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This blog was updated on a daily basis for about two years, with those daily entries ceasing on December 31, 2013. The blog is still active, however, and we hope that people stopping in, who find something lacking, will add to the daily entries.

The blog still receives new posts as well, but now it receives them on items of Wyoming history. That has always been a feature of the blog, but Wyoming's history is rich and there are many items that are not fully covered here, if covered at all. Over time, we hope to remedy that.

You can obtain an entire month's listings by hitting on the appropriate month below, or an individual day by hitting on that calendar date.
Use 2013 for the search date, as that's the day regular dates were established and fixed.

Alternatively, the months are listed immediately below, with the individual days appearing backwards (oldest first).

We hope you enjoy this site.
Showing posts with label Nebraska. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nebraska. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

December 11

1839  Diplomats from Texas arrive in Mexico City with portfolios to negotiate for peace.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1869  The Territorial Legislature concluded its session.

1872  William F. Cody makes his first appearance on the stage in the play Scouts of the Prairie, in Chicago.

1873  The Territorial legislature approved the incorporation of Evanston.  It would later rescind it, and then approve it again. Attribution.  On-This-Day .com.

1875  The Territorial Legislature appointed a commission to study prison costs in regards to Laramie as the prison location.  It determined that cost savings justified appointing the Nebraska penitentiary as the Wyoming Territorial prison facility at the time.

1917  Dean Knight Resigned as Dean of the University of Wyoming, December 11, 1917.
The minutes of that meeting:

Minutes

Knight Hall is of course named for him.

1917  Rawlins struck with disaster when its hospital burned.  Attribution, Wyoming State Historical Society.

1936 Britain's King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson.  They had been introduced by Wyomingite Mildred Harris.

1941  Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.  The United States declared war on Germany.   Polish government in exile declares war on Japan.  The Dutch government in exile declares war on Italy.  Mexico breaks relations with Germany and Italy.  Italy, Japan and Germany sign an agreement that none shall sign a separate peace with the US and UK.

1952  Boysen Dam declared operational.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

December 10

Today is Wyoming Day

1838  Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar inaugurated the second president of the Republic of Texas.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1869  Territorial Governor John Campbell signed a bill giving full suffrage and public rights to women in Wyoming.  This was the first law passed in the US explicitly granting to women the franchise.  The bill provided that:  ""Every woman of the age of eighteen years residing in this territory, may, at every election cast her vote; and her right to the elective franchise and to hold office under the election laws of the territory shall be the same of electors."  Gov. Campbell's comment, in signing the bill into law, was:  "I have the honor to inform the Council that I have approved 'An act to grant to the Women of Wyoming Territory the right of Suffrage and to hold office.'" 


Critics, or perhaps rather cynics, have sometimes claimed that this served no other purpose other than to raise the number of citizens eligible to vote, and thereby increase the likelihood of early admission as a state, but that view doesn't reflect the early reality of this move.  In fact, Wyoming's politicians were notably egalitarian for the time and too women as members of the body politic seriously.  During the Territorial period women even served on juries, something that was very unusual in the United States at the time, although they lost this right for a time after statehood.

1869  Territorial school laws goes into effect requiring public schools to be funded by taxation.

1898  The Treaty of Paris was signed concluding an agreement to end the Spanish American War.

1906  President Theodore Roosevelt awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.

1909     Red Cloud, (Maȟpíya Lúta) Oglala Sioux warrior and chief, and the only Indian leader to have won a war with the United States in the post 1860 time frame which resulted in a favorable treaty from the Indian prospective, died at the Pine Ridge Reservation.  He was 87 years old, and his fairly long life was not uncommon for Indians of this time frame who were not killed by injuries or disease, showing that the often cited assumption that people who lived in a state of nature lived short lives is in error.  After winning Red Cloud's War, a war waged over the Powder River Basin and the Big Horns, he declined to participate in further wars against the United States, which seems to have been motivated by a visit to Washington D.C in which he became aware of the odds against the Plains Indians.  He did not become passive, and warned the United States that its treatment of Indians on the Reservation would lead to further armed conflict, which of course was correct.

While his most famous actions are associated with Wyoming, Red Cloud was born in Nebrasaka which inducted him in recent years into the Nebraska Hall of Fame.



1916 Sunday State Leader for December 10, 1916: Osborne resigns as Assistant Secretary of State, Carranza will sign protocol, Funston explains ban of rivals.
 


December 10, 1916, was a peculiar newspaper day as the Cheyenne State Leader published three editions, only one of which was regular news. The others were holiday features.

In this one, the straight news one, we are told that Carranza will sign the protocol with the US. But will he really?

We also learn that Assistant Secretary of State Osborne resigned that position in order to return to Wyoming.

The news also featured a story on why U.S. Commander in the Southwest, Frederick Funston, banned religious revivals in his region of authority.

