Tribune Black Fourteen Supplement

The Casper Star Tribune had a really nice supplement on the Black Fourteen as the main feature of its Sunday October 13, 2019 issue.

Well worth reading.

The Casper Star Tribune decides to put out a book on Casper's history.

The Casper Star Tribune is collection pre 1940s photographs for a book on Casper's history up through 1939 that it's putting out.  I'll be looking forward to the book.

It's interesting that they chose to run it up through 1939.  I'm not sure what the basis of their decision is, but that means they're cutting it off the year before the country mobilized for World War Two.  Perhaps that's the basis of it. 

It's also interesting that this will be the third such book in recent years. The first was A View From Center Street, which cataloged the works of a well known local photographer through his career and the second was a photo book that's part of a nationwide series.  Now the Tribune is taking on the same topic.  Apparently there must be a lot of interest in this topic, which is a good thing.  The Tribune, with statewide readership, stands a pretty good chance of having their book be the widest circulated although I suspect a lot of us locals will have all three.

Wyoming Newspapers

Wyoming Newspapers

Really neat resource!

December 28

1836 Spain recognizes the independence of Mexico.  This does not mean that Spain was in control of Mexico until 1836, but rather that it recognized Mexican sovereignty.  Spain had attempted to reconquer Mexico as late as 1829.

Interestingly, by the time Spain recognized Mexico, Texas was in rebellion against Mexico.

1865  Edward L. Baker Jr, a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for action in Cuba, born in Laramie County.  Baker, an African American, rose to the rank of Captain, an extraordinarily rare occurrence for a black American at that time.

1883  Lloyd Fredendall born at Ft. D. A. Russell where his father was then serving.  His father was not, however, a career soldier and would later become the Albany County Wyoming Sheriff.  Fredendall was appointed to West Point by Senator F. E. Warren, twice, being dismissed from the school once for poor academic performance and dropping out once.  None the less he was commissioned in to the Army after passing a qualifying exam while attending MIT.  He served in World War One, but did not see combat as he was assigned to positions in the Army's service schools in France.

During World War Two his fortunes rose early as he was favored by Marshall and liked by Eisenhower, both of whom admired his cocky demeanor.  He was assigned to major command positions in Operation Torch, but fell out of favor as he was not successful as an actual field commander.  He was replaced by Eisenhower following the American defeat at Kasserine Pass and spent the rest of the war in a training command in the United States, where he did secure promotion to the grade of Lt. General.  Historians have been hard on him, regarding his World War Two combat role proof that he was an inept commander.

1905  First issue of Worland Grit published.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1913  Western Meat Market burned in Superior.

1916   The Wyoming Tribune for December 28, 1916: Villa commanding 10,000.
 

The Tribune carried disturbing news about a resurgent Villa and a reluctant Carranza.

1917   December 28, 1917. Home Economics.
 

1920  Kamekichi Masuda of  Rock Springs received a patent for a basket.

1921  USS Laramie commissioned.

1921  A large prohibition  raid occurred in Rock Springs.

1928  Michael John Blyzka, major league baseball player, and resident of Cheyenne at the time of his death, born in   Hamtramck, Michigan.

1944  Governor Lester Hunt proclaimed the day to be Seabee Day.  The Seabees are the Navy's Construction Battalions, hence "CB", or Seabees.  While all of the armed services have always had engineers, the Seabees were an early World War Two creation that proved critical in the construction of airfields and other facilities during the U.S. campaigns in the Pacific during the war.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1993  A 4.7 magnitude earthquake occurs near Cody.

December 26. Boxing Day

Today is Boxing Day (except when falling on a Sunday, when by Royal Proclamation, it is transferred to Monday).

Boxing Day has its origin as a religious Holiday in association with Christmas, and some traditions associate it with St. Stephen's Day, which is celebrated on this day.  The exact origin of it is unclear, but the name may be associated with poor boxes placed outside of church's on St. Stephen's Day which were used to collect funds for the poor, or for boxed gifts serving a similar purpose.

The day is associated with sports in some localities, including the equine sports.  It is the biggest single day for fox hunting in the United Kingdom, even after the ban of live hunts in 2004.  It is a major fox hunting day in the United States.  The King George VI Chase at Kempton Park Racecourse in Surrey is held on Boxing Day.  

