December 18

1777  Congress declared a Thanksgiving Day following the  British surrender at Saratoga.

1871   A bill providing for the establishment of Yellowstone National Park was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

1890 Thursday, December 18, 1890. No booze for the faculty.

And, according to the University of Wyoming American Heritage Center, on December 18, 1890, the trustees passed a resolution that required all faculty to abstain from alcohol to get or keep their jobs.

1915 The Capital Avenue Theater in Cheyenne was destroyed by fire. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1929   Former Territorial Governor George Baxter White died in New York City.  He held office for only one month.

1933  Joseph C. O'Mahoney appointed U.S. Senator following the death of John B. Kendrick.  He would actually take office on January 1, 1934. 

1944  The Governor of Oklahoma predicted that Mississippi and Wyoming had the brightest oil related futures in the nation.  Attribution.  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1944  U.S. Supreme Court upholds the wartime internment of U.S. Citizens of Japanese extraction, which would of course include those interned at Heart Mountain, Wyoming.

1966  Fritiof Fryxell, first Teton Park naturalist, died.  Attribution. Wyoming State Historical Society.

1998  A fire Newcastle, WY, destroys four century old buildings. Attribution.  On This Day .com.

2008   Gatua wa Mbugwa, a Kenyan, delivers the first dissertation every delivered in Gikuyu, at the University of Wyoming.  The topic was in plant sciences.

2014.  Nebraska and Oklahoma filed a petition with the United States Supreme Court seeking to have leave to sue Colorado on a Constitutional basis.regarding Colorado's state legalization of marijuana.  The basis of their argument is that Colorado's action violates the United States Constitution by ignoring the supremacy nature of Federal provisions banning marijuana.

While an interesting argument, my guess is that this will fail, as the Colorado action, while flying in the face of Federal law, does exist in an atmosphere in which the Federal government has ceased enforcing the law itself.

2019  The United States House of Representatives approved Articles of Impeachment against President Donald Trump.

November 12

1867  Peace conference commences at Ft. Laramie, Wyoming.  The goal was to arrive at a peaceful solution to strife between Americans and the northern Plains Indians.

1889  First municipal election in Newcastle. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1890  First Wyoming State Legislature convened.

1890  The United States government funded a land grant college for Wyoming, which would become the University of Wyoming.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1897  Milward Lee Simpson was born in Jackson.  He grew up in Meeteetse and Cody, served as an infantry lieutenant in World War One, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1925.   He served as the 23rd Governor of Wyoming from 1955 to 1959, having been narrowly elected in 1954 and having been defeated for reelection in 1958.  He served as U.S. Senator from Wyoming from 1964 to 1967, filling the term of the late Edwin Keith Thomson who died in office.  Simpson was one of only six Republican U.S. Senators to vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  One of his sons is long serving U.S. Senator Alan Simpson.

1916:   Sunday State Leader for November 12, 1916: Guard to remain Federalized, Villa avoids encounter with Carranza's troops.
 

The Laramie Republican for November 12, 1916: Villista outrages at Parral
 

1918  Great War Post Script. November 12, 1918: Mutinous German sailors decide to attack the Allies? Draftees still have to report.

The Cheyenne State Leader was wrong.  German sailors were not mobilizing to set sail to take on the Allies.

No, not even close.

The Casper Daily Press did better on the first post World War One day of 1918.

Like Cheyenne, there'd been a lot of celebrating the prior day.

That next day, however, those who had been selected to report for military training, i.e., conscripted, still had to go, even if the Selective Service System was immediately ceasing to classify men for additional conscription.

1920  November 12, 1920. First and lasts in sports, and in life events.

November 12, 1920: Man o' War's final run

Read about it at the above, an unfortunately seemingly inactive blog.

On the same day, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was hired as the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, and at the same time the major leagues took on their present organizational form.

This occured, of course, in the wake of the Black Sox Scandal and as part of an effort to address deficiencies in the organization of the sport and clear up its name.

Italy and what would become Yugoslavia entered into the Treaty of Rapallo. The treaty adjusted territorial boundaries between the nations, which had been disputed in the wake of World War One and the creation of the new state.  The new South Slav kingdom and Italy shared populations that were of the ethnicities of the other state. While the treaty did leave few Italians in Yugoslavia, about 500,000 South Slavs remained in what became Italian territory.

The border would be readjusted following World War Two.

Former resident of Cheyenne and teenage lover of Charlie Chaplin, actress Mildred Harris, was granted a divorce from Chaplin.

Harris' sad story, as well as her peculiar role in history (she's at least partially responsible for Wallace Simpson meeting King Edward VIII, has been addressed elsewhere on this blog.

President Wilson refused to sign the execution warrant for Sgt. Anthony F. Tamme, who had been convicted of espionage during World War One.

