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How To Use This Site


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 Ships named Cheyenne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ships named Cheyenne. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

December 17

1619     Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Royalist cavalry commander in the English Civil War, born.  He returned England with the restoration of Charles II, and headed the investors group that in 1670 got a charter for the Hudson's Bay Company and title to all lands draining into Hudson Bay.  He was the first Governor of the HBC.

1890  Union Pacific swithmen went on strike.   Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.

1904  John J. McIntyre born in Dewey County, Oklahoma.  He was the Congressman from Wyoming from 1941 to 1943, serving a single term.  He served as State Auditor in 1946, and was later a Justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court from 1960 until his death in 1974.

McIntyre graduated from high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma and had a law degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1929.  He relocated to Wyoming in 1931 where he became the Converse County Attorney in 1933 and entered Federal service as an attorney in 1936.  He was a member of the Wyoming National Guard and was promoted to the rank of Captain in1936. This was not unusual for lawyers of that period, as many held commissions on the Guard.  He must have been in the Guard at the time it was Federalized in 1940, but his status as a Congressman likely took him out of service at the time of Pearl Harbor.  He was not reelected to Congress and served as a Deputy Attorney General in 1943 and 1944, and then entered the U.S. Army as an enlisted man where he was a Staff Sergeant with the 660th Field Artillery.

1916  Inter Ocean destroyed by fire.

The Inter-Ocean
1916   Inter-Ocean Hotel in Cheyenne destroyed by fire.  Attribution; Wyoming State Historical Society.

The Inter-Ocean was one of several Cheyenne hotels that were big deals and major watering holes, something very common in that era and for decades thereafter (and still somewhat true in larger cities today).  It's remembered to Western History for being the location referenced by Tom Horn in his famous conversation with  Joe LeFors.
If you go to the Inter-Ocean to sit down and talk a few minutes some one comes in and says, 'Let us have a drink,' and before you know it you are standing up talking, and my feet get so *&^*&^^  tired it almost kills me. I am 44 years, 3 months, and 27 days old, and if I get killed now I have the satisfaction of knowing I have lived about fifteen ordinary lives.
Horn was in fact arrested outside of the Inter-Ocean.

The hotel had been built by Barney Ford, a businessman who had been born a slave, a status that he escaped from.  His father was the white plantation owners where his black mother was enslaved.  After escaping he lived an adventuresome life and rose to great wealth in Colorado.

He apparently liked the name "Inter-Ocean" as he built another hotel in Denver's 16th Street by that name.  Like the Cheyenne hotel, it is no longer there, which is a real shame as funky buildings like this are all the rage in Denver now..

Denver's Inter-Ocean

1916  Sunday State Leader for December 17, 1916: Measles killing Guardsmen at Deming.


Not the only news of the day, but two Arkansas Guardsmen died from the measles at Deming, New Mexico, news that surely worried Wyomingites with family members serving in the Guard at Deming.

William F. Cody  was reported very ill at his sister's house in Denver.

And death claimed the life of a former Rough Rider living in the state as well.

The State Health Officer reported, in cheerier news, on the state's healthful climate.
1916  Carranza rejects the protocol
 
We've run a lot of newspaper articles on the negotiations between the United States and Mexico, or perhaps more accurately between the United States and the Constitutionalist government of Mexico lead by Venustiano Carranza

 Carranza
On this day he ended the doubt, he refused to sign it.
Carranza was a tough minded individual.  He never liked Woodrow Wilson and he had a grudge against the United States.  Irrespective of what may seem to be the advantages of the proposals that were made, he wouldn't agree.

And he never did.  Carranza never executed a protocol with the United States.

By this point the United States clearly wanted out of Mexico.  The intervention had bogged down to an uneasy occupation since the summer and was going nowhere.  Carranza guessed correctly that the United States would be leaving no matter what, although that did not mean that the US would be passive in protecting its interests.

1918  The USS Cheyenne, formerly the USS Wyoming, but renamed due the later battleship being assigned that name, assigned to Division I, American Patrol Division.

1918  December 17, 1918. No Booze for Soldiers. No Booze for Coloradans, No Booze for Montanans. Villa ponders attack
Up until at least the Korean War, if not the Vietnam War, a deficit of clothing meant that discharged soldiers often wore their uniforms after a time following their discharge.  That was very much the case after World War One and World War Two.  Here, the Federal Government was concerned about discharged soldiers drinking in uniform.

