June 21

Today is the Summer Solstice and the first day of Summer, except in leap years, when it occurs the day prior.

1788     The U.S. Constitution went into effect as New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it.

1834     Cyrus Hall McCormick received a patent for his reaping machine.

1880  Harry Yount receives word of his appointment as a wildlife officer for Yellowstone National Park, the first person to occupy such a position.  He occupied it for only about a year, but is regarded as a pioneer in the field.

1890  564 coal miners form Almy went to Evanston to be naturalized as citizens at the expense of the Democratic Committee of Uinta County.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916  Mexican government troops attack U.S. Brigadier General John J. Pershing's force at Carrizal, Mexico.

Following the Battle of Parral, American forces did not advance further into Mexico but scouted out from locations that they were encamped in.  On June 20 the 10th Cavalry went out on such an expedition from Colonia Dublan and received reports of a Mexican Constitutionalist force in the vicinity.  They proceeded to encounter the force at Carrizal. The Mexican forces was deployed to block their further advance to the west and informed the American unit of the same, which in turn informed the Mexican force that it was to proceed through the town.  The Mexican force agreed to let a portion of the American one advance, ultimately, but fired upon it once it entered the town.

A battle ultimately ensued which resulted in the loss of ten enlisted men and two officers.  Unit cohesion was lost in the battle on both sides and the cavalry did not advance past the town. Several enlisted men were taken prisoner by Mexican forces but were repatriated at El Paso Texas ten days later.  Mexican losses were heavier, including the loss of their commanding officer in the unit.  Nonetheless, the battle may be taken as an indicator as to how the US expedition had bogged down into a type of stalemate whose character was changing.

 US troops being repatriated at El Paso.

The engagement was the costliest action that the US engaged in during the Punitive Expedition and it was correctly judged to be a defeat at the time.  The battle came at a point in time in which the US and Mexico were teetering on the brink of war and Pershing was sufficiently angered by it so that he sought permission to advance on Chihuahua City.  President Wilson denied him that permission which likely adverted full scale war breaking out.

 On the ame day, the local news read as follows:  The Gathering Storm: The Wyoming Tribune for June 21, 1916
 

The almost certain war with Mexico loomed large.  Locally, the problem was that the Wyoming National Guard was under strength and couldn't be mobilized until recruiting solved the problem.  Interestingly, this edition reported that the European Allies were seeking to keep a war from breaking out, which certainly would have been in their interest, and that they suspected Germany wanted war to erupt, which was in fact true.

The Judge Mentzer mentioned in this article was either the Cheyenne lawyer or his father who was a National Gaurdsmen and who died of a stroke or severe heart attack some years later during a long ride during a Guard Annual Training.

1923   This advertisement first ran in the Saturday Evening Post:

The advertisement is the most famous car ad of all time and the ad itself revolutionized advertising.  Based on the recollection of the Jordan Motor Car Company's founder in seeing a striking mounted girl outside of Laramie, while he was traveling by train, the advertisement is all image, revealing next to nothing about the actual product.  While the Jordan Motor Car Company did not survive the Great Depression, the revolution in advertising was permanent.

1942  It is reported that eleven Wyomingites who were working in Shanghai are being held by the Japanese.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1963  The Wyoming Air National Guard's 187th Aeromedical Transport Squadron received C-121 "Super Constellation," aircraft.

June 6

1886  Douglas Budget founded.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1892  Information filed in State of Wyoming v. Alexander Adamson, et al. Murder in the First Degree, chargng Alexander Adamson, William E. Guthrie, William Armstrong and J. A. Garrett with the murder of Rueben "Nick" Ray during the Johnson County War.  This was a criminal charge filed in Johnson County, as opposed to Laramie County where the charges stemming from the Johnson County War.

1894  In the reverse of the usual story, Colorado's Governor Davis H. Waite orders the Colorado state militia to protect and support tminers engaged in a strike at Cripple Creek.  Mine owners had already formed private army.

1908  A man from Cody Wyoming was the co-winner of the Evanston Wyoming to Denver horse race, one of the long distance horse races that were common in Wyoming at the time.

1912  President Taft signs the Homestead Act of 1912, which reduces the period to "prove up" from five years to three.  This was unknowingly on the eve of a major boom in homesteading, as World War One would create a huge demand for wheat for export, followed by the largest number of homestead filings in American history as would be wheat farmers attempted to gain land for the endeavor.  Attribution:  On This Day. 

Wheat farmer, Billings Montana.

1915  British commissioners began to purchase remounts in Wyoming.  The purchase of horses for British service in World War One created a boom in horse ranching which would continue, fueled both by British and American service purchases, throughout the war, but which would be followed by a horse ranching crash after the war.

 U.S. Army Remounts, Camp Kearney California, 1917.

1918  Sad news arrived in Sheridan County on this day, according to the Sheridan Media history column, when relatives of Roy H. Easton, 25, homesteader from Verona, received news that he had been killed in action in France.  He was the first Sheridan County resident to die in World War One.

1918  Getting the news of the American victory on the Marne and having a giant overreaction in Sheridan. June 6, 1918.

On June 6 the American victory at Château-Thierry was beginning to become a little more clear, although the newspapers anticipated more action.  That action was ongoing in the Belleau Wood, which was just next door and which really is part of the same battle.

In Sheridan the town in engaged in an absurd overreaction and the schools burned German books.  Learning German certainly didn't make a person some sort of German sympathizer and indeed, learning the language of your enemy is a good idea.

A Natrona County resident measuring 6'7", very tall for any age, enlisted in the Army.  I'm somewhat surprised that his height didn't disqualify him for service.  You can be too tall to join.

1944 Allied forces land in Normandy, in an event remembered as "D-Day", although that term actually refers to the day on which any major operation commences.  This is not, of course, a Wyoming event, but at least in my youth I knew more than one Wyoming native who had participated in it.  Later, I had a junior high teacher whose first husband had died in it.  A law school colleague of mine had a father who was a paratrooper in it.  And at least one well known Wyoming political figure, Teno Roncolio, participated in it.  From the prospective of the Western Allies, it might be the single most significant single day of the campaign in Europe.

All the photos above are courtesy of the United States Army.

