  A large number of entries were being taken out, and soon a large number would fail in the post World War One agricultural crash and drought.

The Wyoming Tribune for December 23, 1916: Carranza loses cities.

The Wyoming Tribune reported that Carranza was losing cities, suggesting he was losing the civil war in Mexico.  At the same time, the paper reported that people were being generous to Pershing's command in Mexico.

1913 The Federal Reserve Act was signed by President Woodrow Wilson.

1918  December 23, 1918. Wyoming Guardsmen of the 148th Field Artillery at the Château-Thierry and beyond.

The DI of the 148th Field Artillery.  Many of the Wyoming Guardsmen who served as infantry on the border were reassigned to this Field Artillery unit made up of Rocky Mountain Region and Northwestern Guardsmen during World War One.

If you'd been wondering what became of the men of the Wyoming National Guard, whom we started following with their first muster into service with the Punitive Expedition, the Wyoming State Tribune gave us a clue.

As readers will recall, quite a few of those men were put in to the 148th Field Artillery.  None of them deployed as infantry, which is what they had been when first mustered for border service with Mexico and then again when first recalled for the Great War.  Not all of them ended up in the 148th, but quite a few did, which was a heavy artillery unit of the field artillery.  Indeed, a quite modern one as it used truck, rather than equine, transport.  

Here we learned that the 148th was at Château-Thierry.

Another version of the distinctive insignia for the unit with additional elements for the western nature of the composite elements.

To flesh it out just a bit, the 148th at that time was made up of elements of the 3d Rgt of the Wyoming National Guard, the 1st Separate Battalion Colorado Field Artillery, and the 1st Separate Troop (Cavalry) Oregon National Guard. They were part of the 66th FA Bde.  They'd arrived in France on February 10, 1918, just prior to the German's massive Spring 1918 Offensive.  They were equipped in France with 155 GPF Guns and Renault Artillery tractors.

155 GPF in use by American artillerymen.

They went to the front on July 4, 1918 and were emplaced directly sought of Château-Thierry and began firing missions on July 9.  After that engagement, they'd continue on to participate in the St. Mihiel Offensive and the Meuse Argonne Offensive.  By the wars end, they'd fired 67,590 shells.

American Army Renault EG Artillery tractor with a GPF in tow.  Note the wood blocks for chalks.

The unit went on to be part of the Army of Occupation in Germany following the war, a mission with which it was occupied until June 3, 1919, when it boarded the USS Peerless for New York.  It was mustered out of service at Camp Mills, New York, on June 19, 1919, with Wyoming's members sent on to Ft. D. A. Russell for discharge from their World War One service.

We'll pick this story up again as we reach those dates, but as we made a dedicated effort to follow these men early on, we didn't want to omit their story later.  Wyomingites reading the papers in 1918 learned of their service, accepting censored soldier mail, for the first time on this day in 1918.  While news reporting done by the U.S. and foreign press during World War One was often remarkably accurate, one set of details that was kept generally well hidden was the service, and even the fate, of individual American servicemen and units.  Wyomingites now learned what role many of their Guardsmen had played in the war for the first time.

And it was a significant one.

1925 Sultan Ibn Saud of Nejed captures Jiddah.  Connection with Wyoming?  Ibn Saud founded Saudi Arabia through such conquests, a rare example of a state based so strongly on a ruling family, and a state that has worked, in part, because it possesses a valuable natural resource, petroleum oil.  Wyoming had been an oil province since the 1890s, and the Arabian Peninsula was just becoming one.  The economic fortunes of Wyoming have been tied to activities in the Middle East ever since that region became a significant oil producer.

1926  1,000 rabbits show near Medicine Bow and sent to Rawlins, Wyoming, to feed the hungry.

