April 10

1803   Napoleon told his Treasury Minister that he was considering selling Louisiana to the United States. Attribution:  On This Day.

1768   The Marqués de Rubí filed a report recommending that Spain abandon East Texas, exterminate the Lipan Apaches and maintain only San Antonio and Santa Fe north of the Rio Grande.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1875  U. S. Cavalry escorts an illegal Black Hills mining party, the Gordon Party, to Ft. Laramie.

1878  John W. Hoyt appointed Territorial Governor.  Hoyt was a well educated polymath and had not sought the job.

1890  Red sandstone quarry opened at Iron Mountain.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1892  The news of the invasion spread in Johnson County and the local population began to react.  Jack Flagg, after having nearly been caught by the invaders rode north spreading the news.  The invaders soon received news themselves that residents of the county were in alarm and armed men were on the way to counter them.  An argument ensued as to whether to take refuge at the T. A. Ranch and hole up in anticipation of an assault by Johnson County residents, and in order to wait for anticipated relief from Federal troops from Ft. McKinney or to proceed with the attack and head to Buffalo.  In the meantime, a posse lead by Sheriff "Red" Angus in fact arrived at the KC and found the dead bodies of Nate Champion and Nick Ray, and that the Nolan cabin, which had been leased by Champion, had been fired.  They the returned to Buffalo, a round trip of 120 miles.  The Johnson County Invaders begin to dig in and fortify at the T. A. Ranch.   The Invaders suffered two defections, who rode off towards Buffalo on their Western Union leased horses (horses from Western Union had been leased for the invasion.  They were arrested in Buffalo.  One of the men had been a reporter, and was released when Major Fechet, from Ft. McKinney, vouched for him.  In the mean time, Flagg and 49 men had traveled to the TA.

The events of April 10 are illuminating in showing how badly lead the expedition was.  In the several days that had passed since the invaders disembarked in Casper, they had been delayed by weather near Casper, and had only managed to launch an assault on the Champion cabin.  In spite of  grossly outnumbering the cabin defenders, defeating Champion had taken all day, and the decision to attack the cabin, and Champions stalwart defense of it, had resulted in the invading party loosing a critical day.  Their leased horses were being depleted, rumors were rife as to what was going on, and their presence had been discovered in Johnson County near the southern end of the county.  Authorities in Buffalo, on the other hand, together with Johnson County residents, were reacting swiftly.  Sheriff Angus, unlike the invaders, managed to ride to the Champion cabin and back, a whopping 120 mile round trip, and put together a posse, inside of 24 hours.  Johnson County residents, for their part, managed to actually form an ad hoc armed band equally as large as the invading party and, by the end of this day, besiege the invaders.

1909  News of the Spring Creek raid hit the papers.

1980  The Chapel of the Transfiguration added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

1994  A 4.6 earthquake happens in southwestern Wyoming.

2020  Good Friday, which was proclaimed by Governor Gordon as a Day of Prayer in light of the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Holscher's Hub: The Blizzard of 13.

Holscher's Hub: The Blizzard of 13.:  U.S. Federal Courthouse, April 8, 2013.  April 9, 2013.  April 9, 2013.  Just before I blew the fuze on the windshield wipe...

April 9

1682 Robert La Salle reached the Mississippi River.

1867  The Senate approved the purchase of Alaska.

1884  Death, on the Wind River Reservation of an elderly Shoshone woman whose grave marker lists her as Sacajawea.  She almost certainly was not, but at the time of this woman's death there were those championing that idea, and some still adhere to it.

1890  F. E. Warren inaugurated as first governor of the State of Wyoming.  Warren was a Civil War recipient of the Medal of Honor, and would shortly become Wyoming's Senator.  His daughter married John F. Pershing, and his name was later given to Cheyenne's Warren Air Force Base, which was first Ft. F. E. Warren.  He is not wholly without controversy, as he was closely associated with the Wyoming Stock Growers Association at the time of the Invasion, and it is fairly clear that he had at least some tangential involvement with the events of that time.  His association with events nearly cost him his Senatorial seat.

1890  Government conducts auction of buildings and furniture at Ft. Laramie.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1892  The siege of the Champion cabin at the KC Ranch commenced at 4:00 AM when the men built sagebrush fires for heat near the point of their intended assault. The invasion was already going badly, as in the three days since it had commenced it had advanced only 50 miles and taken no action other than to rip down a series of telegraph lines, a tactic that would be adopted by their opponents who would take it up to keep the news of the failure of the action from happening later.  Weather was playing a factor, as snowy weather took the imported Texas gunmen off guard, as they had not dressed for winter, April still being a winter month in Wyoming.  The siege at the KC would last all day long, in spite of the defenders number only three men, only one of whom was wanted by the invaders.  The invaders numbered about 50.  The invaders ultimately killed Nate Champion, who was one of their prime opponents by their reasoning, but the end of the action would see an invader casualty as well, when one of them suffered an ultimately fatal gunshot wound when his horse objected to his mounting.  Grossly overweight, the Wyoming cow pony blew up upon his attempting to re mount, ultimately throwing the rider and taking off his rifle at the same time, which discharged.  Nick Ray, who as at the Champion cabin at the time of the assault, was also killed in the battle. Two trappers who were present were basically removed from the fighting.

 Nate Champion, center, and Dud Champion, far right.  Dud Champion would be murdered by an unknown killer the following year.

Some Gave All: Last Stand of Nate Champion, Buffalo Wyoming: A monument on the corner of Big Horn and Main in Buffalo Wyoming, commemorating Nate Champions attempted dash from his cabin.