And girls from Chicago were looking for husbands.

1918  December 10, 1918. Watering in the Rhine, Welcoming the Troops Home, Massacre in Palestine, Bolsheviks worry about Russians.
Cpt. M. W. Lanham, 2nd Bde, 1st Div, waters his horse "Von Hindenburg", in the Rhine.  Ostensibly Von Hindenburg was the first American horse to drink from the Rhine.

Back home, Casperites were learning what locals and friends of locals had done during the war. . . and a big party was being planned for the returning troops.

Note making the news, a terrible massacre was perpetrated by New Zealand troops, and a few Australians, in the town of Surafend Palestine in reprisal for the murder of a New Zealander soldier.  At least 40 male villagers of that town were killed in the event.


And the Bolsheviks, a movement that had long depended upon revolutionary citizenry, made its fear of that citizenry plain when it ordered that civilians turn in their arms.  Even edged weapons were included in the decree, although shotguns were not.

1919 

December 10, 1919. Air First and a Coal Day


The prize posted by the Australian government of 10,000 Australian pounds (then the unit of currency in Australia) for the first aircraft piloted by Australians to fly from England to the Australia was claimed by the crew of a Vickers Vimy bomber, entered into the contest by Vickers.

The plane was crewed by pilots Cpt. Ross Macpherson Smith and his brother Lt. Keith Macpherson Smith, with mechanics Sgt. W. H. Shiers and J.M. Bennett.  The plane made the trip from Hounslow Heath to Australian starting on November 12, 1919.

Cpt. Smith was killed test piloting a Vickers Viking seaplane in 1922.  Lt. Smith became a Vickers executive and an airline industry figure, dying of natural causes in 1955 at age 64.

Elsewhere, questions began to come up about the nature of diplomatic officer Jenkin's kidnapping even as Republicans continued to press for action of some sort against Mexico.  And as the mine strike ended, kids in Casper were let out of school due to lack of coal for heat.


1920 Woodrow Wilson receives the Nobel Peace Prize.

1941 Guam surrenders to a Japanese landing force after a two day battle. Japanese aircraft sink HMSs Prince of Wales and Repulse, South China Sea. Japanese naval aircraft bomb Cavite Navy Yard, Manila Bay. Japanese troops begin landings in northern Luzon. USS Enterprise aircraft sink sub I-70..

2010  Sothebys auctions a flag attributed to the Seventh Cavalry and used at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

2011 Wyoming experiences a total eclipse of the moon.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

November 10

1833  Thomas Moonlight was born in Forfarshire, Scotland. He was appointed Territorial Governor of Wyoming in1886.

1835  Delegates gathered at San Felipe de Austin in Texas agreed to establish a provisional government for the region.

1882  Frank Aloysius Barrett was born in Omaha Nebraska.  He served in the Balloon Corps in World War One, and then moved to Lusk Wyoming in 1919.. He was a U.S. Representative, a U .S. Senator and the 21st Governor of Wyoming.

His son, James E. Barrett, was a senior judge of the United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Circuit and former judge of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review in Washington, D.C. who died on November 7, 2011.

1888  A pipeline for the conveyance of oil from Casper to Omaha Nebraska was proposed.

1907  Fire destroyed the area north of Big Horn Avenue in Worland.

1916   The Casper Weekly Tribune for November 10, 1916: Fine Wilson Sweep
 

1918  Countdown on the Great War, November 10, 1918: A Socialist Provisional Government forms in Germany, the Naval War continues on, and Mildred Harris weds.


American engineers constructing a bridge in a ruined French city.  November 10, 1918.

1.  The HMS Ascot, a minesweeper, was sunk by the UB-67 with the loss of 51 hands.  The HMT Renarro, a British Navy trawler hit a mine and sank as did the Italian 36PN torpedo boat.

2.  Romania, which earlier surrendered to Germany, came back into the war in order to retake territory it had lost in the peace to Bulgaria. Allied forces entered Svishtov and Nikopol in Bulgaria.

3.  The Council of the People's Deputies becomes the provisional government of Germany with the aim of negotiating a peace with the Allies.  It's membership is completely comprised of members of the Social Democratic Party and the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany, making it a highly left wing ruling body, which came about when the SDP, which had evolved into a much less radical party in recent years, co-opted some revolutionary councils the day prior after it found it could not stop them from pushing forward.  The inclusion of the USDP was a distasteful necessity at first, even though the SDP did not see eye to eye on most things.

This essentially meant that to a degree the aims of the German revolutionaries had been partially recognized and in fact a government partially installed by them was in power, although one that had, due to the SDP, much less radical aims than the USDP.  The government would sweep away Germany's tiered franchise and introduce many liberal reforms before yielding to the Reichstag in 1919, by which time the USDP had pulled out of the government and the SDP was ruling alone.   The SDP under Friedrich Ebert, it's leader, would find itself thereafter increasingly aligned with Germany's conservative elements and it even would rely upon the Freikorps to take on left wing revolutionaries during the German civil war.