1948  President  Truman delivered a speech from the Governor's Mansion's porch in Cheyenne.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.  He stated:

Governor Hunt, and citizens of Wyoming:

It certainly is a very great privilege and a pleasure for me to be here today. I received an invitation from Governor Hunt to call on him this afternoon, and I was most happy to accept it. I have known him a long time, and I like him, and I think he is a good Governor.

I have always been very much interested in this great city. I was here while the war was going on in my official capacity as chairman of an investigating committee to look after some construction that was going on here. And I found nothing wrong.

I hope sometime I can come back and be able to discuss the issues before the country with you. I always make it a rule never to make speeches of any kind on Sunday. I don't think it's the proper day for speeches that are not of a religious character, and since I am not a Doctor of Divinity, I can't preach you a sermon.

But I do appreciate most highly the cordiality of your welcome. It is a pleasure for me to get to see you, and it is a privilege for me to stop in Cheyenne long enough to call on your Governor.

Again, I hope that when I come here I can talk to you straight from the shoulder on certain things that confront this country.

[At this point the President was presented with an invitation and a hat. He then resumed speaking.]

Thank you very much. The invitation says, "Mr. President, your many friends in Cheyenne, Wyoming, will be greatly honored if you can attend the Cheyenne Frontier Day, July 27-31st, 1948." I have always wanted to do that, and I hope some day I will be able to do it.

Now I am going to see just how this hat works. [Putting it on.] That's all right.

Text of Speech courtesy of Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office.

2017  Steven Biegler installed as the new Catholic Bishop of Cheyenne.

2018  For the second time in a single week, a tornado touched down in Wyoming.  In this case, the tornado touched down about eight miles north of town.

Laramie has some impressive summer weather.

May 31

1834  Sublette and Campbell start constructing Ft. William, which would later become Ft. Laramie.

1872  A boating club was organized in Cheyenne.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1877   Colonel Nelson Miles reports that 2,300 Sioux have surrendered at the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies over the past two months..

1903  Theodore Roosevelt attended church in Cheyenne (it was a Sunday) and lunched with Joseph Carey.

1913   The 17th Amendment to the US Constitution, providing for the popular election of U.S. senators, was declared in effect.

1916    So, on the day thousands lost their lives violently at sea, what did the local news look like? May 31, 1916
 

Well, given that the Battle of Jutland was a naval battle, we can't expect it to show up in the day's news, even the late editions, at all.

Indeed, something that's easy to forget about the battle, as we tend to think of the later battles of World War Two a bit more (which also features some large surface engagements, contrary to the myth to the contrary) is that World War One naval battles were exclusively visual in nature.

That's not to say that radio wasn't used, it most certainly was. But targeting was all visual.  And as the battle took place in the North Sea, dense fog and hanging smoke played a prominent role in the battle.

Now, we note that, as while the British and German fleets were using radio communications, they weren't broadcasting the news, and they wouldn't have done that even if it were the 1940s.  And the radio communications were there, but exclusively military.  News of the battle had to wait until the fleets returned home, which is interesting in that the Germans were closer to their ports, so closer to press outlets.  Indeed, the point of the battle was to keep the Germans in port, or at the bottom of the sea.

So, on this day of a major battle, maybe in some ways the major battle of World War One, what news did local residents see?

The death of Mr. Hill, and the draft Roosevelt movement were receiving headline treatment in Sheridan.

I'm surprised that there was a University of Wyoming student newspaper for this day, as I would have thought that the university would have been out of school by then.  Maybe not.  However.  Interesting to note that this was published the day after Memorial Day, so it was a contemporary paper.  Now, the current paper, The Branding Iron, is weekly, I think.  The crises of the times show up in the form of UWs early ROTC making an appearance on Memorial Day.
1921   Guido F. Schlote of Afton received a patent for a coat collar fastener.

1945  1,500,000 lbs of wool reported to have been shipped from Rock Springs during the last six weeks.  Wool was a vital defense fiber during World War Two as it formed the fabric used for all military uniforms used in the ETO and over half used in the Continental United States.  Only in the Pacific was cotton the dominant fiber.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1947  Ft. F. E. Warren becomes an Air Force Base.  Attribution:  On This Day.

May 28

1865  Cheyenne and/or Sioux attacked Elkhorn Station, Wyoming with inconclusive results.  They also attacked Sweetwater Station, Wyoming and took four horses and two mules and Pole Creek Station, Wyoming.

1869   Territorial Governor Campbell issued an order for a census of Wyoming Territory.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1900  Construction began on the Sidon Canal in the Big Horn Basin.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1902  The Virginian published.

1918  Mieli Rohkea Jartti of Glencoe patented a design for a sled attachment to an automobile.

1987  Norris, Madison, Fishing Bridge Museums and the Old Faithful Inn designated a National Historic Landmarks.Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.  Attribution:  On This Day.

May 20

1805  The Viceroy of Mexico ordered to compile all information concerning the true boundary between Texas and Louisiana.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1862  Congress passed the Homestead Act.

As surprising as it is now to think of it, the Homestead Act remained in force until 1932 in the lower 48.  The last patents were taken out under the various acts in the 1950s, although entries could still be made in Alaska up until some date in the 1950s.  Homesteading remained quite active in the 1919 to 1932 period, as there were efforts to encourage veterans to homestead following World War One, and there was a lot of desperate homesteading in the 1929 to 1932 time frame.  A Wyoming Supreme Court decisions on a land contest from that period actually noted that no decision could be reached, as homesteading was carving up the contested lands so fast that the decision would be obsolete by the time it was rendered.  The repeal of the act in 1932 was followed by  the failure of many of the late smaller homesteads, and a reversal of the trend.  The Federal Government reacquired many of the late homesteads by default, and actually purchased a large number of them in the Thunder Basin region of Wyoming, as it was so clear that they would fail in the droughts of the 30s.

Following up a bit, it's interesting to note that there were more homesteads taken out under the various Homestead Acts in the 20th Century than there were in 19th.  The 1914 to 1919 period saw a huge boom in homesteading.

One of the most interesting things about the act was said to me by the grandson of Russian immigrants who had homesteaded outside of Cheyenne, WY, that simply being that "it was a good deal for poor people".  I suppose that is true.

How many folks here know of a homesteading ancestor in their family?