April 9, 1916:   Sunday State Leader: April 9, 1916
 

April 9 was a Sunday in 1916.  The Casper papers didn't print an edition on Sundays at that time.  Indeed, the big paper, if we'd call it that, for the Casper Daily Press was the Friday edition, which recapped the news of the week.

The Cheyenne paper, which Casperites would likely not be getting, did print a Sunday edition however.  This is it, for that day.

1937   Nina Moran appointed State Librarian and exofficio State Historian.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1938  These Mason's photographed in Hanna. Fraternal organizations had much broader membership at this time, and also were much more important in community life.

1942  The Wartime Civilian Control Agency established to administer wartime internment.

1992  Gale McGee, Wyoming's Senator from 1959 to 1977, and later U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States, died.

2004  Marine Corps Lance Corporal Chance Phelps killed in action in Iraq.

2016:   Our entry for this date on Lex Anteinternet.

Tracking the Presidential Election, 2016, Part II

I started this thread at the commencement of the 2016 Election Season:

Tracking the Presidential Election, 2016

The focus of this blog, at least theoretically, is on events of a century ago.  Indeed, the event that really motivated the concept of a novel and hence this support blog occurred 100 years ago, and is coming right up.  So we should be looking at the 1916 Presidential election.

That election, as the readers here well know, featured Woodrow Wilson in a contest against Charles E. Hughes. Wilson, of course, campaigning on "He kept us out of war" won.

President Woodrow Wilson.

Charles E. Hughes.  Maybe the beard, in the post bearded era, did in his chances.

I can't compare that election to the current one, as it was nothing like it.  I can compare, and often have, President Obama with President Wilson (without Wilson's racism, however) as in my view they're both guilty of confusing talk with action.

When I did that it was my intent to run that thread all the way through to the end of the campaign.

It's proven to be impossible, however, as the thread has grown impossibly large, and now when I update it the effect is to wipe out all of the other posts on the first page of the blog.  It's basically threatening to suck the life out of the blog, the same way this election is sucking the life out of the country, or so it seems.

So, I've decided to stop trying to update one single entry and start a part two.  There may be more parts later on, depending upon how things go.  There probably will be.

And this is a good point at which to do this, as the race really seems to have turned a corner recently.  It isn't the same race that the pundits were declaring inevitable results for just a couple of weeks ago, although it should be noted that we never did that here.

So, here's part two.

First, the tell of the tape as of today, following the Wisconsin victory for Cruz and Sanders, and the Colorado victory for Sanders.

Democrats (needed to win 2,383)

Clinton:  1,740, or 1,739 (469 Superdelegates)

Sanders:  1055 or 1070 (31 Superdelegates).

Martin O'Malley:  1 (now out)

Republicans (needed to win, 1,237)

Donald Trump:  737 or 753 (1 of which is an unpledged delegate)

Ted Cruz: 505 or 478 (12 of which are unpledged).

Marco Rubio: 171 or 173  (now out)
John Kasich: 143 or 144

Ben Carson: 8  (now out)

Jeb Bush: 4  (now out).

Carly Fiorina:  1 (now out)

Ron Paul:  1 (now out).

Commentary. 

First let us note that the Trump tallies have gone down, that's right, down, since the last tally.

And Marco Rubio's have gone up.  Yes, up, even though he's out.

This race is far from over.

Now, I've been saying that all along, in spite of the press treatment of this race as being over and Trump and Clinton as being the nominees.  They aren't the nominees yet.

And there's more than a fair chance they won't be.

Indeed the pundits have now stated that the race is up in the air.  Last weekend one of them actually blew up at the assertion that Sanders couldn't win the Democratic nomination and that Trump had won the Republican nomination.  And there's suddenly a lot of discussion of the convention rules and what they mean, or the fact that there really aren't any rules.

A lot of things have gone into this, including a sharper focus in the GOP race on the various positions and statements of the candidates. And in spite of the assertions to the contrary, Kasich remaining in the race appears to be hurting Trump but not helping Cruz.  On the Democratic side discontent with Clinton and a surprisingly broad appeal for Sanders is making it far from certain that Clinton will gain enough delegates to prevent a contested convention.

And, as one of the pundits this past weekend finally admitted, there really is no prior convention or even election that provides a useful guild, as up until recently the conventions weren't dominated by primary elections, but by state conventions. So, we may be back, oddly enough, to the old free form convention of old.  Indeed, I suspect we are.

So, given that, my prediction right now is that neither the GOP or the Democrats enter conventions with the result of the race determined.

And if that occurs, on the GOP side Trump will not be the nominee.  He lacks a majority of the delegates now, and that may still be the case by the convention.  And, if he has a plurality, it will not matter.  I'd give Cruz less than a 50% chance of being the nominee as well.  Kasich, maybe, but more likely than that a candidate not currently running.

And while I think it more likely that Clinton take the nomination in a contested convention, I don't think its a guaranteed result by any means.  Sanders still stands a chance, as does a candidate not running at the present time, including Biden.  Sanders is actually within striking distance of Clinton on pledged delegates, and if his tally exceeds that of Clinton's the Superdelegates may truly being to fall apart for Clinton. At least some will defect, or being to look for a compromise candidate.

For the first time in a very long time, it's actually possible that the candidates in the fall might not be those who ran prior to the conventions.

First Commentary Followup

The real nature of the national contests this year is showing up in a surprising way locally. Wyoming is actually getting a lot of attention from the various campaigns, save for the Kasich campaign, which might tell us something about it. 

The Democrats hold their county conventions this Saturday.  The vote at the county level will determine the elected delegates.  The Superdelegates have already pledged for Clinton in spite of the strong state wide general dislike of Clinton. 

