August 10

1821  Missouri admitted to the Union.  As part of this event,  most of Wyoming becomes part of unorganized U.S. territory.

1867  Cheyenne's first municipal election.  On the same day, in the same town, the post office at the corner of Ferguson (Carey Avenue) and Seventeenth streets opened. Attribution:  On This Day.

1886  Cavalry arrived at Yellowstone to police the park.

1896  William H. Harrison born in Terra Haute, Indiana.  He was Wyoming's Congressman from 1951 to 1956, from 1961 to 1965 and 1967 to 1969.  The Indiana born lawyer had been in Indiana's legislature in the 1920s, before moving to Wyoming where he first entered politics by being a Representative to the state legislature from Sheridan County.  He came from a family with long political roots, with his great-great-great grandfather Benjamin Harrison V being a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence,  his great-great grandfather William Henry Harrison being the 9th U.S. President and his grandfather Benjamin Harrison being the 23rd U.S. President.  In his retirement he relocated to Florida.

1912  Congress appropriated $45,000 for the purchase of lands and maintenance of a winter elk refuge in Jackson Hole where ranchers, and then the State, had been undertaking feeding the elk during winter.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1916   The Cheyenne State Leader for August 10, 1916. One battalion to be ordered to the border.
 

One battalion of the Wyoming National Guard looked to be deployed.  The Guard was nearly one soldier short, however, due to an elopement, one of quite a few that these papers reported on.

And, the World War One homesteading boom was really on.

1916   The local weather, August 10, 1916
 

Because its in keeping with the focus of this blog, and because I just realized another way to find it.

Lander, WY 

High of 69.1°F and low of 28.9°F.

Cheyenne, WY
High of 73°F and low of 51.1°F.

Sheridan, WY
High of 75°F and low of 48°F.

Nice temperatures during the day,and in Lander and Sheridan, cool temperatures at night. 

1917   The Food and Fuel Control Act of 1917 (Lever Act) becomes law
 

On this date in 1917 the controversial Food and Fuel Control Act became law.  Popularly known as the Lever Act, the law created two wartime agencies, the United States Food Administration and the United States Fuel Administration.

 

United States Fuel Administration poster.

Both agencies were provided with the ability to regulate prices and attempt to control supply in an effort to make sure that adequate stocks of these vital items were available to citizens and industry.

 Poster aimed at immigrants by the United States Food Administration.

The United States Food Administration was headed by Herbert Hoover who was appointed by Woodrow Wilson.  Remembered commonly now only for his unsuccessful Presidency, Hoover was a very capable businessman and civil servant.

Herbert Hoover in 1917.

Harry A. Garfield, the son of James Garfield, a lawyer and academic was appointed head of the Fuel Administration.  It's interesting to note that Hoover may have seemed the more logical candidate for this post, as he was a geologist.

Harry A. Garfield as Fuel Administration chief.

The Fuel Administration was organized on a state by state basis.  By January 1918, in spite of its efforts, fuel supplies were short enough that "Idle Mondays" were ordered for non essential industries.  The crisis in supply was not immediately alleviated by the wars end, and the agency continued to operate until 1922 when it was deemed no longer needed and passed out of existence.

 

Hoovers Food Administration performed a similar role in regards to the food supply.  A special grain purchasing agent, the United States Grain Corporation, was formed and operated under it specifically to purchase and regulate the supply of grain.  The agency largely passed into a new entity, the American Relief Administration, with the war's end, although the United States Grain Corporation continued on with some functions, including supplying relief wheat to Russia, until it was eliminated in 1927.

 

Like the Fuel Administration, the Food Administration took towards having "less" days, such as meathless, wheatless and porkless days.  As I've mentioned on prior posts, this must have seemed like an added burden for Catholic and Orthodox Americans, who already had fast days that included at least two out of the three of these.

 

People were also urged to garden at home (something already widely done), to eat fish instead of meat, and to use oats and corn where possible, rather than wheat.

 

The approach of both agencies was considerably different than that adopted by the later Democratic Administration of World War Two, which frankly might be telling in some ways.  Rationing was never enacted on a national level, although at least one state, Montana, did enact it on a state level, so perhaps that shows it proved its efficiency in another way.

Both agencies resulted in a large number of dramatic well done posters, from what must be regarded as the golden age of American posters, and to the extent they're remembered today, that tends to be why.  But both were major entities during the Great War and controversial ones at that.  Their existence shows the extent to which Americans of that era were willing to depart from normal concepts of business and economy during the war, and the extent to which resources were truly very tight at that time and people lived closer to the margins on a wider scale.