1935  5,600 jackrabbits killed in Natrona County in one of the periodic Depression Era rabbit drives that were designed to help feed hungry families.  Amongst the numerous natural disasters inflicted on the nation during the Dust Bowl years were plagues of rabbits.  Attribution.  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1941 American forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese. British troops capture Benghazi, Libya. Gen. Douglas MacArthur decides to withdraw to Bataan. Japanese begin offensive against Rangoon, Burma. The 440-foot tanker Montebello was sunk off the California coast near Cambria by a Japanese submarine. The crew of 38 survived and in 1996 it was found that the 4.1 million gallon cargo of crude oil appeared intact. A conference of industry and labor officials agrees that there would be no strikes or lockouts in war industries while World War II continued.

1944  All horse racing in the US is banned in an effort to save labor.

1973  Larry Larom, founding president of the Dude Ranchers Association, died in Cody.

1991  A magnitude 3.6 earthquake occurred about 70 miles from Sheridan, WY.

Elsewhere:  1888 Vincent Van Gogh cuts off his ear.

November 27

1868  Battle of Washita, Oklahoma occurs.  7th Cavalry under George Custer attacks Cheyenne camp of Chief Black Kettle.  The Cheyenne band attacked was not at war with the US, and Black Kettle, who was killed in the battle, had been the same unfortunate leader who had been attacked at Sand Creek some years earlier, when his band was likewise not at war with the United States.

1869  Suffrage bill introduced in, and passed in, the Territorial Senate.

1903  Casper's oldest bank declared bankrupt.  This was prior, of course, to the FDIC and the FSLIC, so the economic impact of a bank becoming insolvent could be truly devastating to those with accounts in the bank.  Attribution, Wyoming History Calendar.

1916 Laramie Daily Boomerang for November 27, 1916: ROTC established at the University of Wyoming
 

ROTC comes to UW, and the big water case advances.

1918  November 27, 1918. The Consumer Economy appears, and the Nation resumes a Peacetime Economy.

The Laramie Boomerang reported that the country was resuming a peacetime economy and cutting appropriations, which in fact was done very rapidly, and with a somewhat disastrous impact on the national economy and individual businesses. At the same time, the paper was reporting that a giant military commitment of 1,200,000 men would remain in Europe for the time being.

At UW, the campus military training detachment was standing down.  Mass military training at UW came to an end.

The Casper newspaper, however, was focused on Thanksgiving, which in 1918 occurred on November 28.

To my surprise, Thanksgiving was clearly already associated with shopping, giving evidence to that phenomenon having existed much earlier than I would have supposed.  Indeed, an occasional topic of historical focus in some areas of historical focus is when the consumer economy first appeared.  Whenever that was (and its generally regarded as having its origins prior to World War One, it was clearly before 1918 as the stores in Cheyenne were going to be open to 9:00 this evening.

1923 (linked in for the Casper item) Tuesday, November 27, 1923. Oklahoma Senate Approves Ban On Mask, Oil Filters, Odd feats of strength.

No, not that kind of mask you might see in a headline today, but rather the costume of the Ku Klux Klan.

The Wiggins shoe store mentioned in this article was still open in the 1990s, and maybe the 2000s.  It no longer is. By that time, it was one of two shoe repair shops still operating downtown.

Now there are none.

The modern oil filter was patented by George H. Greenhalgh. Prior to this, automobiles simply used a screen, which would partially account for the short engine life early automobiles had.

The Purolator oil filter is essentially what most vehicles use today, and is still in production.

The Purolator original design featured the cardboard filter which was inserted into a fixed housing.  I've worked on vehicles that retained this filter design exactly, and it is essentially the same as a modern filter except now the housing comes with the filter, and you replace the entire thing.  I've also worked on cars that used this sort of filter for their fuel filter.

While a revolutionary design, it did not become immediately widespread.  It wasn't until the 1950s, apparently, when they became universal, although my 1946 CJ2A, which I sold long ago, had one.  A 1954 Chevrolet Sedan I once had also had one.

1924  A schoolhouse was dedicated in Salt Creek.  Salt Creek was, and remains, one of Natrona County's earliest oilfields.