Demonstrating how tight this race really is, at the local and national level, both campaigns have sent representatives of surprising nature here recently.  Earlier this week Jane Sanders spoke in Casper.  On the same day, Bernie Sanders spoke in Laramie.  The choice of Laramie, Wyoming's most liberal town (omitted Jackson, whose demographics don't reflect the state very well) was a wise one showing some knowledge of demographics in the state on the part of somebody.

And Sanders has been running television ads. These may be the first Democratic pre convention ads to be ever run in the state.

The Clinton's sent Bill Clinton to Cheyenne.  In Cheyenne he gave a speech where he mentioned the plight of coal.  That shows that they're paying attention to what is going on in the state, but it's also the sort of thing that is fueling the sort of cynicism that is drawing in a lot of people to Trump and Sanders this year.  I doubt very much that anyone here thinks the Clinton's really feel that coal has a long term future in the national energy picture.  Sanders is opposed to fracking, which is part of his national plank, which will mean than in a general election he'll be a flop here, amongst other reasons, but at least he's honest about it.

The Republican state convention is on April 12.  The GOP system is odd as the county conventions have already been held and chose delegates, with nine out of twelve going for Cruz.  The remainder of the twenty-nine total will be chosen at the state convention.

Cruz will come and address the convention, again showing how tight the national election is.  The Trump campaign is sending Sarah Palin to address the GOP convention.  Idaho Governor Butch Otter will cross the state lines to address the delegates for Kasich.

On the Kasich campaign, their choice is the oddest and saddest, and they basically haven't mounted a campaign here. Perhaps that's because they felt that they didn't have a chance here, or perhaps they don't have the cash or the base. There were Rubio supporters in Wyoming although Rubio did not show well at the county conventions.  This is all odd as Cruz is vulnerable for his stated views, in Idaho, about public lands.  Public lands in public hands is a huge issue here and the vast majority of Wyomingites are hugely in favor of keeping it that way.  Trump is known to favor keeping the lands in public hands, Cruz actually favors privatizing them.  Kasich's views are unknown, but if his views on this issue mirrored Trump's, Clinton's and Sander's, he'd have an opening I suspect.  A lot of the votes going to Cruz here now are simply going to him as he's not Sanders.  Otherwise I suspect the support isn't deep.  Cruz is definitely running the best, and most politically astute, campaign here on the GOP side.

___________________________________________________________________________________

April 8, 2016

Updated totals following Colorado.

Democrats (needed to win 2,383)

Clinton:  1,767 (469 Superdelegates)

Sanders:  1 110 (31 Superdelegates)

Martin O'Malley:  1 (now out)

Republicans (needed to win, 1,237)

Donald Trump:  743 (1 of which is an unpledged delegate)

Ted Cruz: 520 (12 of which are unpledged).

Marco Rubio: 171 or 173  (now out)
John Kasich: 143 or 144

Ben Carson: 8  (now out)

Jeb Bush: 4  (now out).

Carly Fiorina:  1 (now out)

Ron Paul:  1 (now out).

Commentary

Why is a Clinton victory regarded as inevitable, when she has over 600 delegates left to capture, while a brokered convention in the GOP is regarded as likely when Trump is about 500 delegates away from securing the GOP nomination?

I'm not saying that a Trump victory is inevitable. Rather, I"m saying that a Clinton victory isn't.

April 10, 2016

Yesterday the Wyoming Democratic Caucus was held.  Here's the new table:

Democrats:  Needed to win, 2,383.

Clinton: 1,774 (469 of which are Superdelegates)

Sanders:  1,117 (31 of which are Superdelegates)

Republicans:  Needed to win, 1,237.

Trump:  743 (of which 1 is an unpledged delegates).

Cruz:  532 (of which 12 are unpledged delegates)

Rubio:  171.  Rubio has suspended his campaign.

Kasich:  143.

Carson:  8  Carson has suspended his campaign.

Bush:  4  Carson has suspended his campaign.

Fiorina:  1  Fiorina has dropped out of the race.

Paul:  1  Paul has dropped out of the race.

Commentary

Okay, a couple of comments.

First of all, these tallies are based on those kept by the New York Times.  You can find alternate ones that vary, sometimes quite significantly.  None of the alternate tallies impact who is the front runner, but they truly are different.  The Times is generally a lower tally.

Part of this might be based on the fact that there's actually more doubt in who takes what in terms of delegates than might initially appear to be the case.  So at any one time time, there could be a 20 delegate swing in the top contenders.  Indeed, these tallies tend to change a bit days after an election is supposedly concluded as the actual picking of the delegates commences.

Next, the Wyoming Democratic vote was yesterday.  This vote is very illustrative of a couple of things.  One of them is that Hillary Clinton has a huge likeability problem.  The second one is that Sanders has a very difficult time getting to where he needs to be even "winning" a state.

You'd have expected that a well established candidate link Clinton would have blown the doors off the Sanders campaign bus against Sanders.  Wyoming's basic outlook on things tends towards the Libertarian, and Sanders Socialist world outlook is about as far from the average Wyomingites as can be imagined.  None the less, Sanders took over 50% of the Democratic vote.  A lot of that is simply because people don't like Hillary Clinton.  Even with the endorsement of one of the state's former governors Clinton couldn't take the state in terms of the popular vote.

None the less, in delegate breakdown, she took the same number of elected delegates that Sanders did.  They each took seven. So if its a "victory", it's a Pyrrhic victory.  The real result is a wash.  Neither candidate really pulled ahead.  If Sanders can really pull ahead somehow, the seven delegates he took in Wyoming might matter.  But right now they surely do not.  Moreover, all of the state's superdelegates are presently pledged to Clinton, giving us an example of exactly what Sanders has been saying shouldn't happen. The majority of Wyoming Democrats, barely, might want Sanders, but the majority of the state's delegates, after the superdelegates are considered, are going to Clinton.