4.  With the war winding down, even celebrity news, albeit local celebrity news, started to reappear on the front page of the papers.


The Cheyenne girl was Mildred Harris.  As we've reported on her before:

Mildred Harris.  Her entry in Today In  Wyoming's History:  
1901  Mildred Harris, movie actress, born in Cheyenne.  She was a significant actress in the silent film era, having gone from being a child actor to a major adult actress, but had difficulty making the transition to talking pictures.



Harris is also evidence that, in spite of my notation of changes in moral standards elsewhere, the lives of movie stars has often been as torrid as they are presently.  Harris married Charlie Chaplin in 1918, at which time she was 17 years old and the couple thought, incorrectly, that  she was pregnant.  She did later give birth during their brief marriage to a boy who was severely disabled, and who died only three days after being born.  The marriage was not a happy one.  They divorced after two years of marriage, and she would marry twice more and was married to former professional football player William P. Fleckenstein at the time of her death, a union that had lasted ten years.  Ironically, she appeared in three films in 1920, the year of her divorce, as Mildred Harris Chaplin, the only films in which she was billed under that name. While an actress probably mostly known to silent film buffs today, she lived in some ways a life that touched upon many remembered personalities of the era, and which was also somewhat stereotypically Hollywood.  She introduced Edward to Wallis Simpson.

She died in 1944 at age 42 of pneumonia following surgery.  She has a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  A significant number of her 134 films are lost or destroyed due to film deterioration.  Her appearances in the last eight years of her life were minor, and unaccredited, showing the decline of her star power in the talking era.

Stories like hers, however, demonstrate that the often held concept of great isolation of Wyomingites was never true.  Harris was one of at least three actors and actresses who were born in Wyoming and who had roles in the early silent screen era.  Of those, she was arguably the most famous having risen to the height of being a major actress by age 16.

1943  An explosion at the Sinclair Refinery in Sinclair insured five.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1945  Heart Mountain interment center closed.

1969  Judge Ewing T. Kerr heard testimony in the action brought in support of the Black 14.  The Court took the matter under advisement.

1978  Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail was established.

1997  The Wyoming Air National Guard commenced operations in Operation Tempest Rapid No. 1, a firefighting mission to Indonesia.  Flying until December 5, the unit would fly 250 missions in the U.S. Air Force's first overseas firefighting mission.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

September 5

1836     Sam Houston was elected president of the Republic of Texas.

1866  Fort John Buford was renamed Fort Sanders.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1867  The first head of Texas Longhorns shipped from Abilene Kansas,giving birth to the long cattle drive era and the expansion of the cattle industry in  the West.

1877  Crazy Horse is fatally bayoneted by a U.S. soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson, Nebraska.  The wound wasn't instantly fatal as he lingered for hours after the incident while Indian leaders and officers worked to avoid a violent outbreak occurring as a result.

1879   The Delmonico Hotel and Washington Market collapsed in Cheyenne, killing several people.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1885  U.S. Army troops arrive in Rock Springs following anti-Chinese rioting.  Attribution:  On This Day. 

1894  The first Jewish wedding to occur in Wyoming, occurred in Cheyenne.   Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1910  August Malchow fought again at the Methany Hall in Thermopolis, defeating challenger Patsy McKenna.  The victory was technical as the fight was stopped after brawls in the audience commenced and the victory given to the title holder, Malchow.  McKenna had won more rounds. This was McKenna's last recorded professional fight.

1913  Fire destroyed the main part of Upton.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916  Sheridan Enterprise for September 5, 1916. Big Labor Day celebration in Sheridan, riots in El Paso.
 


The Casper Record for September 5, 1916: "School has started--Have you got that uniform?"
 


Something we've addressed here before, but which would seem alien to many locals today. The era in which the local high school required uniforms.

For girls, anyhow.

Boys had a uniform they couldn't avoid, as we've already noted, but one which their parents, relieved of buying school clothes, were often glad to have imposed. The military uniform of JrROTC.  Girls, on the other hand, had a prescribed uniform.  What exactly it was in 1916 I'm not sure, but a basic blouse and dress is likely what was required.

In other news current residents of Natrona County would be shocked to see that the county fair was, at that time, held in late September.  Gambling with the weather?   And the tragic death of Mildred Burke, front page news in Cheyenne, had hit the Casper paper.
This photograph of the Omaha Stockyards, where many head of Wyoming beef went through, was taken.   Note the boxcar with some beer name on it, although I can't really make that all out.

1917   September 5, 1917. The draftees begin to report
 

September 5, 1917, was a big day for a lot of younger men as they began to leave their homes to report to Army training camps.  Eleven, we learn from the Casper paper, were leaving booming Casper.