1813   The Spain granted Moses Austin permission to establish a colony of Americans expatriates in Texas.

1866   Brig. Gen. Philip St. George Cooke, head of the Department of the Platte received word of the Dec 21 Fetterman Fight in Powder River County in the Dakota territory.

1871   The newspaper the "Laramie Daily Independent".  Attribution.  On This Day .com.

1917     The U.S. government took over operation of the nation's railroads during World War One.

1917     The U.S. government took over operation of the nation's railroads during World War One.

 U.S. Capitol as viewed from a Washington D. C. rail yard, 1917.

This was a big deal.

The extent to which labor strife was a factor in the early US history of World War One is a story that tends to be drowned out by the opposite story during World War Two.  With the lesson of the first war behind it, labor was highly cooperative during the Second World War and, for that matter, the war brought massive employment relief from the ongoing Great Depression.

The story wasn't at all same in regards to World War One.  Going into the war the nation was faced with labor strife in the critical coal and railroad industries.  On this day the Federal Government, giving a late unwelcome present to the railroads, nationalized rail and put the lines under the United States Railroad Administration.  The USRA would continue to administer rail until March 1, 1920.

The action wasn't solely designed to address the threat of rail stoppages by any means.  Rail was critical to the nation and formed the only means of interstate national transportation.  This would largely remain the case in World War Two as well, of course, but by then there were beginning to be some changes to that. For that matter, its frankly the case far more today than people imagine.  But in the teens, rail was absolutely predominant.

In spite of that, and in spite of their best efforts, the railroads simply found themselves unable to address the massively increased burden on the various national private companies, the accompanying inflation in rail prices, and addressing the needs of labor.  The Interstate Commerce Commission did what it could, but it finally recommended nationalization in December, 1917.  The President took action on the recommendation on this day.

The USRA's sweep was surprisingly broad, and it even included the standardization of locomotives and rail cars.  Over 100,000 railroad cars and 1,930 locomotives were ordered for the war effort, which the USRA then leased.

USRA Light Mikado pattern locomotive.

Showing, perhaps, the radical spirit of the time, the railroad employees unions not only supported the nationalization, but hoped and urged it to continue following the war.  This of course had no support outside unions and more radical quarters.  Nonetheless, because the formal legislative act that approved the nationalization, which came in March, had provided that the rail lines had to be returned to private ownership within 21 months following the conclusion of the war the failure of the United States to sign the Versailles Treaty necessitated a separate act to do the same, with that act strengthening the powers of the ICC.

1918  Boxing Day, 1918

The December 26, 1918 edition of Life Magazine, which at that time was a magazine that featured humor, although this image, if it's supposed to be humorous, isn't.

December 26 is Boxing Day, a holiday in almost all of the English speaking world except, for some odd reason, the United States. Given that much of the United States's holiday traditions that are older stem from the United Kingdom,  including some aspects of the Christmas holidays, it's surprising that Boxing Day isn't observed in the U.S. while it is in nearby Canada.*

Australian convalescence soldiers and volunteers out on Boxing Day, 1918.  Photo courtesy of the University of Wollongong, Australia.

In most of the English speaking world, the day is a day off.  It's also a day that has traditionally been devoted to sports and the like.  In British Army units, including units from the Dominions, it's likely that there were games of various types.  Horse racing and equestrian sports, which are a traditional Boxing Day activity, likely was likely part of that.  FWIW, it was in Austria that year (maybe it is every year), as soccer matches were held.

Whatever else was going on in the UK, dignitaries were meeting Woodrow Wilson who was visiting the country.  Elsewhere, British troops were engaged in active combat service, as for example off the coast of Estonia where the HMS Calypso and the HMS Caradoc ran the Red Russian Navy destroyer Spartak aground.

In New York, the U.S. Navy, or rather some elements of it, were committed to a big victory parade.

The Laramie Boomerang reported on the celebrations in New York City.

*Examples of British holidays incorporated into American tradition are Thanksgiving, which isn't really a thing though up by the Mayflower Pilgrims (it was a commonly observed English harvest religious holiday) and the observation of Halloween, which originally was an Irish observation of All Hallowed Even in which the poor went door to door in search of the gift of food in exchange for a promise to pray for that family's dead.