How the Democrats got themselves into this mess is interesting, but then both parties are in a mess right now.  The Democrats are set to nominate the most unlikable candidate they've run in a century.  She is so unlikable that she should be easy pickings for the GOP, but for the fact that the GOP seems to be heading towards nominating the least electable candidate of their own since 1964.  The parties, if their front runners win the nomination, will pit two candidates against each other that are hugely unpopular with large segments of the American public.  Perhaps, in an odd way, that wouldn't be a bad result as none of the front runners is likely to have much truck with Congress.  And that would include those in second position.  Cruz is barely more liked by average Americans than Trump.  Sanders is generally liked but his positions on almost everything are not going to be taken seriously by Congress.

For these reasons, oddly, the best hope for both parties are contested conventions resulting in the picking of somebody other than somebody now running.  There's a relatively good chance of that happening with the GOP and a slight chance of that happening with the Democrats.  With the Republicans, basically, if the current trend in the primaries continues that will happen.  With the Democrats, it's unlikely unless the Superdelegates bolt in mass, which perhaps would be the best service they could offer their party at this time.

On one final item, there's now a building movement to draft Gen. James Mattis as a GOP candidate or even as a Third Party candidate.  This hasn't gone far enough yet to regard there being a high likelihood of it happening, but there's definitely talk of it occurring.  The retired Marine Corps general was popular with servicemen who served with him, and he's not a professional politician.  He reportedly has some big money behind a campaign to draft him, although there's no evidence that he's supporting the movement himself.  It's an interesting development that should be watched.

2020  Governor Gordon requested a Federal disaster declaration for Wyoming. The Governor’s press release on the request stated.

Gov. Gordon requests federal disaster declaration for Wyoming  

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon has submitted a request to President Trump asking for a major disaster declaration for Wyoming. The declaration would allow all 23 of Wyoming’s counties and the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes to access funding and services for crucial assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

“Though Wyoming has not reached the dire situations of some states, this declaration will help us to prepare and mobilize resources when we need them,” Governor Gordon said. “I look forward to a swift response to our request from the federal government.” 

The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act allows states to request a Public Assistance and Individual Assistance Disaster Declaration to respond to incidents that exceed capabilities of a state to respond effectively.  

The declaration provides Wyoming the opportunity to access assistance from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for construction of temporary medical facilities, if needed. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reviewing sites in Wyoming to identify extra space for overflow patients and healthcare workers should it be needed.  

“This requested declaration will help ensure Wyoming gains access to critical assistance as we continue our mission to respond to this pandemic,” Wyoming Office of Homeland Security Director Lynn Budd said. “Providing individual assistance programs will be vital to help our residents recover from this crisis.” 

The declaration also allows the state to receive additional federal resources and services for Wyoming residents, including crisis counseling, disaster unemployment assistance, legal services, disaster case management and Small Business Administration disaster assistance.  

As of April 9, Wyoming has 230 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in 18 counties.

On the same day, he proclaimed Good Friday, April 10, a Day of Prayer.

Governor Gordon proclaims April 10 Day of Prayer  

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon will sign a proclamation tomorrow declaring Friday, April 10, 2020 a Day of Prayer in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The day of prayer is cross-denominational with the intent to unify people of many faiths during the crisis. 

“Across all faiths and beliefs, we can all come together at this time of year to find a sense of peace and purpose,” Governor Gordon said. “I invite our leaders and citizens to pray that the present pandemic may be controlled, caregivers protected, our soldiers and their families watched over, the economy strengthened and life normalized.” 

April 10 is Good Friday and is observed by many denominations as a day of prayer and fasting. Joining the Governor in this effort is the National Association of Evangelicals and the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. People of all faiths are welcome to participate.

In Casper, on the same day, a small group of libertarian protesters gathered in Pioneer Park to protest the Governor’s emergency orders and seeking to have them lifted as being harmful to business.  The National Outdoor Leadership School in Lander also announced layoffs given the COVID 19 Pandemic and its impact on their school.

April 8

1832  John "Portugee" Phillips (Manual Felipe Cardoso) born in the Azores.

1889  William F. Cody donated three elk to the proposed National Zoological Park.  Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.

1890  An election for the county seat of Natrona County pitted Casper against Bessemer.  Bessemer received more votes, but had only 24 residents, so the commissioners ruled the vote fraudulent and chose Casper as the county seat.  Bessemer now no longer exists.

1890  The Episcopal Church in Douglas bought the Congregational church.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

 
1892 On the afternoon of this day, Stock Detective and Invader informed the invasion party at the Tisdalde Ranch that "rustlers" were located at the the KC Ranch, and that the party included Nate Champion, a well known and somewhat controversial small stockman.  Stockmen Irvine and Wolcott urged an immediate march on the location, which perhaps was not surprising as Champion was a witness against stockmen enforcer Joe Elliot.  Canton, Ford, Campbell and Hesse, however urged the party to march on to Buffalo, which was regarded as the headquarters of the opposition (and which demonstrates how bold the stockmen's plan really was).  After drinking and arguing, a vote was taken and the party elected to march on the KC.  The Johnson County Invaders reached the KC Ranch in Johnson County, Wyoming, at midnight.. Since disembarking in Casper on April 6, they had ridden east and then north, cutting telegraph lines in the process.