1865  Sioux and Cheyenne attacked Three Crossings, Wyoming, which resulted in the death of one of the attacking warriors.

1874 San Francisco based Levi Strauss begian marketing blue jeans with copper rivets.

1879   Peder Bergersan of Cheyenne issued a patent for an improvement in magazine fire-arms.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1886  The Lusk Herald starts publication.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1919  Bus service initiated in Casper.

1936  These photographs of the Twin Lakes Dam area taken.

1938  First city officials elected in La Grange Wyoming.

1947  Earl C. Beeler of Baggs issued a patent for a Sickler Grinder.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1947  USS Casper sold.

1956  Northwest Community College dedicated in Powell.

Sidebar: Hispanics in Wyoming

Recently, following St. Patrick's Day, I posted a sidebar on The Irish In Wyoming.  While it is, in no way, an equivalent holiday, we've recently passed Cinco De May, The Fifth of May, and, given as that's a Mexican holiday (although not much observed in Mexico), I'm doing something similar here with an entry on Hispanics in Wyoming.

Starting off here, I should at first note that I debated this title a bit and originally it was titled "Mexicans In Wyoming."  For some reason, the use of the term "Mexican" can be loaded, which certainly is not the intent here.  That is in part because many people have used the term incorrectly in referring to any Hispanic in the United States, a clearly erroneous use.  Additionally, the term is problematic because of the Mexican War.  Everyone was, in terms of citizenship, a Mexican who lived in the Mexican province of Texas, although culturally the fact that Texas had separated in 1836 had a lot to do with cultural identity.  Beyond that, however, after the Mexican War the US occupied new territories which had large Hispanic percentages of population, and who had been Mexican citizens, even if some of those regions had fairly unique Hispanic identities.  With all that being the case, I changed the title.  Be that as it may, the story of Hispanics in Wyoming cannot be separated from Mexico.

When we wrote about the Irish, we noted that we could not really determine when the first Irish American or Irishman set foot in what became Wyoming.  We can't really do that with Hispanics either, but we can say that Wyoming was once owned by Spain, even if the Spanish were not able to extend the control of their empire in North America as far as they claimed.  Indeed, southern Colorado,was really the northern most extent of Spain's empire inside the continent, in spite of occasional claims otherwise.  Trade goods did make it further north, and the Corps of Discovery reported encountering Spanish mules being used by the Shoshones when they came through northern Wyoming.  At any rate, not only the Spanish Mexican colony's province of Texas was part of what would become Wyoming, but Spain also once owned Louisiana, and the Napoleon's transfer of that territory to the United States required a formal transfer of the territory back to France, which all occurred on the same day, oddly enough.

The transfer of Louisiana to the United States did see a population transfer, of course as well, but not one that directly impacts our story here.  Louisiana included both a French and Spanish population, who became subject to the United States with the Louisiana Purchase, but the Spanish population did not have a presence in Wyoming at the time.  This remained the case in 1836 when Texas, which retained title to a southern portion of what would become Wyoming, rebelled against Mexico. And it remained the case at the time at which the United States and Mexico concluded the peace treaty of Guadalupe Hildago.

The Mexican War, however, would be directly responsible for the first Hispanic settlers in Wyoming, as it brought the U.S. Army into Wyoming.  Only shortly after the war ended, the US sent the Regiment of Mounted Rifles to occupy what had been a private fort in Wyoming, so as to secure a part of the early Oregon Trail. That fort was Ft. Laramie, which would go on to have one of the most significant roles of any frontier fort in West.

Cement structures at Ft. Laramie, built by migrants from New Mexico.

When the Army occupied Ft. Laramie its structures were worn and the post was inadequate for its task. Therefore, the Army immediately took to rebuilding the post.

Frontier Army posts are often imagined to be made up of log buildings surrounded by a log stockade, and some were indeed just like that. Only a minority of them, however, had that construction.  Some of the posts, in contrast, were surprisingly substantial and well constructed.  Ft. Laramie was one of these.  In its early days, as a fur company trading post, it was not much more than a simple stockade, but as soon as the Army began to occupy it, that changed.  Part of that change was brought about by the importation of Mexican labor from New Mexico.  And that had to do with Cement.

Cement, as a construction material, dates back to the Romans.  In spite of that, however, it was little used in much of the Western world following the fall of Rome until the late 19th Century, which in part is due to the manufacturing process becoming somewhat obscure, and in part because the types of cement that were commonly known following Rome's decline were slow setting and somewhat hard to make.  Therefore, in the mid 19th Century, cement was uncommon in the United States.  However, for reasons unknown to me, cement remained a construction material elsewhere in the world, including the Spanish world.  While it's popular to imagine everything in New Mexico of this era being constructed of adobe bricks, in fact cement was a common construction material.  With the occupation of New Mexico by the U.S. Army during the Mexican War, this became known to the Army, which was impressed with cement. So, when the Army went to reconstruct Ft. Laramie, it determined to use cement for the new buildings, which in turn required the importation of labor who knew how to make it and build with it. Those laborers were New Mexican Hispanics.

These laborers were, therefore, brought up by the Army in the late 1840s and they gave Wyoming its first Hispanic residents.  The men brought up, who brought up their families, were not men who were employed year around, in New Mexico, as construction laborers, as the area was agrarian and such skills were only part of a set of skills used by agrarian artisans.  Once they completed, their task, therefore, they turned to another part of their skill set, farming.  Through this process, not only did Wyoming receive its first Hispanic immigrants, farming came to the state for the first time.

The Hispanic farms created by the New Mexican ("Mexican") artisans were located some distance away from the fort, on a series of hills visible from the Oregon Trail. The area came be known as "Mexican Hills." The Mexican farmers who located in there used the presence of the trial for market purposes, selling fresh vegetables to travelers on the trail.