1920  Pancho Villa escapes from prison in Mexico and crosses into the US.

1922  A holdup of a Casper army store results in $112.00 being stolen.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1929  This Christmas Tree was photographed somewhere in Wyoming:

1941   President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

1941  Rawlins Wyoming employment office received an urgent call for skilled workmen and laborers to work at Peal Harbor.  No doubt the same request was made in many localities across the country.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1944  Kentucky beat Wyoming in football, 50 to 46, in Buffalo New York.

2006     Gerald R. Ford, the 38th president of the United States, died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at age 93.  Ford was born in Omaha Nebraska to parents  Dorthy and Leslie Lynch King and was originally named Leslie L. King Jr.  His parents separated a mere sixteen days after his birth, and he saw his father only once during his lifetime.  His father, not an admirable person, provides a connection with Wyoming, however, as the senior king lived in Riverton for many years and his paternal grandfather was a successful businessman in Casper, Douglas, Lander and Omaha.  Ford later worked as a park ranger in Yellowstone National Park in 1936.

2008  A swarm of over 900 earthquakes occurred in Yellowstone over a wide area.  The earthquakes measured up to 3.9 on the Richter Scale.

November 26

1835  Texas forces defeated Mexican forces in the Grass Fight near San Antonio.

1863   President Abraham Lincoln proclaims November 26th as a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated annually on the final Thursday of November (since 1941, on the fourth Thursday).

1916   The Cheyenne Leader for November 26, 1916 (but with a date error): U.S. Ready to Ratify Protocol With Mexico
 

We need to note here that the Leader made an error on its date on page 1.  To show that, we've uploaded page 2 as well.  This was the November 26 paper, note the November 25 paper.

Woodrow Wilson, the Leader reported, was ready to ratify the protocol with Mexico. But was Carranza ready?  The battle appeared to be turning for Carranza's enemy, Villa, in Chihuahua.

In Washington, John E. Osborne, former Wyoming Governor, appeared to be pondering leaving his Assistant Secretary of State position in the Wilson administration in order to head back to Wyoming. 

And sad news was reported regarding the death if Inez Milholland Bossevain, who had been in Cheyenne during the Presidential campaign.

And the Governor put out a Thanksgiving message for the upcoming holiday. 

1918  November 26, 1918. Letters home with scruffy photos. News photographs with polish appearance. Wyoming for Pershing? The murder of the Jews of Lvov, Rumors of War between Peru and Chile.

Post card home of Harold A. Stivers, 311th Infantry, 78th Division.  Stivers refers to his dress, which he regarded as a little rough.  It is interesting.  He's wearing the by then standard overseas cap and a leather jerkin.  American troops wore the jerkin much less often than the British, with whom it had become standard late in the war.  He notes that his puttees aren't wrapped correctly.  Puttees, used by the British and the French during the war, were adopted by the Americans but they didn't completely replace leggings.  After the war, the American Army quickly went back to leggings.

The contrasting photograph of Gen. Leroy S. Upton, commander of the 57th Bde, 29th Division, who presents a much more polished appearance. Gen. Upton is wearing private purchase lace up, and thick soled, riding boots with speed laces. . . a much preferable piece of footgear for actual field conditions than the standard field boots of the time.

One of the Cheyenne newspapers was declaring that Wyoming would support drafting Pershing for a 1920 Presidential run, or otherwise supporting him in that effort.

No doubt, the news was not in error.  Pershing was the son in law of Francis E. Warren, Wyoming's Senator, and very well remembered there.

And the tax on automobiles was coming off.

The other Cheyenne paper was reporting about the looming war between Chile and Peru, and on the horror of ethnic genocide in Lvov.  And there was fighting, of a different type, in the streets of New York City.

1919  USS Laramie, a fleet replenishment oiler,  launched.

1926  Utah's John M. Browning died.  Browning is regarded as the most successful firearms designer of all time.

1934  Charles E. Richardson, publisher of the Rock Springs Daily Rocket-Miner from 1974 to 2005 born in Newcastle Wyoming.

1942  Lusk announces they will forgo outdoor Christmas lights in accordance with a request from the War Production Board.  Attribution.  Wyoming History Calendar.