In the popular imagination, Prohibition was forced on an unwilling nation by a bunch of silly temperance women who didn't realize that America was a drinking nation.  That version of the story is very far from true.

The Cheyenne State Leader was reporting that Montana would go dry on December 30.  1918 was to be Montana's last "wet" year.  Villa, the paper also reported, was up to no good.

In reality, Prohibition was a hugely popular movement and was gaining ground in the states prior to it become Federal law.  By this date in 1918, Colorado had gone "bone dry" and Montana was about to.

Not all was bleak. One of the Casper papers was reporting that American soldiers still preferred American girls.  Those American soldiers would be bringing home quite a few French brides and even a few Russian ones.  Of course, the report here did contain some bad news for American women.  Some of the soldiers were reporting pretty favorably on les femmes Francais.

So Prohibition was really arriving in the individual states prior to the Volstead Act making it the law of the land and prior to any Constitutional amendment requiring it.  When Prohibition was repealed, it meant that each state that had laws on the books had to revisit those laws if it wanted to likewise repeal Prohibition in their state, which serves as a lesson in rushing to amend laws to comport with what seems to be a national development.  That allowed those states a breather to adapt to the new situation, which in the case of Wyoming it very much took, phasing drinking back in over a period of years.

1919 

Vernon Baker born in Cheyenne.  Baker is a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in combat in World War Two, with his citation reading as follows:
For extraordinary heroism in action on 5 and 6 April 1945, near Viareggio, Italy. Then Second Lieutenant Baker demonstrated outstanding courage and leadership in destroying enemy installations, personnel, and equipment during his company's attack against a strongly entrenched enemy in mountainous terrain. When his company was stopped by the concentration of fire from several machine gun emplacements, he crawled to one position and destroyed it, killing three Germans. Continuing forward, he attacked an enemy observation post and killed two occupants. With the aid of one of his men, Lieutenant Baker attacked two more machine gun nests, killing or wounding the four enemy soldiers occupying these positions. He then covered the evacuation of the wounded personnel of his company by occupying an exposed position and drawing the enemy's fire. On the following night Lieutenant Baker voluntarily led a battalion advance through enemy mine fields and heavy fire toward the division objective. Second Lieutenant Baker's fighting spirit and daring leadership were an inspiration to his men and exemplify the highest traditions of the Armed Forces.
Baker had a rough start in life when his parents died while he was still young.  Partially raised by his grandparents, he learned how to hunt from his grandfather in order to put meat on the table.  Entering the Army during World War Two, he made the Army a career and retired in 1968 as a First Lieutenant, his rank at that time reflecting force reductions following World War Two.  He retired to Idaho where he chose to live as he was an avid hunter, and he died there in 2010.  Baker is a significant figure from Wyoming not only because he won the Congressional Medal of Honor, but because he was part of Wyoming's small African American community.

1985  Alan B. Johnson received his commission as a Federal Judge for the District of Wyoming.

2003  Wyoming filed a petition to delist the Prebbles Jumping Mouse from the Endangered Species List.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

November 28

Today is Thanksgiving Day for 2013.

1872  The Diamond Hoax of 1872 exposed by geologist Clarence King, who issued his opinion that a diamond prospect that had been securing prominent national interest had been salted.

Clarence King

Many wealthy and prominent Americans had been fooled by the scheme and had invested funds to purchase what was thought to be a significant diamond strike. The 1872 date of this event shows the significance that geology had in the state's history from the very onset of the state's history.

1890  The McKinney Strip contest settled in favor of Buffalo.  This was a land contest of some sort, but I can't remember the details.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1912  Governor Carey declared the day to a day of Public Thanksgiving and Praise to Our Lord.

1914  New Your Stock Exchange reopens for the first time since July, when the crises leading up to World War One caused its closer.

1916:  The Cheyenne State Leader for November 28, 1916: Villa captures Chihuahua and moves north.
 

Villa was appearing quite resurgent, grim news for those hoping for a resolution to the border situation.