I wish I could relate more of this aspect of the story, but unfortunately, I cannot.  The area remains farm ground today, but as far as I know none of the original Mexican presence remains.  When it ceased, I cannot say either, but my suspicion is that it did during the mid 19th Century.  With the fort becoming an increasingly important regional center it may also have become an increasingly difficult place to live.  The farmers did not live on the post grounds, but some distance from it, and therefore would have been at the mercy of Ft. Laramie bands of Indians, who were generally peaceful while in the region, but which would have been somewhat concerning nonetheless. At any rate, I"m not aware of the farms surviving into the 20th Century, and have no idea how long they actually lasted.  Therefore, I can only sadly report the New Mexican immigrants as the first appearance of Hispanic culture in the state, but whether it had any long lasting cultural impact, I cannot.  It certainly had a long-lasting material impact, however, as the concrete structures built at the fort all still remain, albeit as ruins. That's a lot more than a person can say about the stick frame buildings that the Army generally constructed at its more permanent facilities in the same era.

The next significant presence of Hispanics in the state came about due to the explosion of the cattle industry following the Civil War.  In terms of time, that's not really that long after the establishment of the Mexican Hills farms mentioned above, and a person has to wonder if any still remained.  Be that as it may, it's commonly noted that 1/3d of all 19th Century cowboys were "black or Mexican."  I've always found that description rather odd, as African Americans and Hispanics of the same era had distinctly different cultural histories.  Additionally, as they are lumped together by this description, there's no easy way to know what percentage of that "1/3d" were Hispanic.  But what is certain is that Texas ranching came about due to ranching in Mexican Texas and dated back to Spanish Texas, so the Mexican influence on the industry was enormous.  It's no wonder that Hispanic Texans and New Mexicans remained employed in it up into the 1860s and 1870s, and beyond.  Indeed, to this very day.

The state therefore saw new Hispanic men who came up with the herds from Texas.  Undoubtedly some stayed when the long trail drives gave way to regional ranching.  Oddly, however, its hard to find examples of individual Hispanic ranchers.  There probably are some, but I'm unaware of them.  In terms of ranching methods and technology, of course, their impact was huge, and has been enduring throughout the West.  Indeed, Wyoming's cowboys were the direct descendants in terms of methods of the Vacquero who had employed the same skill set in Texas, as opposed to the Caballero who employes a somewhat different skill set in California.  This remains true today.

Mexican ranching influence extended not only to cattle ranching, but sheep ranching as well. The Spanish had introduce sheep to Mexico and they were a presence in the Southwest before the Mexican War.  Sheep started arriving on the Wyoming ranges in the 1890s, accompanied by a great deal of controversy and violence.  They were also accompanied by "Mexican herders."

Not all sheepherders were of Mexican ancestry by any means.  Still, in the  very early sheep industry on the Northern Plains Mexican influence was strong.  Mexican herders were accustomed to highly nomadic herdsmanship which in part leaned on skills acquired from Indians.  While, today, we are used to the sheepwagen, the "Home On The Range," Mexican herders used teepees made of canvas.  This practice is not well known to those outside of the sheep industry, but it was common enough with Mexican herders that the practice lived on well into the 20th Century.

 

 Painted brick sign on the old Kistler Tent & Awning building, in Casper Wyoming.  Kistler Tent & Awning is an ongoing business in Casper, and no doubt can, and still does, make any of the times advertised here.  Note the "Herders Teepees" item, just below "Sheepwagon Covers."

At about the same time that he first herds of cattle began to head north, the Union Pacific came into the state.  Hispanic laborers were not part of that rail expansion, but by the early 20th Century they were very much  a major segment of the Union Pacific workforce, and they remain so to this day.  All of the towns on the Union Pacific came to have significant Hispanic populations.

This saw the creation of distinctly Hispanic neighborhoods in all of those towns, which reflects on the human nature in good and bad ways.  That Hispanic communities would spring up was probably natural enough.  But, by the same token, that an element of prejudice was present in that would be probable. At any rate, all of the towns on the Union Pacific had Hispanic neighborhoods, and many still do. Cheyenne, for example, has South Cheyenne, a neighborhood that lies to the south of the Union Pacific, and which features a very Spanish influenced church, architecturally, as well as a Mexican Restaurant reputed to be one of the town's best.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church in south Cheyenne.

Laramie Wyoming, generally thought of as the home of the University of Wyoming, likewise has a Hispanic influenced neighborhood, reflecting the large Hispanic community that worked and worked in the very large railyard in Laramie.  Not surprisingly, perhaps, Laramie has an excellent Mexican restaurant in West Laramie, the Hispanic part of town, and another just off of the Union Pacific rail line.  Hispanics are a significant portion of the Catholic community in the town as well.

Like Laramie and Cheyenne, Rawlins Wyoming has a Hispanic neighborhood associated with the Union Pacific.  And as with Laramie and Cheyenne, Carbon County has seen the culture reflected in culinary offerings.  Su Casa, in Sinclair Wyoming, and Rose's Lariat, In Rawlins Wyoming, are contenders for the best Mexican restaurants in the state, and even though they are only seven miles apart, each has fiercely loyal clienteles.  All the way across the state, however, the farming and railroad town of Lingle has Lira's, which others argue in the best.  Guernsey Wyoming, on the Burlington Northern line, had Otero's Kitchen, which others maintained was the best.  I've eaten at everyone mentioned here, and they're all great.

To mention all of these restaurants in this context may seem shallow, but it's a reflection of a long lasting and vibrant culture.  Mexican restaurants owned by Hispanic families only preserve for years and years, rather than becoming something like Taco Bell, if there's a vibrant Hispanic community which has become part of the local community.  So the culinary reflection indicates something deeper than just a regional taste for Mexican food.  Rather, it is indicative of the fact that all of these railroad towns had, and still have, vibrant Hispanic communities.

This has reflected itself over the years, additionally, through the Catholic churches in these towns.  In no area of Wyoming is any one parish made up of a majority Hispanic population, but in those towns where there is a significant Hispanic population, it has reflected itself in some way.  Those towns with significant Hispanic populations have seen it reflected, for example, in the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe events.  When I lived in Laramie in the 1980s, for example, St. Lawrence O'Toole's parish crowned a young couple as king and queen of the event, and had a major celebration in church which was complete with a brass and guitar band.  St. Anthony's church in Casper has sometimes seen similar, if less extensive, events.

Of course, with a long presence in the state, it's not surprising that the Hispanic community has members in every walk of life and profession.  Prominent educators, lawyers and physicians have come from within the community and contributed to the state.