In  modern highway miles, the trip is only about 70 miles.  Granted, in the context of the era that would be fairly long distance to cover by horse, so perhaps the amount of time that the invading party took to cover this distance is not too surprising.  A typical cavalry unit at the time covered about 30 miles in a day, although they could cover 60 or more, while severely stressing their mounts, if necessary.  Here, as the invading party was entering clearly hostile terrain, depleting their mounts unnecessary would have been unwise.

Having said that, the amount of time that this advance took was significant in that it showed the extraordinarily ill advised nature of the expedition.  It the party nearly two days to reach their first target and they had yet to deeply penetrate into Johnson County.  The presence of the party was already known, and counter insurgents, if you will, were already at work preventing the telegraph lines that the invaders had taken down from being repaired.  While their location had not yet been discovered, a better military mind would have regarded them as already in a poor tactical posture.  Worse yet for their endeavor, new articles had been published in Cheyenne, Denver and New York to the effect that an action was afoot.  Cheyenne's newspaper even correctly noted that their specially chartered train had gone through Douglas and Casper, and then discharged its passengers for a trip to Johnson County.

1892  Remains of soldiers buried at Ft. Steele relocated to Fort McPherson National Cemetery.

1899  Edward D. Crippa, Wyoming's Senator for the balance of Lester Hunt's term in office for 1954, born in Rock Springs.  Crippa did not run for reelection.

1903  President Theodore Roosevelt commences his 1903 visit of Wyoming, starting with sixteen days in Yellowstone National Park.  His total time in Wyoming for the trip would be nineteen days.  Much of that time was spent on horseback.

1913 The US Seventeenth Amendment was ratified, requiring direct election of senators. Almost an historical footnote for the most part today, this really effected a radical restructuring of the American Constitutional system which has gone remarkably un-commented upon since 1913. The original Constitutional system contemplated the seat of Senatorial power really being in State legislatures, not in a direct election, so to a certain extent the change, which was meant to convey power to the citizenry, really only did so in the context of national citizenship while as the same time power was effectively conveyed from the states to the national government.

1916:   The Punitive Expedition, Railroads, and the Presidential Election of 1916: The Casper Daily Press of April 8, 1916
 

Lots of big news in this evening edition.

Theodore Roosevelt announced that he was throwing his hat in the ring, rather late, for the 1916 Presidential election.  Sort of.  He would not really end up being a candidate, and in fact, he was wearing down physically at this time, having never recovered from earlier serious health bouts and injuries.

Locally, the Northwestern Railroad story was indeed big news.  And apparently Frederick Funston was talking about railroads in connection with the expedition in Mexico.

1917  The Sunday State Leader for April 8, 1917: Join the Guard, but not the Navy?
 

The shape of a national Army was beginning to take place in the first days of the wary.  The US would conscript, although there was opposition to it, and the Army was going to be huge.

Americans were joining the National Guard, lining up, as they had in prior wars, to go with their state units rather than the Federal Army.  With conscription that would soon change, but here we see the evolution of the Army.  Joining state units had long been the wartime norm.  It still was, but that was going to change in short order, although conscription had been a feature of the Civil War as well.

Men (and of course now women as well) weren't joining the Navy in the same numbers.  But, as it'd turn out, the role of the U.S. Navy would not be as vast as some had thought.

And Ft. D. A. Russell was going to be busy. 

 

1918.  Lex Anteinternet: Big Horn Hot Springs, Thermopolis, Wyoming. April8, 1918

This photographs was taken a century ago, today.

If it looks familiar, perhaps that's because we use it as the flagship photograph for our Railhead blog, dedicated to railroad themes.

1922  United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Justice James E. Barrett born in Lusk.  He was appointed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1971.

1935 The Works Progress Administration was approved by Congress.

1943 President Franklin D. Roosevelt freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases by common carriers and public utilities.

From last year:

1963  The Wyoming League of Women Voters held its seventh convention.

Today is Easter for 2012.

The date Easter falls on shifts significantly from year to year, and does not occur on a specific date of the calendar every year.  The United States Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command provides the following discussion regarding the date:

Easter is an annual festival observed throughout the Christian world. The date for Easter shifts every year within the Gregorian Calendar. The Gregorian Calendar is the standard international calendar for civil use. In addition, it regulates the ceremonial cycle of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. The current Gregorian ecclesiastical rules that determine the date of Easter trace back to 325 CE at the First Council of Nicaea convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine. At that time the Roman world used the Julian Calendar (put in place by Julius Caesar).
The Council decided to keep Easter on a Sunday, the same Sunday throughout the world. To fix incontrovertibly the date for Easter, and to make it determinable indefinitely in advance, the Council constructed special tables to compute the date. These tables were revised in the following few centuries resulting eventually in the tables constructed by the 6th century Abbot of Scythia, Dionysis Exiguus. Nonetheless, different means of calculations continued in use throughout the Christian world.
In 1582 Gregory XIII (Pope of the Roman Catholic Church) completed a reconstruction of the Julian calendar and produced new Easter tables. One major difference between the Julian and Gregorian Calendar is the "leap year rule". See our FAQ on Calendars for a description of the difference. Universal adoption of this Gregorian calendar occurred slowly. By the 1700's, though, most of western Europe had adopted the Gregorian Calendar. The Eastern Christian churches still determine the Easter dates using the older Julian Calendar method.
The usual statement, that Easter Day is the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs next after the vernal equinox, is not a precise statement of the actual ecclesiastical rules. The full moon involved is not the astronomical Full Moon but an ecclesiastical moon (determined from tables) that keeps, more or less, in step with the astronomical Moon.
The ecclesiastical rules are:

• Easter falls on the first Sunday following the first ecclesiastical full moon that occurs on or after the day of the vernal equinox;
• this particular ecclesiastical full moon is the 14th day of a tabular lunation (new moon); and
• the vernal equinox is fixed as March 21.

resulting in that Easter can never occur before March 22 or later than April 25. The Gregorian dates for the ecclesiastical full moon come from the Gregorian tables. Therefore, the civil date of Easter depends upon which tables - Gregorian or pre-Gregorian - are used. The western (Roman Catholic and Protestant) Christian churches use the Gregorian tables; many eastern (Orthodox) Christian churches use the older tables based on the Julian Calendar.
In a congress held in 1923, the eastern churches adopted a modified Gregorian Calendar and decided to set the date of Easter according to the astronomical Full Moon for the meridian of Jerusalem. However, a variety of practices remain among the eastern churches.
There are three major differences between the ecclesiastical system and the astronomical system.