And a sugar plant was going in at Worland. . . where one still exists.  Elsewhere, the State Engineer was arguing for aid to settlers in an early economic development effort.

And the state's water contest against Colorado was making daily news.
1916  William F. Cody granted a patent for a design for a bit.


1917  Cornerstone laid for the Platte County Library.

I'm not completely certain, but I think that the old library is still there, attached to a much larger more recent structure. That sort of library update is fairly common. The Natrona County Library is the same way.

Libraries have fallen on somewhat hard times in recent years, but they remain a vital part of any community.  Most, indeed nearly any significant library, have updated their services over the years and offer a variety of them, although competing with the home computer is pretty tough.

In smaller communities, they also provide vital meeting room services.  Indeed, I was trying to remember if I've ever been in the Platte County Library.  I don't think so, but the reason I was trying to recall that is because I took a deposition in a southeastern Wyoming library years and years ago.  I'm pretty sure, however, that was the Goshen County Library.  Nonetheless, in smaller towns, finding a space in which to do something like that can be hard, and libraries can fit the bill. By the same token, I've taken a deposition in the Yale Oklahoma library, and there clearly would have been no other place in which to do that.

Anyhow, today is the centennial of the Platte County Library's cornerstone being fixed.

1918  Thanksgiving Day, 1918
The first Thanksgiving of the peace (keeping in mind that the United States only went through one wartime Thanksgiving in which it was a combatant), occurred on this day, in 1918.


I posted an item on this yesterday in that one of the Cheyenne newspapers ran an article about things being closed in Cheyenne today, and there having been late shopping last night, a century ago. Sounds a lot like today, eh?  In today's Casper Daily Press you can tell that they sent the employees home (keeping in mind that newspapers are put together the prior evening, if they're morning papers) so there'd be no paper on Friday.

That was so that people could enjoy the holidays on an American holiday that has remained much like it has always been, which is a refreshing thing to realize.

One of the things about Thanksgiving, which we've also already posted on, is a big gathering.  I've also posted on that here as well, in this entry:

Blog Mirror: Hundred-year-old Thanksgiving Menus

From A Hundred Years Ago:
Hundred-year-old Thanksgiving Menus

It's interesting to note what's on the menu not only for what's on it, but what isn't.  The authors of these menus didn't necessarily think that you had to have turkey.  Indeed, turkey is only on one of the menus.  "Roast fowl" is on two of them. But what sort of fowl were they thinking of? Any fowl?  Pheasant?

And wine isn't on the menu at all.  I note that as if you spend any time watching the endless Thanksgiving shows that will now be appearing on the Food Channel, or whatever, they're all going to have a part, or at least some surely will, where somebody talks about pairing wine with turkey (as they're all going to feature turkey. . . which is okay as I like turkey).

They're all going to have pumpkin pie as well. . . which only one of these does.  One of these, for that matter, has Maple Parfait. What's that?

Interesting stuff.

One of the things I didn't note in that entry, but which I should have, is that there was no "local food movement" at the time as all food was local.  Indeed, the most recent comment on this blog made me realize there's an element of that I'm not aware of, and as that's the purpose of this blog, exploring such topics, I'll be posting a query thread on that soon.  Anyhow, when I noted that some of these menus had "fowl" on them, it should have occurred to me that obtaining a fresh turkey probably presented greater or lesser difficulties (especially in 1918) for the cook depending upon where you lived.  Most folks probably could go to the butcher and obtain a turkey, and almost certainly some local farmer, even in Wyoming localities, raised them for the Holidays specifically.  Still, some hosts probably had menus that featured freshly obtained game, such as pheasant or, in Wyoming, ducks, geese or even sage chickens, all of which I find pretty darned tasty.

Of course, a lot of Americans were eating Thanksgiving Day dinners overseas in a mess hall of some sort in 1918.  What sort of menu did they find in the offering?  The authors of the excellent Roads to the Great War blog have that one covered:
Roads to the Great War: Thanksgiving Day 1918: Happy Thanksgiving from the Roads Editorial Team Much of the American Expeditionary Force found itself stuck in France after the Armis...
I don't know what "Dardanelle Turkey" is, unless that was the menu author's play on words Turkey keeping in mind that the recently defeated Ottoman Empire controlled the Dardanelles.  Perhaps.  But "White Fish" also on the menu. . .?  That one surprised me.