Unlike the story of the Irish in Wyoming, this story really cannot be completely written at this time, as Wyoming's towns have  and industries have seen new Hispanic immigrants in recent years.  Receiving an influx of workers during boom times, to see an outward migration thereafter, is part of Wyoming's economic history, so how the current new residents will impact the state is really not known.  However, heavy industry, including the oil and gas industry, has employed a lot of migrant workers in recent years.  As has been the case for generations, service industries have as well, so that towns like Jackson, which at one time had fairly small Hispanic communities, now have very prominent ones.  So this story is incomplete.  But like the story of the Irish, it is one that goes back to the State's very beginnings.

May 1

Today is May Day, the International Workers' Holiday, in many localities
Today is Law Day in the United States, an observance created by the American Bar Association in the 1950s which was designed to counter Communist celebrations of May Day with a day dedicated to the rule of law.

1707 Parliament passes the Act of Union forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

1839   An 18 man party from Peoria, Illinois, under the leadership of Thomas J. Farnham, leaves Independence, Missouri, bound for Oregon.

1867  The Cheyenne leader, in boosterism typical for the day, declared Wyoming to be a "cattleman's paradise", citing to the grass and abundant water.

1868  Martha Jane Cannary, "Calamity Jane", arrived in Ft. Bridger.

1869  The Laramie Daily Sentinel starts publication:  Attribution:  On This Day.

1883  William F. Cody put on his first Wild West Show.

1898  The US defeats the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay, in the opening battle of the Spanish American War.  The Philippines would see the deployment of Wyoming volunteers by the end of the year when the Philippine Insurrection rapidly followed the Spanish American War.

1900 The Scofield mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah.

1903  Basin incorporated. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1909  Cheyenne replaces its volunteer fire department with a full time paid department.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916   Sinclair Oil Corporation founded on this day in 1916
 

 

 Sinclair advertisement in Hudson Wyoming.

Sinclair Oil Corporation, which recently announced a major turnaround at its refinery in Casper Wyoming, was founded on this day in 1916.

The founder of the company, Harry F. Sinclair, created the company by merging the assets of eleven small petroleum companies. 

The company has long had a presence in Wyoming with even a town being named after it.

 

Former Parco Hotel in Sinclair, which was once called Parco.

1918  Casper Daily Press for May 1, 1918.

We return today to the Casper newspaper.

The headline was correct, actually.  The Germans were stalling out massively in the second stage of the 1918 spring offensive.  And they were making a massive effort, commencing on May 1, to move large numbers of troops to the West.

Not that this didn't pose its challenges.  Only yesterday the Germans had help Ukraine take Sevastopol from the putative Crimean soviet republic.  This was accompanied by the Ukrainian navy moving its ships out of harms way for the time being, although the Germans occupied those that were left.  Lenin ordered their commander to scuttle them, and he refused, showing a Ukrainian navy that proved more loyal to Ukraine in 1918 than it did a couple of years back when it basically defected to Russia.  And the Germans were fighting in Finland against the Red Finns for the White Finns.

Nonetheless, they were moving troops west now, which they should have done months ago.  Having taken massive casualties in the spring offensive, they had little choice.

Eddie Rickenbacker, who really was a race car driver, made his appearance in the paper as a fighter pilot on this day, at least in the local paper, for the first time, thereby achieving the role for which he is remembered.

And Mother's Day was coming up.

1920 It was announced that Cheyenne was to become a principal stop on the new U.S. Air Mail service route.

1923   Frances Beard became State Historian.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1980   Fort Sanders was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

2017  A complete freeze on state hiring commences.

April 27

1813 U. S. Army officer Zebulon M Pike, who had been an early explorer of the West, killed in action at age 34 during the War of 18212. His forces capture Toronto.

1888 First Wyoming Arbor Day proclaimed.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916   Casper Daily Press for April 27, 1916
 

Posted by Pat, Marcus & Alexis at 5:00 PM
1944  The Wyoming Stock Growers Association gave the University of Wyoming its archives, a major contribution given the enormous role the WSGA had in the early history of the state. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1953  A derailment of a Union Pacific train in the Red Desert kills three crewmen.  Attribution:  On This Day.

2016   The ghost of the Crow Treaty of 1868 appears in a Wyoming court.
 

 

 Crow Indians, 1908. These men may have been living at the time the Ft. Laramie Treaty came into being.

The Casper Star Tribune reported that today the trial of Clayvin Herrera, a game warden on the Crow Reservation in southern Montana, commences today in Sheridan.  Herrera is charged with taking a big game animal in Wyoming out of season in 2014.  In other words, with poaching.  He is not only a game warden on the Crow Reservation, he is also a Crow Indian.

Of interest, he's relying on one of the Fort Laramie Treaties of 1868 as a defense.  The thesis is that the treaty grants the Crows hunting rights in Wyoming, which it did (and not just to the Crows, but to other tribes as well, in related treaties of the same vintage) and therefore hunting in Wyoming out of Wyoming's season isn't necessarily a violation of the law.  It's an attractive and even a romantic legal defense.

It won't work.

Citation to the 1868 treaties (there is more than one) for various things has been made before and the point of the state; that subsequent developments in history and Wyoming's statehood abrogated that part of the treaty, are fairly well established.  A very long time ago, well over two decades now, one of the Federal judges in the state became so irritated by such an attempt that he actually stated that the treaty with the Sioux of the same vintage and location also authorized (which I don't think it did) shooting at tribal members off the reservation and nobody thought that was the case any more, stating that in the form of a question.  Again, I think that remark was not only evidence of frustration, and highly inappropriate, but it was flat out wrong, the treaty never authorized that, but citation to the treaty on dead letters within it is pointless which I suppose was in his inartfully made point.

Which brings us to the actual point.  Ineffectual though they are, and they are, the 1868 treaties really live on as a psychological influence, and that's interesting. Indeed, it's an interesting aspect of the first three of our Laws of History.  After all this time an ineffectual treaty lives on, wounded, but still there, in some odd fashion.  And with it, some old arguments and fights.

The Treaty:

Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Fort Laramie, Dakota Territory, on the seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, by and between the undersigned commissioners on the part of the United States, and the undersigned chiefs and head-men of and representing the Crow Indians, they being duly authorized to act in the premises.

ARTICLE 1.