And 35 were leaving from much larger Cheyenne, whose paper was also reporting that the Japanese were mustering to come to the aid of the Russians.


In the university town of Laramie the paper reported on the total numbers of the first contingent of draftees in its headlines, 34,450.

There would be a lot more following.

1969  The 116th Engineer Battalion (Combat), Idaho Army National Guard was mustered out of Federal service after active duty in Vietnam. This marked the sixth time in 70 years that the battalion served on active duty.  The Idaho National Guard unit is the only Guard unit, Army or Air, to officially serve in theater during both the Korean and Vietnam wars.  During it's tour in Vietnam six unit members lost their lives, over 100 were wounded, and two members received Silver Stars.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

August 6

1814  Esther Hobart Morris, nee McQuigg, born in Tioga County, New York.

1846  DeForest Richards, Governor from 1899-1903, born in Wilcox County, Alabama. Attribution:  On This Day.

1850   Louis Vasquez becomes the Postmaster at Ft. Bridger.

1867  Indians raided Union Pacific near the present location of Lexington Nebraska.

1890     Cy Young made his major league debut with the Cleveland Spiders of the National League.


1898  The Wyoming Battalion left the steamer Ohio in Manila Bay and went into camp at Paranaque.Attribution:  On This Day.

1910  Crystal Lake Dam completed.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916    Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages. Previewed on this day.
 


The film Intolerance was previewed in Riverside California on this day in 1916.  Regarded as a masterpiece of this era, the film is a series of vignettes involving a poor young woman separated by prejudice from her husband and baby and site between stories of intolerance from throughout history.  It was a reaction, in part, to the negative reaction to the racists Birth of a Nation by the same director.  Like a lot of silent movies, it was long, running 3:17.
1916  The Sunday State Leader for August 6, 1916. Laramie steps up to the plate with Guard recruits.
 

Cheyenne's Sunday State Leader was reporting that neighboring Albany County had come in with Guardsmen to help fill out the state's National Guard.

And the GOP comments on Wilson's policy on Mexico wasn't being well received everywhere.

And labor was unhappy in New York.
1945  The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, the first use of such a weapon, and of course one of only two such uses.

 Japanese photograph found in 2013 of cloud from Hiroshima approximately thirty minutes after detonation.

1965     President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

July 17

1866 Sioux warriors drove off a herd of livestock (175 horses and mules of the 18th Infantry Regiment) at Ft. Phil Kearney, with soldiers giving pursuit, resulting in some soldiers being killed and others wounded.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1876   The battle of Warbonnet Creek occured in which Col. Wesley Merritt and his 5th Cavalry, out of Fort Robinson, Nebraska, attack the Cheyenne in the vicinity of Fort Robinson.  The battle launches Buffalo Bill Cody into fame.

1891  An explosion at the Union Pacific's No. 6 mine killed five and was felt in Rock Springs. Attribution:  On This Day.

1915  An unseasonable snowstorm occurred in Hartville.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1920  The USS Wyoming given her hull designation as the BB-32.

1921   Burnu Acquanetta, actress, born near Cheyenne. She was an Arapaho and a minor movie actress.

1975  A plaque was presented to the Commissioner of Reclamation at Pathfinder Dam.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

May 30

1834  William Sublette and William Anderson arrive at "Laramee's Fork", named for the late Jacque LaRamie, a trapper who had been killed there. The next day they lay the foundation logs for Fort William, which would be come Ft. Laramie..  Attribution:  On This Day.

1854    The territories of Nebraska and Kansas were established.  Wyoming east of the Rocky Mountains was included in the Nebraska Territory.

1862  Companies A, B, C, and D of the First Battalion of the 6th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry arrived at Fort Laramie.

1865  Cheyenne and/or Sioux attack Three Crossings Station.

1871  Wyoming Stock Growers Association, which would have an enormous impact on Wyoming's history, formed.

1901         Memorial Day becomes a national observance.

1903  Theodore Roosevelt visited Cheyenne and Laramie.  He stopped first in Laramie, where he delivered a speech at Old Main.  Invited by Rough Rider veterans to ride to the next stop, Cheyenne, he did so.



1904  Sheep rancher Lincoln Morrison shot in ambush near Kirby Creek, Hot Springs County, Wyo. He survived.  His mother, Lucy Morrison Moore, “The Sheep Queen,” offers a $3,500 reward but the attempted murderer is not discovered.

1908  The commencement of a Evanston to Denver horse race.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916   Memorial Day, 1916
 
So, on Memorial Day, 2016, let's look back a century at Memorial Day, 1916.

Armored car in a parade in New York City.  Mounted policemen, on the left edge of the photo, truly look a lot more mobile and effective than this armored car.