As it probably surprised some folks that Thanksgiving Day in 1918 was on November 28.  But as readers here will recall, the current calendar position of the holiday is a recent one, as this holiday used to move a fair bit around the month of November.

Any way you look at it, for most people this was likely a happier holiday than the one in 1917 had been. . . although for thousands of others, it was likely a profoundly sad one.

1919  November 28, 1919. The Union Pacific Gives Up, Mexico erupts, Ships launched and Heroines

The Union Pacific declared that it was giving up the search for Bill Carlisle on this post Thanksgiving Day (prior to it being Black Friday) and it was blaming Wyomingites for that.  It held that they were too sympathetic to the train robber and lambasted the state's residents for that in no uncertain terms.

1924  An earthquake occurred near Lander.

1927  William R. Coe made a substantial donation to the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1942  Coffee rationing goes into effect in the United States.

1954  Edward D. Crippa completed his term as appointed Senator from Wyoming, filling out the balance of Lester C. Hunt's term until an elected replacement could be seated.


1960  Hugo Gerhard Janssen, early Wyoming photographer, died in Lovell Wyoming.

1989  The Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News wins the contract to build the SSN 773, USS Cheyenne.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

July 11

1862   The Postmaster General of the United States ordered mail carriers to forgo the trail over South Pass in favor of the Overland Trail due to the risk of Indian attacks.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1908  The USS Wyoming (BM-10) renamed the USS Cheyenne.  There's no doubt a real level of confusion on the 20th Century USS Wyoming surface vessels, which I've inadvertently contributed to, as there were two capitol ships by that name, which is very rarely noted in some sources. The first was a less substantial ship than the second.  That ship, the USS Wyoming BM-10 served under that name until 1908, when a larger class of battleships started coming in and the name was cleared for the USS Wyoming (BB-32).  I'll have to go back and correct entries on this ship, which is very frequently confused win the second battleship.  The first USS Wyoming became the USS Cheyenne, and was decommissioned twice, once putting in in the Washington Naval Militia.  It was converted to a submarine tender before World War One, which shows how much smaller this "monitor" was than the later battleships.  It was ultimately sold for scrap in 1939.

1912  There was flooding in Buffalo. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1918  The Casper Daily Tribune for July 11, 1918. Escaped Wheatland Felon Dies In Battle

Henry Sweeney had blown the safe at the Guernsey Mercantile and ended up in the Platte County Jail.  He broke out, aided by his friend Sullivan, and they both took off and enlisted in the Army.

Sweeney died in battle, and apparently he must have felt badly about his prior life of crime, as he had Sullivan write home about it.

Sweeney, in light of giving up his life for his country, had the charges dropped.

The article didn't say what Platte County's attitude was towards Sullivan . . .

1931   Electricity brought to Dayton and Ranchester.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1947  The USS Wyoming (BB-32) entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard to begin decommissioning.  Attribution:  While this is a sad event, having caught my earlier error regarding the confusion of the BM-10 with the BB-32, I"d note that this ship's service life extended from May 21, 1911 until August 1, 1947.  Most of the entries on this site about the USS Wyoming are about this ship, but a few are on the earlier monitor, which I'll go back and correct.  On This Day.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

April 16

1818   U.S. Senate ratified the Rush-Bagot amendment to form an unarmed U.S.-Canada border.

1851  Clarence D. Clark born in Sandy Creek, New York.  He was a lawyer who practiced law in Iowa from 1874 to 1881, when he thereafter moved to Wyoming and practiced law in Evanston.  He served two terms as Wyoming's Congressman, staring in 1890, and then served as Senator from 1895 to 1917. 

1864  Tom Harris plants near Ft. Owen, Montana, and becomes Montana's first full time farmer.

1890  Discovery of new oil and gas deposits south of Rawlins.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1922  The Teapot Dome scandal discovered by Senate investigators.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1948  The Oil Producing Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel is founded.