From this day forward peace between the parties to this treaty shall forever continue. The Government of the United States desires peace, and its honor is hereby pledged to keep it. The Indians desire peace, and they hereby pledge their honor to maintain it. If bad men among the whites or among other people, subject to the authority of the United States, shall commit any wrong upon the person or property of the Indians, the United States will, upon proof made to the agent and forwarded to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington City, proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United States, and also re-imburse the injured person for the loss sustained.

If bad men among the Indians shall commit a wrong or depredation upon the person or property of any one, white, black, or Indian, subject to the authority of the United States and at peace therewith, the Indians herein named solemnly agree that they will, on proof made to their agent and notice by him, deliver up the wrong-doer to the United States, to be tried and punished according to its laws; and in case they refuse willfully so to do the person injured shall be re-imbursed for his loss from the annuities or other moneys due or to become due to them under this or other treaties made with the United States. And the President, on advising with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, shall prescribe such rules and regulations for ascertaining damages under the provisions of this article as in his judgment may be proper. But no such damages shall be adjusted and paid until thoroughly examined and passed upon by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and no one sustaining loss while violating, or because of his violating, the provisions of this treaty or the laws of the United States shall be re-imbursed therefor.

ARTICLE 2.

The United States agrees that the following district of country, to wit: commencing where the 107th degree of longitude west of Greenwich crosses the south boundary of Montana Territory; thence north along said 107th meridian to the mid-channel of the Yellowstone River; thence up said mid-channel of the Yellowstone to the point where it crosses the said southern boundary of Montana, being the 45th degree of north latitude; and thence east along said parallel of latitude to the place of beginning, shall be, and the same is, set apart for the absolute and undisturbed use and occupation of the Indians herein named, and for such other friendly tribes or individual Indians as from to time they may be willing, with the consent of the United States, to admit amongst them; and the United States now solemnly agrees that no persons, except those herein designated and authorized so to do, and except such officers, agents, and employés of the Government as may be authorized to enter upon Indian reservations in discharge of duties enjoined by law, shall ever be permitted to pass over, settle upon, or reside in the territory described in this article for the use of said Indians, and henceforth they will, and do hereby, relinquish all title, claims, or rights in and to any portion of the territory of the United States, except such as is embraced within the limits aforesaid.

ARTICLE 3.

The United States agrees, at its own proper expense, to construct on the south side of the Yellowstone, near Otter Creek, a warehouse or store-room for the use of the agent in storing goods belonging to the Indians, to cost not exceeding twenty-five hundred dollars; an agency-building for the residence of the agent, to cost not exceeding three thousand dollars; a residence for the physician, to cost not more than three thousand dollars; and five other buildings, for a carpenter, farmer, blacksmith, miller, and engineer, each to cost not exceeding two thousand dollars; also a school-house or mission-building, so soon as a sufficient number of children can be induced by the agent to attend school, which shall not cost exceeding twenty-five hundred dolla

The United States agrees further to cause to be erected on said reservation, near the other buildings herein authorized, a good steam circular saw-mill, with a grist-mill and shingle-machine attached, the same to cost not exceeding eight thousand dollars.

ARTICLE 4.

The Indians herein named agree, when the agency-house and other buildings shall be constructed on the reservation named, they will make said reservation their permanent home, and they will make no permanent settlement elsewhere, but they shall have the right to hunt on the unoccupied lands of the United States so long as game may be found thereon, and as long as peace subsists among the whites and Indians on the borders of the hunting districts.

ARTICLE 5.

The United States agrees that the agent for said Indians shall in the future make his home at the agency-building; that he shall reside among them, and keep an office open at all times for the purpose of prompt and diligent inquiry into such matters of complaint, by and against the Indians, as may be presented for investigation under the provisions of their treaty stipulations, as also for the faithful discharge of other duties enjoined on him by law. In all cases of depredation on person or property, he shall cause the evidence to be taken in writing and forwarded, together with his finding, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, whose decision shall be binding on the parties to this treaty.

ARTICLE 6.

If any individual belonging to said tribes of Indians, or legally incorporated with them, being the head of a family, shall desire to commence farming, he shall have the privilege to select, in the presence and with the assistance of the agent then in charge, a tract of land within said reservation, not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres in extent, which tract, when so selected, certified, and recorded in the “land book,”as herein directed, shall cease to be held in common, but the same may be occupied and held in the exclusive possession of the person selecting it, and of his family, so long as he or they may continue to cultivate it.

Any person over eighteen years of age, not being the head of a family, may in like manner select and cause to be certified to him or her, for purposes of cultivation, a quantity of land not exceeding eighty acres in extent, and thereupon be entitled to the exclusive possession of the same as above directed.

For each tract of land so selected a certificate, containing a description thereof and the name of the person selecting it, with a certificate endorsed thereon that the same has been recorded, shall be delivered to the party entitled to it by the agent, after the same shall have been recorded by him in a book to be kept in his office, subject to inspection, which said book shall be known as the “Crow land book.”

The President may at any time order a survey of the reservation, and, when so surveyed, Congress shall provide for protecting the rights of settlers in their improvements, and may fix the character of the title held by each. The United States may pass such laws on the subject of alienation and descent of property as between Indians, and on all subjects connected with the government of the Indians on said reservations and the internal police thereof, as may be thought proper.

ARTICLE 7.

In order to insure the civilization of the tribe entering into this treaty, the necessity of education is admitted, especially by such of them as are, or may be, settled on said agricultural reservation; and they therefore pledge themselves to compel their children, male and female, between the ages of six and sixteen years, to attend school; and it is hereby made the duty of the agent for said Indians to see that this stipulation is strictly complied with; and the United States agrees that for every thirty children, between said ages, who can be induced or compelled to attend school, a house shall be provided, and a teacher, competent to teach the elementary branches of an English education, shall be furnished, who will reside among said Indians, and faithfully discharge his or her duties as a teacher. The provisions of this article to continue for twenty years.

ARTICLE 8.

When the head of a family or lodge shall have selected lands and received his certificate as above directed, and the agent shall be satisfied that he intends in good faith to commence cultivating the soil for a living, he shall be entitled to receive seed and agricultural implements for the first year in value one hundred dollars, and for each succeeding year he shall continue to farm, for a period of three years more, he shall be entitled to receive seed and implements as aforesaid in value twenty-five dollars per annum.