This had to be a really somber Memorial Day.  World War One was raging in Europe. Ships were going down in the North Atlantic.  American soldiers were chasing Villa in Mexico. All that must have hung over the heads of the citizenry like a dark cloud.
Still, usually something goes on for this holiday. And some of it ends up on the front page of the news in anticipation of the day.  Let's see what we can find around the state and nation.  We've put one up above, a parade was held in New York City that featured a rather martial, if rather antiquated looking even then, armored vehicle.
One of the Casper papers didn't see fit to really announce anything on the front page for the day.
One of the Sheridan papers urged honoring veterans.
Another Sheridan paper did honor veterans, and of the conflict with Mexico.  Memorial Day festivities were also noted.
Interestingly, the death of Confederate John Singleton Mosby was also noted.
And Colorado National Guard officials were resigning in the wake of the Ludlow strife.  Quite a paper, all in all.
An important death figured on the front page of the Cheyenne Leader. By that time, that paper was summarizing "the War", meaning the war in Europe, on a regular basis.  Memorial Day was noted in the context of the Grand Army of the Republic, i.e., the Union troops who had fought in the Civil War (although not all joined the GAR of course).

Scandal, war and violence figured on cover of the Wyoming Semi-Weekly Tribune.
 
War and the "draft Roosevelt" movement took pride of place on the cover of The Wyoming Tribune, which also noted Memorial Day in the context of the Civil  War, which after all is what it commemorated.

1997  The USS Wyoming, SSBN 742,  successfully launched one Trident II missile during the ship's Demonstration and Shakedown Operation.

2007  Laramie's post office named after the late Senator Gale McGee.

Friday, March 1, 2013

March 1

1836  A convention approved the Texas Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Attribution:  On This Day.

1837  The United States sent a diplomatic agent to Texas.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1845 President John Tyler signed a congressional resolution to annex the Republic of Texas.

1866  Crowheart Butte, Wyoming

This item, linked in from our Some Gave All blog, is noted here, not because this is the correct date, but rather because I can't find an exact date.  The sources I've read refer to this event happening over five days in "March", so this is being linked in here.


This is a bit of an unusual roadside monument in the West as it doesn't commemorate a battle between European Americans and Indians, but rather between two separate tribes if Indians.  It commemorates the March 1866 battle between the Shoshone and Crows near the Wind River Range in Wyoming.


The date, and the event, are interesting ones.  By 1866 warfare between the United States and the combined Sioux and Cheyenne had broken out in earnest.  The Crows were fighting the Sioux and had been for quite some time.  Indeed, they were fighting a loosing battle in their war with the Sioux and had offered to throw in with the United States in aid that effort.  Ironically, the Shoshone were allies of the United States.


Both the Shoshone and the Crows were under tremendous pressure from the Sioux and Cheyenne, who had been expanding out onto the territory that had formerly belonged to those tribes. The Crows in particular had suffered a tremendous territorial loss in that they had been pushed out of the prairie region of Wyoming for the most part by that time but they were still attempting to contest for it.  The Shoshone had also suffered a territorial loss but, with their anchor in the Wind Rivers, which the Sioux had not yet reached, their situation was not as dire.


Nonetheless, we see how these factors can play out in odd ways. Both tribes were here essentially defending their traditional grounds. The Crows could hardly afford to loose any more of theirs as they'd already lost so much.  Nonetheless, as can be seen here, they were defeated in this battle and they would in fact go on to have to accept the loss of much of what they had formerly controlled.


The Shoshones were already looking at asking for a reservation at the time this battle took place and even though this ground had been already assigned to the Crows by treaty.  The Crows were effectively defeated by the Shoshone in the area and Crowheart Butte became part of the Shoshone Reservation very shortly thereafter.

The text of this roadside monument makes it quite clear that this sign was made quite some time ago, probably in the 1950s.  The text that is on it would never be placed on a monument today, in that the partisan language regarding "whites" would simply not be done.  Indeed, in many instances such signs tend to get removed.  At least one old historical marker in New Mexico has had some of the text chipped out in order to edit it, and at least one of these road side markers in Wyoming that had somewhat similar content has been removed.  That's a shame, as in editing to fit our current definition of history, we in fact do a little injustice to the story of history itself by removing the evidence of how things were once perceived.

1867 Nebraska became the 37th state.

1868  Dr.  Frank H. Harrison, a Canadian by birth, who entered the US to practice medicine for the U.S. Army during the Civil War, opened Laramie's first doctors office.  He would not remain there, as he was traveling with the Union Pacific as it advanced.

1872 Congress authorized creation of Yellowstone National Park.


1875  John A. Campbell resigned as Territorial Governor.

1875  John Thayer commenced his term as Territorial Governor.

1876  The 1876 Powder River Expedition set out from Ft. Fetterman.

1877  Jack McCall, Wild Bill Hickok's killer, Following the killing, he'd gone to Laramie where is bragging about the killing and his making up a story to cover it, about the killing of a fictional brother, lead to his arrest and ultimately his trial.