1948  Former Governor Frank E. Lucas died in  Buffalo, Wyoming.  He had been Wyoming's Secretary of State from 1923 to 1927, and Governor in 1925 after the death of Governor Ross.  He left office in 1927 and spent the rest of his life as the editor and publisher of the Buffalo Bulletin.

1984  Big Nose George Parrott's remains given to the Carbon County Museum.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

2004  The Snake River Ranch added to the National Registry of Historic Places. 

November 23

1888 The Casper Weekly Mail newspaper established.

1903  Colorado Gov. Peabody calls up the Colorado National Guard and sends them to Cripple Creek on strike breaking duty, one of the duties most detested by the National Guard of this era.

1914  The last of U.S. forces withdraw from Veracruz, occupied seven months earlier in response to the Tampico Affair.  The crisis in Mexico would continue, and spill over the border early the following year, an event which would cause the Federalization of the National Guard, including Wyoming's.

1918  November 23, 1918. Marching into turmoil

American troops entering Metz by truck.

American troops marching into Thionville on foot.

Opening of  an American Red Cross canteen in Paris.

Army Air Service School, Rockwell Field, San Diego.  Trained pilots who wouldn't be going to Europe.

1921  An earthquake shook Sheridan County.  Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.

Wednesday, November 23, 1921. Geology in Sheridan County, Welfare in the United States, Murder in Ukraine

Charles Russell illustrated letter of today's date.

On this date, we're reminded that Wyoming is tectonically active:

Today In Wyoming's History: November 23, 1921:

1921  An earthquake shook Sheridan County.  Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.

Earthquakes in Wyoming are not at all uncommon.

The Sheppard-Towner Act, which we dealt with earlier, that provided funding for maternity and child care, as signed into law by Republican President, Warren G. Harding.

Harding knew a little about childcare. At this point his illegitimate daughter, Elizabeth Ann Britton was a little over two years old.  She was not acknowledged, and the public had no idea.

In Bazar, Ukraine, the Red Army executed 359 Ukrainian soldiers who had surrendered to them.

1925   The USS Wyoming commences an overhaul at the New York Navy Yard.

1934  Moderate earthquake felt in Lander, Atlantic City, Riverton and Rock Springs.

1936  Work began on Wheatland Reservoir #1.  Dam construction was a popular Depression Era activity across the Western United States not only because of the work it provided, and the benefit to agriculture, but because of a belief that projects of this type would help directly beneficially impact the climate.

1939  President Franklin Roosevelt carved the turkey at Warm Springs in the first of several Thanksgivings that were celebrated on two separate dates, this date being a week earlier than the traditional date. It had been moved up to increase the shopping time between Thanksgiving and Christmas in the hopes of boosting sales during the Depression.  The move was unpopular and Congress restored the traditional date in 1941.

1945     World War Two meat and butter rationing ends in US.

1947   The southwestern portion of Montana was struck by a magnitude 6 1/4 earthquake whcih was also felt in northwestern Wyoming.

2000 Buffalo records its coldest Thanksgiving Day Temperature, 12F.  It's been colder than that this year (2011), so perhaps we'll break the record.

October 10

1872  The newspaper the "Evanston Age" established in Uinta County. Attribution:  On This Day.

1877  A West Point funeral was held for George A. Custer.

1890  A mine explosion at Almy kills one. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1902  Tom Horn tried for the murder of Willie Nickell.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1916   Douglas Enterprise for October 10, 1916. A letter from a Guardsman
 

1919  October 10, 1919. The Air Race

The 1919 Air Derby was the big news, already displacing the Red Sox's victory over what would become to be known as the Black Sox in the 1919 World Series.

The race in Wyoming, however, was marred by the news that a pilot had gone down near Elk Mountain, or more accurately sought of Elk Mountain over Oberg Pass.

The aviators were actually flying near Coad Peak, but the result was just as deadly.

Death would also be visiting a 16 year old in the state. . sentenced for murder.

And Casper was getting into the aviation world as well with plans to become the aviation center of the state.

It would in fact achieve that goal, but not for some years.  Cheyenne, in fact, would become that first, and then lose that position given its close proximity, in air miles, to Denver.

Naval base, Hampton Roads, Virginia.  October 10, 1919.

1922:   Lowell O'Bryan Memorial, University of Wyoming, Laramie Wyoming.
 