And it is further stipulated that such persons as commence farming shall receive instructions from the farmer herein provided for, and whenever more than one hundred persons shall enter upon the cultivation of the soil, a second blacksmith shall be provided, with such iron, steel, and other material as may be required.

ARTICLE 9.

In lieu of all sums of money or other annuities provided to be paid to the Indians herein named, under any and all treaties heretofore made with them, the United States agrees to deliver at the agency house, on the reservation herein provided for, on the first day of September of each year for thirty years, the following articles, to wit:

For each male person, over fourteen years of age, a suit of good substantial woolen clothing, consisting of coat, hat, pantaloons, flannel shirt, and a pair of woolen socks.
For each female, over twelve years of age, a flannel skirt, or the goods necessary to make it, a pair of woolen hose, twelve yards of calico, and twelve yards of cotton domestics.
For the boys and girls under the ages named, such flannel and cotton goods as may be needed to make each a suit as aforesaid, together with a pair of woollen hose for each.
And in order that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs may be able to estimate properly for the articles herein named, it shall be the duty of the agent, each year, to forward to him a full and exact census of the Indians, on which the estimate from year to year can be based.
And, in addition to the clothing herein named, the sum of ten dollars shall be annually appropriated for each Indian roaming, and twenty dollars for each Indian engaged in agriculture, for a period of ten years, to be used by the Secretary of the Interior in the purchase of such articles as, from time to time, the condition and necessities of the Indians may indicate to be proper. And if, at any time within the ten years, it shall appear that the amount of money needed for clothing, under this article, can be appropriated to better uses for the tribe herein named, Congress may, by law, change the appropriation to other purposes; but in no event shall the amount of this appropriation be withdrawn or discontinued for the period named. And the President shall annually detail an officer of the Army to be present and attest the delivery of all the goods herein named to the Indians, and he shall inspect and report on the quantity and quality of the goods and the manner of their delivery; and it is expressly stipulated that each Indian over the age of four years, who shall have removed to and settled permanently upon said reservation, and complied with the stipulations of this treaty, shall be entitled to receive from the United States, for the period of four years after he shall have settled upon said reservation, one pound of meat and one pound of flour per day, provided the Indians cannot furnish their own subsistence at an earlier date. And it is further stipulated that the United States will furnish and deliver to each lodge of Indians, or family of persons legally incorporated with them, who shall remove to the reservation herein described, and commence farming, one good American cow and one good, well-broken pair of American oxen, within sixty days after such lodge or family shall have so settled upon said reservation

ARTICLE 10.

The United States hereby agrees to furnish annually to the Indians the physician, teachers, carpenter, miller, engineer, farmer, and blacksmiths as herein contemplated, and that such appropriations shall be made from time to time, on the estimates of the Secretary of the Interior, as will be sufficient to employ such persons.

ARTICLE 11.

No treaty for the cession of any portion of the reservation herein described, which may be held in common, shall be of any force or validity as against the said Indians unless executed and signed by, at least, a majority of all the adult male Indians occupying or interested in the same, and no cession by the tribe shall be understood or construed in such a manner as to deprive, without his consent, any individual member of the tribe of his right to any tract of land selected by him as provided in Article 6 of this treaty.

ARTICLE 12.

It is agreed that the sum of five hundred dollars annually, for three years from the date when they commence to cultivate a farm, shall be expended in presents to the ten persons of said tribe who, in the judgment of the agent, may grow the most valuable crops for the respective year.

W. T. Sherman,
   Lieutenant-General.

Wm. S. Harney,
   Brevet Major-General and Peace Commissioner.

Alfred H. Terry,
   Brevet Major-General.

C. C. Augur,
   Brevet Major-General.

John B. Sanborn.

S. F. Tappan.

Ashton S. H. White, Secretary.

Che-ra-pee-ish-ka-te, Pretty Bull, his x mark. 

Chat-sta-he, Wolf Bow, his x mark. [SEAL.]

Ah-be-che-se, Mountain Tail, his x mark. 

Kam-ne-but-sa, Black Foot, his x mark. 

De-sal-ze-cho-se, White Horse, his x mark.

Chin-ka-she-arache, Poor Elk, his x mark. 

E-sa-woor, Shot in the Jaw, his x mark.

E-sha-chose, White Forehead, his x mark. 

—Roo-ka, Pounded Meat, his x mark. 

De-ka-ke-up-se, Bird in the Neck, his x mark. 

Me-na-che, The Swan, his x mark. 

Attest:

George B. Wills, phonographer.

John D. Howland.

Alex. Gardner.

David Knox.

Chas. Freeman.

Jas. C. O'Connor.

  

Crow hunters, 1909. 

 

 

April 18

1847     American troops under General Winfield Scott defeated Mexican forces under General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna at the Battle of Cerro Gordo during the Mexican War. Scott's engineers, including future Civil War generals R.E. Lee, G.B. McClellan, J.E. Johnston, and U.S. Grant, were instrumental in locating a flanking mountain trail, which Scott used to bring up his main force.

1875  Rain In The Face, with the aid of a sympathetic soldier, escaped from the stockade at Ft. Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory.

1887   Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth appeared in "Hamlet," in Cheyenne.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1890  The National Land & Livestock Co., incorporated with capital of $250,000, a massive amount at that time, given the value of the 1890 dollar.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1898  The U. S. House of Representatives passed the following resolution:

 1. That the people of the Island of Cuba are, and of right ought to be, free and independent.
2. That it is the duty of the United States to demand, and the Government of the United States does demand, that the Government of Spain at once relinquish its authority and government in the Island of Cuba, and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters.
3. That the president of the United States be, and he hereby is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the United States, and to call into the actual service of the United States the militia of the several states to such an extent as may be necessary to carry these resolutions into effect.
4. That the United States hereby disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction or control over said island, except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination when that is accomplished to leave the government and control of the island to its people.

1916   Casper Daily Press for April 18, 1916
 

The following evening, the paper was doubting the news of Villa's demise the day prior, and in a whimsical fashion.

A civil war in China, amazingly enough, managed to make the front page, in spite of the nearer strife.

1919  Apostol post office established.  Apostol would become Osage in 1920.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Library.