1913   Governor Carey approved an act of the Legislature that created two additional judicial districts.  Today there are nine.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1913     Federal income tax takes effect, as per 16th amendment

1917  The Buffalo Bill Memorial Association was charted  Attribution:  on This Day.

1917  The Wyoming Tribune for March 1, 1917: Wilson asked to explain story.
 

Somebody should have explained the story about Japan anyhow, that's for sure.

And Ft. Russell was clearly gearing up for war.
The Cheyenne Leader for March 1, 1917: German-Jap-Mex Plot?
 

On March 1, 1917 the news all over the country was on the release of the Zimmerman Note and what it meant.  But, oddly, there was apparently a feeling that the Japanese were tied up in it, which wasn't the case.

And the Colorado National Guard arrived at Ft. D. A. Russell for demobilization.

1920  March 1, 2020. Railroads Revert To Civilian Control, Caroline Lockhart hits the Screen.

On this day in 1920, the railroads, which had been taken over by the U.S. Government during World War One reverted to civilian control.

The country's rail had been nationalized during the war and then run by the United States Railroad Administration as the system was proving to not be up to the tasks that were imposed upon it due to the crisis of World War One.  Additionally, concerns over pricing and labor unrest called for the action.  Following the war there was some serious consideration given to retaining national control over the lines, which labor favored, but in the end the government returned the system to its owners.


While U.S. administration of the railroad infrastructure was a success, it was not repeated during the Second World War when the rail system was just as heavily taxed by an even heavier wartime demand.  There proved to be no need to do it during World War Two.

Not too surprisingly, the news featured prominently on the cover of Laramie's newspapers, as the Laramie was, and is, a major Union Pacific Railroad town.


On the same day a movie featuring Wyoming as the location (which doesn't mean it was filmed here), was released.


Likewise, the reversion was big news to the double railhead town of Casper.


The Fighting Sheperdess was the story of just that, a fighting female sheep rancher was was struggling to keep her sheep ranch against raiding cattlemen.



In reality, the sheep wars in Wyoming had largely come to an end by this time, although it was definitely within living memory.  The Spring Creek Raid of 1909 had only been a decade prior, and there had been two more raids in 1911 and 1912, although nobody had been killed in those two latter events.  The peace was, however, still an uneasy one, perhaps oddly aided by a massive decline in sheep, which still were vast in number, caused by economic conditions during the 1910s.  By 1914, the number of sheep on Wyoming's ranges had been cut 40% from recent numbers. World War One reversed the decline, and then dumped the industry flat, as the war increased the demand for wool uniforms and then the demand suddenly ended with the end of Germany's fortunes.  Colorado, however, would see a sheep raid as late as this year, 1920.

The novel the movie was based on was by author, Caroline Lockhart, a figure who is still recalled and celebrated in Cody, Wyoming.

Illinois born Lockhart had been raised on a ranch in Kansas and was college educated.  She had aspired to be an actress but turned to writing and became a newspaper reporter in Boston and Philadelphia before moving to Cody, Wyoming in 1904 at age 33, where she soon became a novelist.  During the war years she relocated to Denver, but was back in Cody shortly thereafter, until she purchased a ranch in Montana, showing how successful her writing had become.  She ranched and wrote from there, spending winters in Cody until she retired there in 1950.  She passed away in 1962.

The Fighting Shepherdess was her fifth of seven published novels, the last being published in 1933.

1942 Elanor Roosevelt visited Cheyenne, Wyoming.

1944 Fremont County Wyoming agriculture agents request 200 POWs for farm labor.

1957  KTWO in Casper started operations as Wyoming's second television station.

1984  Casper's hospital, The Wyoming Medical Center, commenced using its new heliport which has remained a major feature of its operations. Everyone in Casper today is familiar with the sounds of the hospital's helicopter, and knows what it means.

Friday, February 22, 2013

February 22

1847 General Santa Anna surrounds the outnumbered forces of U.S. General Zachary Taylor at the Angostura Pass in Mexico and demands an immediate surrender. Taylor declines the offer to surrender.

1897  President Cleveland issues a proclamation establishing the Big Horn National Forest.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1899  The 1st Nebraska U.S. Volunteer Infantry and the Wyoming Battalion, volunteers, engaged Philippine insurgents near Deposito.  The action commenced at 0615 when the Wyoming Battalion, which deployed about two hours earlier, encountered Philippine insurgents and opened fire.  The action was sharp with results being generally inconclusive.

1913  Twelfth Legislative session concluded.

1917   The Cheyenne State Leader for February 22, 1917: Denver Guard Protest "Silly"
People were getting embarrassed about the snit over the location for the demobilization of the Colorado National Guard.