1969  Medicine Wheel designated as a National Historic Place.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1969  Miller Cabin, near Jackson, added as a National Historic Place.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1969  Ft. Bridger added as a National Historic Places.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1969  Ft. Steele added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

1969  Menor's Ferry added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

1969  Union Pass added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

1969  Expedition Island, near Green River, added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

1969  Names Hill near Green River added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

1969  Ft. Fetterman added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

1991  Wyoming Mercantile in Aladdin added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

1995  SSN-773, USS Cheyenne, a Los Angeles class submarine, launched. 


2013  Historian David McCullough speaks at the University of Wyoming on "Leadership and the History You Don’t Know."

Thursday, January 3, 2013

January 3

1823 Stephen F. Austin received a grant from the Mexican government and began colonization in the region of the Brazos River in Texas.

1834 The Mexican government imprisons the Texas colonizer Stephen Austin in Mexico City.

1900  University of Wyoming  coeds formed an "anti-giggling society", according to today's entry for the Wyoming State Historical Society.  I guess this is a window into an earlier time, as it's hard to imagine coed giggling being a major problem of any sort today.

1917   The Cheyenne State Leader for January 3, 1917: Negotiations with Mexico at a hiatus
 

The Cheyenne State Leader ran the story a little differently, but it was still of real concern.  Negotiations with Mexico were at a hiatus.

And filings under the new Stock Raising Homestead Act of 1916 were so high that the Land Office had to shut its doors.

Drugs were in the headlines as well, something I wouldn't have expected in a 1917 newspaper.
The Wyoming Tribune for January 3, 1917. Things getting worse with Carranza?
 


Things didn't seem to be going well with the negotiations with Mexico at all.

The cartoon must have seemed to be the case to quite a few at the time, as Villa seemed quite resurgent.  But in reality Carranza was simply insistent on Mexican sovereignty.  He was dealing with two major contests to his administration at the same time, which was pretty risky, but in retrospect, he did it pretty well.

1918   The Laramie Boomerang, January 3, 1918. An Indian Raid?
 

This issue of the Boomerang is particularly hard to read. But something was going on near Nogales.
1920 The last of the U.S. troops depart France.

1920  The USS Cheyenne (Monitor No. 10), which had originally been commissioned as the USS Wyoming, was decommissioned.

 The Cheyenne in her final role as a submarine tender.

1926 A Piggly Wiggly opens in Lander.

1927  Frank C. Emerson took office as Governor.

1937  Henry Schwartz took office as U.S. Senator.

1943  Edward V. Robinson took office as U.S. Senator.

1943  The Battle of Midway, an official war film, was shown in the Grand Theatre in Lander.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1943 POW Camp approved for Douglas.

1949  Arthur G. Crane took office as Governor.  Perhaps unfortunately for his early occupancy of the office, the State was within the first 24 hours of the Blizzard of 1949.

1949  Lester Hunt took office as U.S. Senator.

1953  Clifford G. Rogers took office as Governor.

1953  Frank A. Barret took office as U.S. Senator.

1955  Milward Simpson took office as Governor.

1959  Gale McGee took office as U.S. Senator.

1961  Lester Hickey took office as U.S. Senator.

1967  Clifford Hanson took office as U.S. Senator.

1977  Malcolm Wallop took office as U.S. Senator.

1995  Craig Thomas took office as U.S. Senator.

1997  Mike Enzi took office as U.S. Senator.

2007  Senator Craig Thomas is assigned to the Senate's "Candy Desk", a desk that requires the occupants, by long tradition, to stock the same with candies for the Senators.

2011  Matt Mead took office as Governor.

2017  Liz Cheney sworn in as Congressman from Wyoming.

2017  Marian Orr sworn in as Cheyenne's first female mayor.   Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Bill Hill administered the oath.   Cheyenne retains the mayoral form of government so its mayor has real authority.

2021  Cynthia Lummis, formerly a Congressman from Wyoming, was sworn in as Senator from Wyoming.  She is the first female Wyomingite to hold the position.

Lummis takes office at a time in which her name as been in the news as one of eleven US Senators who is backing Ted Cruz's efforts to vote to join protests over certain election results of the 2020 election, an effort which will fail  and which has been widely attributed to political calculation.  She stands in opposition to Congressman Cheney on this matter and in apparent opposition to Sen. John Barasso.  Her position has drawn the attention of the New York Times, via the Lincoln Project, which has been contacting her corporate donors for their opinions on her stance.