1920  Pilot Butte oil field abandoned.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1924  Harry Jackson, an artist heavily associated with Wyoming, born in Chicago.

1934     The U.S. Army stops officially issuing sabers to the cavalry.  Sabers would continue on, unofficially, in at least some National Guard units.  Unit returns of the Wyoming National Guard's 115th Cavalry Regiment demonstrated that it was still issuing them as late as 1940.

Elsewhere:

 1923     The first baseball game was played at Yankee Stadium in New York City.  The Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 4 to 1.  Babe Ruth hit a home run in the inaugural game.

1942     B-25s from the USS Hornet raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities.

April 12

1844   Texas became a US territory.

1861     The Civil War began as Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The Civil War would have a major impact on the policing of the West, and on Western immigration.  Very soon after the commencement of the war, Regular Army units were withdrawn from the Frontier, at the very same moment when emigration to California and Oregon, and other points West, increased.  This heightened tensions with Native tribes, which in turn caused the Federal Government to increasingly rely upon various state units raised for Civil War for Frontier duty.  Ultimately, the Federal Government would also deploy "Galvanized Yankees", i.e, southern POWs paroled upon volunteering for Frontier service.  All of this was played out in Wyoming, as well as the rest of the West.

1870  Sioux reservation in South Dakota created.

1889  Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show departs New York for Paris.

1892  An invader by the name of Dowling, having escaped the TA at night on the 11th, reached Douglas, over 100 miles away, and sent a telegraph to Gov. Barber that the invaders were in trouble.  Barber had been in on the plot and participated to the extent that he was not going to activate the Guard to intervene.  Barber asked for the President to intervene, claiming "An insurrection exists in Johnson County. . . "  The telegram to the President did not get through, however, and he then began to telegram Senators Warren and Carey.  Carey spoke to the President, after being reached, that evening and President Harrison ordered Gen. Brooke in Omaha to send troops.  Troops at Ft. McKinney were ordered to move and departed in the middle of the night.  During the day, the besiegers constructed and began to use an hastily fortified wagon to move their lines closer to the ranch house and barn.

1905  Wyoming Wool Growers Association founded.

1916  A clash occurs between US Regulars and Mexican Carranzaistas at Parrel.

The Punitive Expedition: The Battle of Parral. April 12, 1916

 Corporal Richard Tannous, 13th Cavalry, wounded at Parral.

U.S. cavalry under Major Frank Tompkins, who had been at Columbus the day it was raided and who had first lead U.S. troops across the border, entered Parral Mexico. At this point, the Punitive Expedition reached its deepest point in Mexico.

The entry was met with hostility right from the onset.  Warned by an officer of Carranzas that his Constitutionalist troops fire on American forces, Tompkins immediately started to withdraw them  During the withdraw, with hostile Mexican demonstrators jeering the U.S. forces, Mexican troops fired on the American forces and a battle ensued.  While Mexican forces started the battle, it was lopsided with the Mexicans suffering about sixty deaths to an American two.  Tompkins withdrew his troops from the town under fire and sought to take them to Santa Cruz de Villegas, a fortified town better suited for a defense.  There Tompkins sent dispatch riders for reinforcements which soon arrived in the form of more cavalrymen of the all black 10th Cavalry Regiment. 

This marked the high water mark of the Punitive Expedition.

LoC caption:  "Removing Sgt. Benjamin McGhee of the 13th Cavalry who was badly wounded at Parral, Mexico."

Casper Daily Press: April 12, 1916
 

1919  April 12, 1919. Turmoil.

Villers Carbonnel, France.  Formerly a village of 500 souls.  April 12, 1919.

Scenes like the one above may explain French discontent with the Peace, as reported by the Casper Daily News.

Bolshevik sympathy was reported as the cause of the recent mutiny or near mutiny in the 339th Infantry's Company I, fighting in northern Russia. That may seem extreme but in fact there was some truth to it. The Michigan contingent to the unit had been drawn from National Guardsmen who included a fair number of immigrants from Finland who held fairly left wing views going into service and who were, in fact, becoming somewhat confused over their role in Russia, and loosing sympathy with it. Of course, simply wondering why they were fighting and dying in a cause that they hadn't really signed on for had something to do with that as well.

Speaking of Bolsheviks, plenty was going on in Bavaria, as the paper noted.  On this day the German Communist Party seized control of the Bavarian government, displacing the anarchist who had taken over a couple of days prior.

A little closer to home, tragedy struck in Fremont County when Harry Kynes from Shoshoni, only recently returned to the United States, died of what was undoubtedly the Spanish Flu.

Also closer to home, the news had now broken that Col. Cavendar's death was a suicide, as we earlier related, and was in the news again.  

We discussed the sad tale of Col. Cavendar here earlier.  His death was first reported as a heroic sacrifice, and then it was discussed as a scandalous example of mistreatment of National Guard officers.   

The weekly The Judge was looking at baseball.

The magazine The Judge used a play on words on its cover, relating labor strikes, which had been much in the news, with striking out in baseball.

The Saturday Evening post was looking at Spring.

Tacoma Washing, April 12, 1919.

And Tacoma was photographed.

And so one really eventful week drew to a close.  Communist revolution in Bavaria, a mutiny in the American Army in Russia, the assassination of Emiliano Zapata, Japanese troops firing on Korean civilians. .. it must of been frightening to pick up the paper.

1920  The Rock Springs Hide & Fur Company  was destroyed by fire.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1934  Harry Sinclair purchased Parco.

1945  Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Ga., at age 63. Vice President Harry S Truman became president.

1967  A tornado, possibly one of several, hit ground near Veteran.

1984  Buffalo's Main Street historic district added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

2013  Soldiers of the Wyoming Army National Guard's 133d Engineering Company deploy to Bahrain.

2016   Lex Anteinternet: Marathon, Peabody and the airlines

And the news came today that Marathon has found a buyer for its Wyoming assets, the  topic we first touched upon here:

Lex Anteinternet: Marathon, Peabody and the airlines: This past week the state received the bad news that Marathon Oil Company, formerly Ohio Oil Company, which was once headquartered in Casper...

The buyer is Merit Energy.

All in all, this is good news for the state.  Merit's had along presence here and is a substantial operation, so  this would indicate that they are doing well and banking on the future of the petroleum industry in the state.