• The times of the ecclesiastical full moons are not necessarily identical to the times of astronomical Full Moons. The ecclesiastical tables did not account for the full complexity of the lunar motion.
• The vernal equinox has a precise astronomical definition determined by the actual apparent motion of the Sun as seen from the Earth. It is the precise time at which the apparent ecliptic longitude of the Sun is zero. (Yes, the Sun's ecliptic longitude, not its declination, is used for the astronomical definition.) This precise time shifts within the civil calendar very slightly from year to year. In the ecclesiastical system the vernal equinox does not shift; it is fixed at March 21 regardless of the actual motion of the Sun.
• The date of Easter is a specific calendar date. Easter starts when that date starts for your local time zone. The vernal equinox occurs at a specific date and time all over the Earth at once.

Inevitably, then, the date of Easter occasionally differs from a date that depends on the astronomical Full Moon and vernal equinox. In some cases this difference may occur in some parts of the world and not in others because two dates separated by the International Date Line are always simultaneously in progress on the Earth.
For example, take the year 1962. In 1962, the astronomical Full Moon occurred on March 21, UT=7h 55m - about six hours after astronomical equinox. The ecclesiastical full moon (taken from the tables), however, occurred on March 20, before the fixed ecclesiastical equinox at March 21. In the astronomical case, the Full Moon followed its equinox; in the ecclesiastical case, it preceded its equinox. Following the rules, Easter, therefore, was not until the Sunday that followed the next ecclesiastical full moon (Wednesday, April 18) making Easter Sunday, April 22.
Similarly, in 1954 the first ecclesiastical full moon after March 21 fell on Saturday, April 17. Thus, Easter was Sunday, April 18. The astronomical equinox also occurred on March 21. The next astronomical Full Moon occurred on April 18 at UT=5h. So in some places in the world Easter was on the same Sunday as the astronomical Full Moon.
The following are dates of Easter from 1980 to 2024:

1980  April 6        1995  April 16         2010  April 4

1981  April 19       1996  April 7          2011  April 24

1982  April 11       1997  March 30         2012  April 8

1983  April 3        1998  April 12         2013  March 31

1984  April 22       1999  April 4          2014  April 20

1985  April 7        2000  April 23         2015  April 5

1986  March 30       2001  April 15         2016  March 27

1987  April 19       2002  March 31         2017  April 16

1988  April 3        2003  April 20         2018  April 1

1989  March 26       2004  April 11         2019  April 21

1990  April 15       2005  March 27         2020  April 12

1991  March 31       2006  April 16         2021  April 4

1992  April 19       2007  April 8          2022  April 17

1993  April 11       2008  March 23         2023  April 9

1994  April 3        2009  April 12         2024  March 31

2013  A major blizzard hits most of Wyoming.

Late day in Casper Wyoming, April 8, 2012.

2021  Fast pitch girls high school soft ball started came to Casper for the first time with NCHS playing KWHS.  Kelly Walsh won 6 to 0

April 7

National Beer Day.

 A glass of Mishap! Brewing Company's dark double IPA in a Seward Alaska Brewing Company glass. A Wyoming beer in an Alaskan glass, sort of a small scale Distributist brewing triumph on National Beer Day.

Today, as it turns out, is National Beer Day.

National Beer Day?

Yes, it's National Beer Day.  

According to Time magazine, this day came about  as it was the day when the first step out of Prohibition, the Cullen-Harrison Act, came into effect. As time notes, about that act, and the day.

National Beer Day’s origins go as far back as 1919, when Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment, prohibiting the sale, transportation, and production of alcohol in the U.S. This marked the start of the Prohibition era, which made many Americans turn to creative ways to enjoy their illicit beverages.

But 14 years later, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office, Americans were in for a change when he signed into action the Cullen-Harrison Act, which once again made selling and consuming low-alcohol beverages like beer and wine legal in the U.S.

And so, the day is celebrated on April 7, the first day you could pour a glass of amber goodness into a glass, legally, for fourteen years.

The Volstead Act and the supporting Constitutional amendment, as noted, came in during 1919, so we're almost at the centennial of that.  That certainly has its lessons, not all of them obvious, but here on National Beer Day we might note that Prohibition was arguably a byproduct of World War One, although there'd been a strong movement in that direction for decades.  The war, however, pushed Prohibition over the top for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was that there was a strong fear that American troops would come back from the war exposed to all sorts of terrible things, such as death, violence, French women, and wine.  There wasn't much that could be done about death, violence and French women, but there was something that could be done about wine and everything alcoholic, so Prohibition got a bit boost.

Added to that, beer was associated, somewhat unfairly, with enemies of the Allies, most particularly the Germans, but also Irish nationalist. Everything German was really getting dumped on during the Great War, and only Irish resilience and the fact that the Irish were clearly fighting with the Allies even if some were fighting against the British kept that from occurring to them.  And the fact that the United States was going through a grain conservation mania also weighed in.  So, beer, along with every other form of alcohol, became a casualty of the war, although it was taking hits before.