1941     Joint Army-Navy signal to Hawaii states, "This dispatch is to be considered a war warning.  Negotiations with Japan looking toward stabilization of conditions in the Pacific have ceased and an aggressive move by Japan is expected within the next few days. The number and equipment of Japanese troops and the organization of naval task forces indicates an amphibious expedition against either the Philippines, Thai or Kra Peninsula or possibly Borneo. Execute an appropriate defensive deployment preparatory to carrying out the tasks assigned in WPL46. Inform District and Army authorities. A similar warning is being sent by War Department. Spenavo inform British. Continental districts, Guam, Samoa directed take appropriate measures against sabotage".

Novmeber 14

1890  Joseph M. Carey elected as the first U.S. Senator for Wyoming. F. E. Warren elected to a second senator for Wyoming.  At this time, the Legislator appointed the Senators, rather than the electorate electing them.

Carey was an 1864 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania College of Law, and became U.S. Attorney for the Territory of Wyoming in 1869.  He was on the Territorial Supreme Court from 1871 to 1876, when he left that field to become a rancher, founding a significant early ranch in Natrona County Wyoming, the CY.   He served as governor from 1890 to 1895, being Wyoming's first state governor, and then again from 1911 to 1915, during which time he supported the Progressive Party campaign for President of Theodore Roosevelt.

Gov. Carey in his second term at the launching of the USS Wyoming.

1897  An earthquake damaged the Grand Central Hotel in Casper.

1917   Back in the headlines. The Wyoming Tribune for November 14, 1917
 

Pancho Villa's forces were back in the headlines. . . with combat right on the US border.

A battle significant enough that it was not only pushing the Carranzaistas out of a disputed town. . . it pushed World War One and the Russian Revolution aside a bit as well.

Not that both didn't also show up.  Include a hopeful headline that the Bolsheviks were going down in defeat.

1918  And the war ends . . . in Africa. Prosperity means abolishing the eight hour day? Kaiser to be "brot" (the German word for bread . . . or a sandwich) to justice? Wilson taking jars? Eh? November 14, 1918.

As odd as it may seem, it was this day, November 14, 1918, when the Germans surrendered in Africa.

It took that long for news to reach British and German forces in Zambia, where they were still engaged in hostilities up until that time.

Paul von Lettow Vorbeck, commander of the German forces in Africa who would return to Germany a hero in March 1919 and actually be allowed to lead his returning troops through the Brandenburg Gate in full German African regalia.  He went on to be an anti Nazi monarchist right wing politician in the Reichtag and was reduced to poverty during the war and lived, for a time after it, on packages from his former enemies Smuts and Meinertzhagen, although is fortunes recovered before he died in 1964.

The same day was one for sort of odd headlines, or at least oddly spelled headlines, in the Casper newspaper.

1921  World Champion wrestler Jack Taylor of Wyoming lost the title in Boise to a Russian wrestler.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Taylor was actually a Canadian, but he was living in Wyoming at the time.  He had just been defeated noted wrestler Jack Pasek at the Iris in Casper on October 31 in a three-hour match, so he was on a losing streak.

Taylor had originally hailed from Ontario and would return to Canada in later years, retiring to Edmonton, a city which is interestingly frequently compared to Casper, although for reasons that are unclear to me.

1935  The Crook County News reported Montana man killed by flying sheep, according to the Wyoming Historical Society's daily Wyoming post and calendar.  Necessarily, this article requires some explanation, as sheep don't regularly fly.

1969  November 14, 1969. Apollo 12 launched.

It was, of course, a mission to the moon.

Lightening struck the Saturn rocket twice as it was lifting off, taking all three fuel cells offline.  Irrespective of that, it flew normally.

September 1

1877   Arthur Griswold Crane Governor from 1949 to 1951,  born in New York.  He was the Secretary of State at the time of Lester Hunt's resignation from the Governor's office, and therefore became Governor at that time.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1903  Cheyenne's first automobile was delivered. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1927  Charles Lindbergh landed the "Spirit of St. Louis" in Cheyenne.