1981  The Wyoming (Ohio) Historical Society founded.

2012  For this year, Veteran's Day observed in the United States so as to make the day a three day holiday.

In spite of having fought wars in recent years, and in spite of there being an ongoing one currently, this day seems to have reduced in significance in recent years.  It is a Federal Holiday, but not a day that most people have off.  Schools are in session locally.  There are (as is the norm here) no parades.  Even the Star Tribune, which used to feature Veterans and their stories on this day, has only seen fit to run a single photo page commemorating the day.

2015:  Wyoming Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis, in office since January 2009, announced her intent to abstain running for office at the completion of this term.  Two Republicans announced they were interested in running, with one expressing a definite intent to do so, by the end of the day.

2018  Veterans Day for 2018, given that November 11 fell on a Sunday.

September 14

1890  Newcastle's waterworks completed.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1901     President William B. McKinley died in Buffalo, N.Y., of gunshot wounds inflicted by an assassin eight days earlier. Theodore Roosevelt, age 42, was sworn in,thereby becoming the youngest president in U.S. history.

1919  Game Warden Buxton was shot in the course of his duties.

Violence against Wyoming Game Wardens has been incredibly rare and very, very few have lost their lives in the performance of their duties.  Buxton was one of them.  He responded to reports of gunshots near Rock Springs, encountered two  individuals, and after informing them, Joe Omeye, that the hunting season confiscated a rifle from him. The day being a Sunday, Buxton reported to the incident with his wife.

While putting the rifle in his car he was called by Omeye who shot him with a pistol that he'd been carrying concealed.  The shot wounded Buxton who called for his wife to give him his gun.  Omeye then shot at Buxton's wife but missed, and she fled for help.  Help arrived too late and Buxton died on the way to the hospital. 

Omeye was convicted of Murder in the Second Degree and served time in the Wyoming State Penitentiary to twenty years in the penitentiary.

He initially served only four years before being paroled, providing proof that the common perception of serving being light only in modern times is wrong.  He violated his parole, however, and was returned to prison to be released again in 1931.

Omeye's companion, John Kolman, was not arrested and must not have been regarded as implicated in what occurred in any fashion.  An Austrian immigrant, he died in Rock Springs at age 93 in 1968.

1950   President Truman signed a bill merging most of Jackson Hole National Monument into Grand Teton National Park.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1950  The Act of September 14, 1950  prohibited the extension or establishment of any National Monument in Wyoming without the express authorization of Congress.

1960  The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was founded on this day at the Baghdad Conference of 1960.

1987  Anderson Lodge in the Absaroka Mountains east of Meeteetse,  added to the National Register of Historic Places.  Attribution:  On This Day.

2001  President Bush declared a national emergency.

2019  The Black 14 were belatedly issued University of Wyoming letter jackets at a UW football game.  See yesterday's entry.

September 10

1889  Newcastle founded by the Lincoln Land Company, a subsidiary of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy..  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1897  The first bicycle known to have been made in Wyoming was assembled.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

At the time, bicycles were the up and coming mode of transportation and it was seriously thought by many that the bicycle, not the automobile, might supplant the horse as a means of personal transportation. Bicycles did, in fact, liberate many people from having only one means of daily transportation, that being  shoe leather.  The era was enormously fascinated with bicycles, seeing their adoption by many people, and even their adoption in some service roles.

1919  Treat of Saint Germain en Laye executed between Allies and Associated powers with Austria.  As with the Versailles Treaty, the U.S. would not ratify it and would conclude a separate peace with Austria in 1921.

1941  Wyomingites urged to engage in home canning due to the war.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

Similar themed entries can be found on Lex Anteinternet here.

July 7

1832  William Sublette's party reaches Jackson Hole and crosses Teton Pass.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1847  The first company of Mormon immigrants reached Ft. Bridger.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1864  Townsend wagon train attacked near Platte Bridge Station..

1876. Sioux and Cheyenne attack an Army scouting party at Sibley Lake, in the Big Horn Mountains.

1886  Electric street lights turned on in Laramie Wyoming for the first time.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1905  The Sheridan branch of the Wyoming General Hospital was opened.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1907  The cornerstone of St. Mary's Cathedral in Cheyenne laid.

1918  Carried over, in part, from  yesterday due to the July 7 Cheyenne newspaper:

Because the Germans doing it seemed like such a good idea? Now the Allies opt for intervening in Russia.

And Woodrow Wilson decided that the U.S. would participate in it, over the objections of Army which advised against it.

1919 Monday, July 7, 1919. The 1919 Motor Transport Corps Convoy departed Washington D. C.. .

with an intended destination of San Francisco, California.

World War One vintage Motor Transport Corps recruiting poster.

This would be a long trip by contemporary standards, but in 1919 it was daunting in the extreme.  Only adventurers with cash tried to drive across the United States as a rule.  While it had been done quite a few times by 1919, it was not a short trip by any means.  People who wanted to cross the country did it the logical and safe way. . . by train.