And the importation of booze from "wet" states to "dry" ones was getting Federal attention.

Pershing's rise continued, in the wake of the death of Gen. Funston.  And a terrible crime happened in Cheyenne.

1918  Montana's legislature passes a Sedition Law that severely restricts freedom of speech and assembly.

1919  Fifteenth Legislative session concluded.

1919  February 22, 1919. Marching home, Germany ablaze and no Carey County.

The Saturday Evening Post featured a Rockwell portrayal of a stout looking American veteran marching with admiring young boys.  The hyper patriotic and hyper romantic portrayal doesn't portray the veteran as bemused by the display, which in reality would have been the likely reaction.

The stout child in the lead is wearing the type of service coat that the Boy Scouts still did at that time.

It's odd to think that in any such real world crowd, the children depicted here would have had a fairly high chance of seeing service in the Second World War.


While soldiers were returning, newspapers all over the country carried the frightening news that Germany seemed to be descending again into full scale civil war.

That sudden revived slide was caused by the assassination of Kurt Eisner in Bavaria, after which radical socialist and communists took action to seize the Bavarian government, only lately a monarchy, and proclaim it to be a "Soviet" republic that following April. Eisner was a socialist himself but was in the process of resigning his role in government when a right wing assassin took his life.  Government in Bavaria became chaotic as a result and for approximately one month the large important German state was ruled by a communist cabal in Munich until the Freikorps put it down in their characteristic fashion.

A communist revolution in Bavaria was always a highly odd thing in the first place as the state itself was quit conservative and heavily Catholic.  Munich was the exception, and would prove the exception again as the center of Nazi activity only shortly later.

At the same time as it appeared an internecine war was about to break out in Germany, the League of Nations was gaining real opposition in the United States.

Wyomingites also read that the legislature was wrapping up, which is usually a time of relief for all.  The legislature did not get around to approving a Carey County and therefore Governor Carey didn't have the opportunity to sign into law a county named after his father.  Indeed, such a county would never come into being.

1941  Twenty Sixth Legislative session concluded.

2012  High winds closed numerous roads around Wyoming, including:

I-80 Corridor
    Rock Springs - I-80 between Rock Springs and Point of Rocks - EASTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:43am
    Patrick Draw - I-80 between Point of Rocks and Exit 142, Bitter Creek - EASTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:43am
    Patrick Draw - I-80 between Exit 142, Bitter Creek and Exit 158, Tipton Rd - EASTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:43am
    Wamsutter - I-80 between Exit 158, Tipton Rd and Wamsutter - EASTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:43am
    Wamsutter - I-80 between Wamsutter and Exit 187, Creston Jct - EASTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:43am
    Rawlins - I-80 between Exit 187, Creston Jct and Rawlins - EASTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
    Rawlins - I-80 between Rawlins and Exit 235, Walcott Jct    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
    Elk Mountain - I-80 between Exit 235, Walcott Jct and Exit 255, WY 72    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
    Elk Mountain - I-80 between Exit 255, WY 72 and Exit 267, Wagonhound Rd    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
    Arlington - I-80 between Exit 267, Wagonhound Rd and Arlington    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
    Arlington - I-80 between Arlington and Exit 279, Cooper Cove Rd    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
    Laramie - I-80 between Exit 279, Cooper Cove Rd and Laramie    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
    Laramie - I-80 between Laramie and Exit 323, Happy Jack Rd - WESTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
    Laramie - I-80 between Exit 323, Happy Jack Rd and Exit 335, Buford - WESTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
    Cheyenne - I-80 between Exit 335, Buford and Exit 342, Harriman Rd - WESTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
    Cheyenne - I-80 between Exit 342, Harriman and Cheyenne - WESTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am

I-25 Corridor
    Chugwater - I-25 between Exit 29, Whitaker Rd and Chugwater    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:49am
    Chugwater - I-25 between Chugwater and Exit 73, WY 34    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:49am
    Wheatland - I-25 between Exit 73, WY 34 and Wheatland    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:49am