But beer would be the first back, and nearly everywhere, as Prohibition started getting stepped back out following the election of Franklin Roosevelt.  Nonetheless, it was pretty wounded.  Piles of regional and local breweries died with Prohibition came in, their brews, and the jobs they'd provided to brew them, gone with the Volstead Act.  American beer, which didn't have the greatest reputation in the world anyhow, but which had developed some strong regional brews of quality, really took a pounding and when it came back out of Prohibition there was much less variety.  Indeed, American beer wouldn't be much to write about until the local micro brew boom of the 1980s, a good fifty years after it became legal to brew it once again.

Now, of course, the story is radically changed and the United States is the center of beer experimentation.  Weird brews take their place along side every variety of traditional European brews including a good many the average European has no doubt never tried.

So, here's to the revival of American beer. Better than it ever was.

529  The first draft of the Corpus Juris Civilis is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.  The compilation of Roman Law is the father of the later Code Napoleon and one of the foundations of European law.

1805   The Corps of Discovery breaks camp among the Mandans and resumes its journey west along the Missouri River.

1836         Skirmish between Texans and Mexican troops at San Felipe Ford.

1869 John Campbell sworn in as Wyoming's first Territorial Governor. Campbell had been a brevet Brigadier General in the Union Army during the Civil War, serving on Gen. John M. Shofield's staff. He would later serve in the office of the US Secretary of State and as American Counsel at Basel Switzerland before dying in 1880 at age 44.

1870  Residents of Miners Delight, lead by Captain (from the Civil War) Herman G. Nickerson, attacked a band of Arapaho lead by Black Bear, killing 14.  The raid had intended to intercept and attack a party of Arapaho under Little Shield who had a attacked two residents of Miners Delight the day prior.  Tension between locals and Arapahos on the Wind River Reservation had been high for several months. Black Bear's band, however, had merely been on its way to Camp Brown to trade.

1892  Dissension came to a head in the Johnson County Invasion resulting in Frank Wolcott resigning command of the expedition and ceding it to Tom Smith and Frank Canton, with Smith "commanding" the Texans.  To add to their difficulties, a heavy snowstorm broke out..  The party broke into two groups with some men becoming lost in the process, including Wolcott who spent the night in a haystack as a result.

1916  Casper Weekly Press: April 7, 1916
 

The Casper Weekly Press was apparently the Friday edition of the paper.

1917   The Casper Daily Tribune for April 7, 1917. No panic here.
 

The Casper Daily Tribune is almost a shock compared to other papers in the state this week.  It didn't seem that worked up about the war.

It was starting off with the bold declaration that Casper, in the midst of the World War One oil boom, was "the city wonderful".  It predicated a population of 15,000 in the next few years, which may or may not have been a pleasant thought to long term residents, but as things would play out, it's prediction was in fact lower than that which the city would rise up to in the near future.  The refinery depicted in the photo on the bottom of the front page was much of the reason why.  Already, as the paper noted, residents who were returning to the town after an absence were shocked to see how much it had changed.

Major Ormsby, that was his name, not his rank, was interviewed in the paper about radios.  Ormsby was a local rancher who is remembered today for a road north of Casper that takes people to a rural subdivision, although it might be more recalled by some as it goes past the oldest of Casper's two strip joints (shades of what 1917 would bring in there).  At the time, however, that was all rural land and apparently Ormsby had a radio set there.  He was interviewed due to a rumor that his radio was going to be taken over by the Navy, although the article notes he'd heard no such rumor.  He also hadn't listed to his radio for a long time, apparently.  The paper noted that the nearest commercial station was in Denver, which was true, that being the very early predecessor to KOA, which is still in business.

The Cheyenne State Leader for April 7, 1917: Wyoming can furnish finest cavalry horses obtainable anywhere
 

As the US plunged into war, the Leader was proclaiming that Wyoming could furnish the finest cavalry horses obtainable anywhere.

Actually, it already was.

Wyoming, in addition to experiencing a petroleum boom, was also experiencing a horse boom as horse ranchers, quite a few of them with English connections, had been been supplying the British, as well as the French, with horses for the war for years.  Starting with the Punitive Expedition, it'd started doing the same for the United States.  Not all of these horses were "finished" by any means, indeed most of them were not, something that came as a shock to their European users who were surprised by how green these horses were.

Added to his, of course, Wyoming had a major Remount station in Sheridan Wyoming, right in the heart of Wyoming's horse country, which would continue on through World War Two.

In that other boom, the oil boom, that had become so significant that the Leader was quoting the prices from the Casper exchange now on a daily basis.

1922  Ground broken for the town of Parco.  Parco still exists, but it is now known as Sinclair, and is the site of the Sinclair Refinery.  At the time of its founding, it was the location of a very nice hotel on the Lincoln Highway. The hotel's buildings still exist, but the hotel itself is long closed.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1922 U.S. Secretary of Interior leased Naval Reserve #3, "Teapot Dome," in Wyoming to Harry F. Sinclair.

1933   Prohibition repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight.

1943. On this day, the sale of coffee was banned in Cheyenne and Casper due to violations of wartime rationing restrictions.

1947  United States v. Wyoming, 311 U.S. 440 (1947) argued in front of the United States Supreme Court. The topic was the ownership of school sections, and the suit had been brought by the US against Wyoming due to a controversy regarding oil royalties.