The purpose of this trip was several fold.  A primary one was to test the inventory of trucks that the Army now owned, thanks to the Great War, in order to determine which ones were the best and weed out those that couldn't endure.  Additionally, however, problems with the railroads during World War One, by which we mean labor problems, inspired the service to see if trucks were a viable means of transporting men and equipment for mobilization in time of war.

The scale of the test was massive.  Over 250 men were detailed to the experimental operation which included repair vehicles and bridging equipment.  Vehicles were highly varied and ranged from artillery tractors to to motorcycles.  It's significance was appreciated at the time, and the Signal Corps was detailed to film the convoy in route, which was proceeded by a Publicity Officer and a Recruiting Officer who arrived in towns along the route several days ahead of the convoy.  The route was that of the already established, but far from modern, Lincoln Highway.

Lincoln Highway route as of 1916, which was the same as it would be in 1919.

Command of the overall operation was in the hands of Lt. Col. Charles W. McClure with the actual "train" commander being Cpt. Bernard H. McMahon.  Officers who were familiar with motor transport, including Bvt. Lt. Col. Dwight D. Eisenhower, were detailed to the operation.

So how did day one go?  Well, the official log of the trip gives us a picture, albeit a brief one, of the same.

Forty six miles. . . in 7.5 hours.  And that on excellent roads.

1994 The former Wyoming National Guard Cavalry Stable in Newcastle, now a museum, added to the National Register of Historic Places. Attribution:  On This Day.

1999  President Clinton became the first president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to visit an Indian reservation as he toured the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

2006  The Snake River Land Company Residence and Office in Moran added to the National Register of Historic Places.Attribution:  On This Day.

April 25

1838  The United States and the Republic of Texas signed the Convention of Limits recognizing Texas' claims to territory in Red River County and set the eastern boundary of Texas as the west bank of the Sabine River. Attribution:  On This Day.

1898    The United States declared war on Spain.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America:

I transmit to the Congress for its consideration and appropriate action, copies of correspondence recently had with the representative of Spain in the United States, with the United States minister at Madrid, and through the latter with the Government of Spain, showing the action taken under the joint resolution approved April 20, 1898, "for the recognition of the independence of the people of Cuba, demanding that the Government of Spain relinquish its authority and Government in the island of Cuba, and to withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters, and directing the President of the United States to use the land and naval forces of the United States to carry these resolutions into effect.

Upon communicating to the Spanish minister in Washington the demand which it became the duty of the Executive to address to the Government of Spain in obedience, to said resolution, the minister asked for his passports and withdrew.  The United States minister at Madrid was in turn notified by the Spanish minister for foreign affairs that the withdrawal of the Spanish representative from the United States had terminated diplomatic relations between the two countries, and that all official communications between their respective representatives ceased therewith.

I commend to your especial attention the note addressed to the United States minister at Madrid by, the Spanish minister of foreign affairs on the 21st instant, whereby the foregoing notification was conveyed.  It will be perceived therefrom that the Government of Spain, having cognizance of the joint resolution of the United States Congress, and in view of the things which the President is thereby required and authorized to do, responds by treating the reasonable demands of this Government as measures of hostility, following with that instant and complete severance of relations by its action which by the usage of nations accompanies an existent state of war between sovereign powers.

The position of Spain being thus made known, and the demands of the United States being denied, with a complete rupture of intercourse, by the act of Spain, I have been constrained, in the exercise of the power conferred upon me by the joint resolution aforesaid, to proclaim, under date of April 22, 1898, a blockade of certain ports of the north coast of Cuba, between Cardenas and Bahia Honda, and the port of Cienfugos, on the south coast of Cuba, and to issue my proclamation dated April 23, 1898, calling forth volunteers.

I now recommend the adoption of a joint resolution declaring that a state of war exists between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain, that the definition of the international status of the United States as a belligerent power may be made known and the assertion of all its rights in the conduct of a public war may be assured.

          President McKinley.

1898  The Governor informed that Wyoming is to provide a battalion of infantry for the war with Spain.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1903  President Theodore Roosevelt visited Newcastle, Wyoming.

1916   The Casper Daily Press for April 25, 1916.
 

And, a couple of days after it occurred, a new violent event for 1916, the Easter Rebellion, hit the news.

Casper had a lot of Irish expatriates at the time for whom this news would have been of intense interest.

1931  The legislature appropriated $15,000 to purchase Ft. Laramie.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1945     Last Boeing B-17 attack against Germany.

1984  The most severe spring blizzard to ever hit Wyoming started.  It'd last for three days.

1985  Steele Homestead added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

1985  Brigham Young Oil Well added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

1985  Atlantic City Mercantile added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

Elsewhere:

Today is ANZAC Day.

Best wishes to our Australian and New Zealand participants and friends!

This is a day of remembrance in Australia, New Zealand, and Newfoundland.