Non-Interstate Routes
    US 26
        Jackson - US 26/89/191 between Moose and Moran Jct    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:43am
    US 30
        Rock Springs - I-80 between Rock Springs and Point of Rocks - EASTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:43am
        Patrick Draw - I-80 between Point of Rocks and Exit 142, Bitter Creek - EASTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:43am
        Patrick Draw - I-80 between Exit 142, Bitter Creek and Exit 158, Tipton Rd - EASTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:43am
        Wamsutter - I-80 between Exit 158, Tipton Rd and Wamsutter - EASTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:43am
        Wamsutter - I-80 between Wamsutter and Exit 187, Creston Jct - EASTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:43am
        Rawlins - I-80 between Exit 187, Creston Jct and Rawlins - EASTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
        Rawlins - I-80 between Rawlins and Exit 235, Walcott Jct    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
        Medicine Bow - US 30/287 between Hanna Jct and Medicine Bow    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
        Medicine Bow - US 30/287 between Medicine Bow and Rock River    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
        Laramie - US 30/287 between Rock River and WY 34    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
        Laramie - I-80 between Laramie and Exit 323, Happy Jack Rd - WESTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
        Laramie - I-80 between Exit 323, Happy Jack Rd and Exit 335, Buford - WESTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
        Cheyenne - I-80 between Exit 335, Buford and Exit 342, Harriman Rd - WESTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
        Cheyenne - I-80 between Exit 342, Harriman and Cheyenne - WESTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
    US 87
        Chugwater - I-25 between Exit 29, Whitaker Rd and Chugwater    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:49am
        Chugwater - I-25 between Chugwater and Exit 73, WY 34    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:49am
        Wheatland - I-25 between Exit 73, WY 34 and Wheatland    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:49am
    US 89
        Jackson - US 26/89/191 between Moose and Moran Jct    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:43am
    US 191
        Rock Springs - US 191 between the Utah State Line and I-80    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:43am
        Jackson - US 26/89/191 between Moose and Moran Jct    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:43am
    US 287
        Laramie - US 30/287 between Rock River and WY 34    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
        Medicine Bow - US 30/287 between Medicine Bow and Rock River    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
        Medicine Bow - US 30/287 between Hanna Jct and Medicine Bow    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
        Rawlins - I-80 between Rawlins and Exit 235, Walcott Jct    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
        Rawlins - US 287 / WY 789 between Rawlins and Mile Marker 23    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
    WY 34
        Laramie - WY 34 between Bosler and the Platte/Albany Cty Line    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
        Wheatland - WY 34 between the Platte/Albany Cty Line and I-25    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:49am
    WY 130
        Laramie - WY 130 between Mile Marker 35, Westbound Closure Gate and Centennial    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
        Laramie - WY 130 between Centennial and Laramie    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
    WY 210
        Laramie - WY 210 between Curt Gowdy State Park and I-80    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
    WY 321
        Chugwater - WY 321 between Chugwater and I-25    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:49am
    WY 789
        Rawlins - I-80 between Exit 187, Creston Jct and Rawlins - EASTBOUND    
Feb. 22, 2012 06:46am
        Rawlins - US 287 / WY 789 between Rawlins and Mile Marker 23    

Saturday, February 9, 2013

February 9

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

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

1867  Nebraska becomes a state.

1870 The U.S. Weather Bureau was established.

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

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

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

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

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

1916  Casper Daily Tribune established.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And Theodore Roosevelt was ill.

At least the weather looked good for autoing.

1919  Sunday February 9, 1919. 116th Ammunition Train's Wyoming Guardsmen come home, the Spanish Flu strikes in Cheyenne, 2% alcohol brings protest, Game & Fish supported, Chewing gum, Chinese alphabet, Coffee substitutes, Old Restaurants
So what news greeted Cheyenne subscribers to the Cheyenne State Leader on this Sunday, February 9, 1919?  The Sunday paper, for papers that print them, is usually the flagship edition of the journal. And a lot was going on, with peace talks in Parish, revolution in Russia, the flu epidemic spanning the globe, and the legislature in session.  Let's take a look.


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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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

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


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

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


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


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

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


And new Studebaker's were being advertised.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Wonder Bar



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

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

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

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

That would also have been in the 40s.

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

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

That was Casper.

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

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


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

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

2018  Ed Murray resigned as Wyoming Secretary of State following the second accusation of his having engaged in inappropriate conduct in the past on two instances.  As we noted at the time, the second accusation effectively ended his political career:
The Tribune's article today on Murray noted that he had been expected to be the front runner for the Gubernatorial race. 
I don't know if that's true or not but it does seem clear that these two combined allegations have effectively ended his political career. 
The first of the two accusations, it should be noted, was the much more serious and Murray has denied it unequivocally.  It would constitute a true species of sexual assault.  The second accusation is crass and crude and would constitute a species of assault, but in terms of it being a "sexual assault" it would not likely be in the legal context but might be in the current social context.  That one occurred in 1988 and Murray had married in the interim.  He hasn't admitted it, but instead has said that he has no recollection of the event, alleged to have occurred on New Years Eve when the second accuser was babysitting for Murray and his wife.  Having no recollection is a pretty weak denial. 
This is interesting in the current political context for a couple of reasons.  One is that frankly at least I, and I suspect some others, would have been inclined to dismiss the first accusation but for the second.  The second, standing alone, would have been crass and inappropriate but probably could have been excused away due to New Years over indulging or something and the voters might have forgiven Murray.  Standing together they're enough, in my view, to wipe out is chance of obtaining any other elected or even appointed position.  The first one, if true and reported immediately, may have lead to criminal prosecution at the time.