1994   A 5.2 magnitude earthquake occurred 90 miles from  Evanston, WY.

April 6

1808   John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company.

1830  Mexico halts American immigration into Texas. Attribution:  On This Day.

1860   First west bound Pony Express arrives at Fort Laramie. 

1862  John Wesley Powell, after whom Powell is named and who would become a noted post Civil War explorer, lost his right arm in the Battle of Shiloh.

1866  The Grand Army of the Republic, the veterans organization of Union soldiers, founded.  There are at least two GAR memorials in Wyoming, with one being located in Casper and another being located in Big Horn.

1880 Cowboy hopeful Charles Russell arrived in Utica Montana.

1887  Cheyenne & Burlington Railroad Company filed articles of incorporation as a foreign corporation.  The railroad is a predecessor of the Burlington Northern.. Attribution:  On This Day.

1892  Special train carrying the "Invaders", hired gunmen and representatives of large cattle interests, arrives in Casper and discharges its passengers under darkness, at about 4:00 AM.  The chartered train arrived with its window shades drawn, but the secrecy associated with it only encouraged rumors as to its cargo.  They traveled a few miles north of Casper and assembled at Casper Creek at about 9:00 AM.  Delays soon set in, with horses breaking fee and requiring hours to be rounded up.  Some horses were never found and the men whose mounts those were rode in wagons.  As it had snowed, traveling by wagon proved slow. The party made 20 miles that day.

For perspective, a typical long day for an Oregon Trail party was about 30 miles in a day, although many were shorter. The cavalry of the period typically made 30 miles a day, although they could go further.

1916  The Casper Daily Press for April 6, 1916

This evening issue is inserted here not for what is on the front  page, but for what isn't.

For the first time since the Columbus Raid, the Punitive Expedition didn't make the front page for the Casper Daily Press.

1917     Congress approved a declaration of war against Germany at 3:08 a.m.

 The Cheyenne State Leader for April 6, 1917: Duels of Nations and Duels of Indiviuals
 

The news was all about duels.

The United States had entered the duel with Germany.

Villa was moving in his duel with Carranza.

And a farmer died in a duel with a cowboy near Sheridan.

And the Wyoming National Guard's Second Battalion had been called fully back into service.

The Laramie Boomerang for April 6, 1917: Wilson Signs Measure

 

1920  Work began on the Standard Oil Refinery in Laramie.  Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.

1960.   Esther Morris statue dedicated in Statuary Hall, U.S. Capitol.  Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.

1999 A 4.6 magnitude earthquake occurred about 35 from Rawlins, WY.

April 5

1892.  Specially chartered train leaves Denver Colorado for Cheyenne carrying hired Texas gunmen, bound ultimately for Central Wyoming.  The train would pick up large stockmen associated with the Wyoming Stock Growers Association in Cheyenne before going on to Casper.  This was the opening phase in the Johnson County War, the best known, if not particularly accurately remembered, of the range wars on the Northern Plains.

1916 The Punitive Expedition: The Casper Daily Press, April 5, 1916
 

1917   The Douglas Budget for April 5, 1917: Company F In Active Service
 

The United States was on the eve of war with Germany and Company F was back in Federal service.

The Wyoming Tribune for April 5, 1917: War By Way Mexico
 

Even this late the impact of the Zimmerman Note was sufficient to create a concern that the Germans could have enticed Mexico into war with the US.

1919  April 5, 1919: Showers, Parades, Shows, Sabers, Ships and Slogans.

On this day in April, 1919 the Saturday Evening Post featured one of J. C. Leyendecker's illustrations, this one of a young woman expecting, but not receiving, April showers.

In the port town of St. Nazaire France, American sailors were on parade.

The Army was conducting shows of its own on this day.  In Toul, France, the U.S. Second Army was having a horse show on this Saturday.

War prizes were being photographed in northern Russia, where this U.S. Army Captain was displaying a Russian saber taken from a Red Army commander.  These men had lately been in action against the Reds.

And the Troopship America docked with solders returning home from France.

Casper was pondering a slogan, which is a headline that's oddly contemporary as Casper just adopted one a couple of years ago, that being "WyoCity".  What became of the 1919 effort I don't know, but perhaps we'll learn of it in upcoming editions of the Casper Daily Tribune.

And in southern Wyoming efforts were underway to create a Pershing Highway, in honor of John J. Pershing. The proposed route was on the Lincoln Highway, so what was really contemplated was renaming  a stretch of that highway.

1922  It is locally reported that W.R. Coe had the highest altitude T-bred breeding operation in the United States, the Shoshone Ranch, which had an latitude over 5,000 feet above sea level.  I don't know much else about Mr. Coe, but some of his horses raced in the East.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1927  An explosion at the Sinclair Refinery kills 16. Attribution:  On This Day.

1933  President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 6102 "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates" by U.S. citizens.

1945  A Silver Star was awarded to a Sheridan man for a raid on a POW camp in the Philippines. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1984  Hugus Hardware store in Saratoga added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

1999 The U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Wyoming v. Houghton, 526 U.S. 295 holding that, absent exigency, the warrantless search of a passenger's container capable of holding the object of a search for which there is probable cause is a violation of the Fourth Amendment, but justified under the automobile exception as an effect of the car.

2012  Buford WY up for auction.

Elsewhere:

1792     George Washington cast the first presidential veto.

1944  The Ploesti Romania oil installations and rail sidings are attacked by B-17 and B-24 bombers of the US 15th Air Force.

1945     Japanese cabinet resigns.

1947   Five Marine guards were killed and eight wounded when attacked by Communist Chinese raiders near the Hsin Ho ammunition depot in Northern China, the last clash between U.S. Marines and Chinese forces of any kind inside Chinese borders.

1951 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death for conspiring to commit espionage for the Soviet Union.