1942  According to the Wyoming State Historical Association, on this day in 1942 official approval was given to commence use of the Casper Air Base, which had been constructed in an incredibly small amount of time.  The existing county airport was Wardwell Field, the Casper area's second airport (the first was in what is now Evansville).  Today, what was Casper Air Base is the Natrona County International Airport, which actually uses at least one fewer runway than was constructed by the Army in 1942.  Wardwell Field's runways, in contrast, are city streets in the Town of Bar Nunn.

August 21

1918  The 100 Days: The Second Battle of the Somme commences.

The Casper Daily Tribune for August 21, 1918, which also noted the results of the prior day's primary election.

On this day in 1918, the British resumed advancing, after having halted to regroup and reorganize.

New Zealnders during the Battle of Bapaume in a scene that could easily be mistaken for one from the Second World War.

The offensive resumed with a New Zealand assault at Bapaume, part of the Second Battle of the Somme, in what is known as the Second Battle of Bapaume.  The first day's assault was successful but the following day was slow, which was to characterize the overall progress in the region over the next several days. The Kiwis were continually on the assault, but the battle did not feature the breakthroughs seen earlier in the 100 Days Offensive.  The effort lasted through September 3, with the town being taken on September 29.  That was only a phase of the massive large scale offensive, however.

Bapaume on August 30, 1918.

The town of Albert was taken during the resumed offensive on its second day, August 22.  The British forces expanded the assault thereafter with what is referred to as the Second Battle of Arras on August 26.  Bapaume was taken by the Kiwis on August 29.  The Australians crossed the Somme on August 31 and then fought the Germans and broke through their lines at Battle of Mont S. Quentin and the Battle of Peronne.  Australian advances between August 31 and September 4 were regarded by General Henry Rawlinson as the greatest military achievement of the war.

British Whippet tank, August 1918.

The Canadians Corps seized control of the western edge of the Hindenburg Line on September 2, with British forces participating.  Following this came the famous Battle of St. Quentin Canal which would feature all of the Anglo American forces under Australian General John Monash.  Cambrai would follow that.

Laramie Boomerang for August 21, 1918, also noting that Carey and Houx were advancing to the general election.

Things were clearly starting to fold in for the Germans.

The New York Herald, August 21, 1918.

1937  Fifteen firefighters were killed, and 38 injured, in the Blackwater forest fire near Cody.  Those who lost their lives were:

Alfred G Clayton, Ranger South Fork District, Shoshone NF, age 45
James T. Saban, CCC Technical Foreman - Tensleep Camp F-35, age 36
Rex A. Hale, Jr Assistant to the Technician, Shoshone NF; from the Wapiti CCC camp, age 21
Paul E. Tyrrell, Jr Forester, Bighorn NF (Foreman), age 24
Billy Lea, Bureau of Public Roads Crewman.
John B. Gerdes CCC Enrollees: Tensleep Camp F-35
Will C. Griffith CCC Enrollees: Tensleep Camp F-35
Mack T. Mayabb CCC Enrollees: Tensleep Camp F-35
George E. Rodgers CCC Enrollees: Tensleep Camp F-35
Roy Bevens, CCC Enrollees: Tensleep Camp F-35
Clyde Allen CCC Enrollees: Tensleep Camp F-35
Ernest Seelke CCC Enrollees: Tensleep Camp F-35
Rubin Sherry CCC Enrollees: Tensleep Camp F-35
William Whitlock, CCC Enrollees: Tensleep Camp F-35
Ambrogio Garza, CCC Enrollees: Tensleep Camp F-35

2017  Wyoming experienced an eclipse, with much of central Wyoming experiencing a total eclipse.

The event resulted in record landings at the Natrona County International Airport.

Maybe Berlin Airlift Rates were achieved.

Light private aircraft parked on unused runway at the Natrona County International Airport.  This part of the tarmac was used just for small private aircraft.  Another was used for private jets.

They came in, and then they left again.

Hundreds of private aircraft, arriving in time to see the August 21 solar eclipse, stacked up waiting to land and landing one right after another all morning long, and then taking off right after that.

The airport has likely never seen anything like this take off and landing rate. . . at least not since World War Two.