This is the monument to Lowell O'Bryan at the University of Wyoming.  O'Bryan was a University of Wyoming student who was topping off horses that were to be used in a celebration to greet incoming University President Arthur G. Crane when one of the horses broke and headed towards a fence and a group of students.  O'Bryan, an experienced rider, went to dismount the horse and turn it while it was breaking, which was experienced at doing, but the saddle slipped and he was thrown under the horse, receiving fatal injuries as a result.  O'Bryan's 1922 death was memorialized by this feature, which is a drinking fountain of an unusual design.

O'Bryan might also be commemorated in the murals that were formerly in the student lounge and which are now in the west ballroom of the Student Union, although that is not clear.  Several different figures in the murals may depict O'Bryan.

The lamps shown here are near the fountain are not part of its design, but rather were placed in that location in front of Old Main in 1911.

1926  This photo of a wrecker recovering a wrecked car taken.
1992  A 4.0 earthquake occurred outside of Riverton.

September 19

1867  The printing of the Cheyenne Leader shifted from Denver to Cheyenne.  The Leader was the first newspaper to be published in what later would become Wyoming.  Attribution:  On This Day.

The September 19, 1867 Cheyenne Leader.

1890  The Union Pacific issued 50,000 copies of a pamphlet which advertised Wyoming's resources.

Advertising of this type by railroads was very common, and railroads were instrumental in encouraging settlement in Western states in the closing decades of the 19th Century and the opening decades of the 20th Century. Being the only means of transporting goods across the continent at the time, the railroads were strongly interested in encouraging the development and settlement of the West.

Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1900  The Wild Bunch robbed  First National Bank of Winnemucca, Nevada.

1903   William C. Irvine, who was associated with the Invaders in the Johnson County War, was appointed State Treasurer.  Henry G. Hay resigned as State Treasurer on the same day.

1918   The Casper Record: The Spanish Flu appears on the first page. September 19, 1918.
 

World War One was making most of the headlines, but another global disaster that would take millions of lives was making its appearance.  The Spanish Flu was now on Casper's front page.

2010  A 3.6 earthquake occurred near Jackson.

June 12

1847  Mormon emigrants in Brigham Young's wagon train reached the Platte River near the present location of Casper.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1863  First newspaper in Wyoming published in Ft. Bridger.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1867  The 2nd Cavalry sustains a loss when a trooper is killed by Indians at Ft. Phil Kearny.

1867  Negotiations with Man Afraid of His Horses at Ft. Laramie break down over his request for ammunition.

1880  The remaining portions of Crow territory in Wyoming were ceded to the United States.

1890  The brewery in Laramie sold its first beer.  Up until Prohibition, small local breweries were extremely common in the United States.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1918  The Wyoming State Tribune: A dread occurrence in headgear. June 12, 2018.

The war raged on and the Army had authorized the "rabbit cap".

I've never heard it called that, but I know what they meant.  They meant the Garrison Cap, or Overseas Cap.  That useless piece of headgear which every soldier was afflicted with in varying degrees for decades, and which is still worn by Veterans Organizations.

World War One soldier wearing the complete assortment of wartime gear, including the garrison cap, puttees, and wartime roughout "Pershing boots".  He is carrying the M1917 Enfield Rifle, rather than the M1903.

They'll be more on this in an upcoming thread.  Probably more than one.  Suffice it to say, the cap had no real virtues other than that its flat and doesn't take up any room if you aren't wearing it.  Based on a French pattern, it sufficed for some sort of hat for men who were wearing helmets in combat, and therefore had to keep their campaign hats somewhere while at the front, which was a pain.

But it was around forever.

1920  The 1st Reg, Wyoming Cavalry, National Guard, organized.  It would become the 115th Cavalry Rgt in 1922.

Contrary to what many may expect, cavalry units in the National Guard were greatly expanded following World War One, as the National Guard became more closely aligned with the overall needs of the U.S. Army.

1921   President Harding urged every young man to attend military training camp.

1930  An earthquake collapsed a building in Grover.

2021  Mills Wyoming celebrated 100 years as a municipality in its annual Summerfest event. The anniversary was marked by speeches from the Wyoming Secretary of State, Senator Barasso, and Mayor Coleman.