1918  Huns Retreat. Lonely Hearts at D. A. Russell. Doggerel in the Oil Patch. The news of August 10, 1918.

All the news fit to print, and then some.

On this Saturday morning in sunny Wyoming, 1918, readers around the state were reading of the huge change in fortunes for the Allies, who were now advancing rapidly towards the German frontier.  But other news crowded and shoved onto the front pages of the state's various newspapers as well.

In Casper, Casperites were greeted with the news that the local Home Guard was going to complete the issuance of rifles.

At Cheyenne's Ft. D. A. Russell readers learned that a lonely soldier was seeking a girl measuring 5 to 5.5 feet who was not a drunkard.  The publishing suitor noted that he measured 5 feet 4.5 inches high and had well to do parents, and was seeking a Cheyenne girl to marry.

A less chivalrous character in Virginia testified at trial that he wouldn't serve in the war even if the Turks landed on our shores and carried our women off to bondage.  My goodness.

In grimmer news, a medical officer who was formerly stationed at Ft. D. A. Russell was found dead in San Antonio, shot in the head.

Wyoming Oil World, a newspaper rather obviously dedicated to the petroleum industry, found itself moved to verse on this day in 1918, although not very good verse.  The subject was the dread Powder River, Let'r Buck war cry of Wyomingites.

1919  August 10, 1919. The Motor Transport Convoy rests in Laramie.

The Motor Transport Convoy spent their Sunday in Laramie on this day in 1919.

The weather was "fair and cool", which would be a good description of most summer days in high altitude Laramie, which has some of the nicest summer weather in Wyoming.  Wind and rain in the late afternoon is a typical feature of the summer weather there.

1950   The Plymouth Oiler baseball team from Sinton, Texas played the Worland, Wyoming, Indians in the first no-hit, no-run game in National Baseball Congress history.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1954  The Can-A-Pop beverage company of Sheridan announced it was moving to Denver.

1956  A contract was signed for the construction of the first uranium processing mill in Wyoming.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1988    President Ronald Reagan signed a bill providing reparations Japanese-Americans interred by the U.S. government during World War II.  One of the interment camps was at Hart Mountain, Wyoming, which is near Cody.

August 9

1832  Stockade at Ft. Bonneville completed.

1854    Henry David Thoreau published "Walden," which described his experiences living near Walden Pond in Massachusetts.

1867  Cheyenne's residents form ad hoc city government.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1877   Nez Perce clash with the U.S. Army near the Big Hole River in Montana.

1887  The Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne formally established.

1887  Henry Longabaugh (the Sundance Kid) convicted of larceny in Sundance.

1894  The State's Populist Party held its convention:  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1895  According to my Wyoming History Calendar, "New Woman" appeared on the streets of Thermopolis wearing "bifurcated skirts".  Bifurcated skirts were suitable for riding, and  seem to have made their appearance about this time.  I'm not really sure from this entry, however, if a Thermopolis newspaper was noting the arrival of the "New Woman" as a type in Thermopolis, or if they were actually noting a singular new woman.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916  The Cheyenne State Leader for August 9, 1916. The Inglorious Reappearance of Pvt Dilley?
 

It seems that Pvt. Dilley's circumstances were not quite as tragic as reported yesterday, maybe.

A person has to wonder a bit about his fate, assuming he was tracked down and arrested.  His desertion came at that point in time at which the Army was evolving from the Frontier Army practice, in which 1/3d of the enlisted men went AWOL or deserted annually, and which the offense was not too seriously worried about unless the departing troops took equipment with them, to one which would regard this as a much more serious matter.  And, to add to it, when conscription came for World War One public sentiments were so strong that in some areas a man of military age could not walk for more than a couple of blocks without being accosted by citizens wondering if they were shirking their duty.  Young women, in fact, were particularly zealous in offering offense to men who appeared to be less than enthusiastic about military service.  Pvt. Dilley's actions may have had implications he didn't consider at the time.

Assuming, of course, that he had deserted.  Which perhaps, he had not.  He never reappeared, in spite of having family and friends in the state.  His father was certain that he'd been murdered, which he may very well have been.

If he left service without discharge, he certainly wasn't the only one to attempt it.  Disciplinary problems were a huge factor with the Wyoming Guard, including desertions, which were not all that uncommon.  As we've seen, going AWOL was fairly common as well, at least in the context of briefly leaving to marry.

On other matters, 2ar was in the air, with the Guard being inspected and the paper contemplating what war with Mexico might mean, which apparently meant war with Japan.  Odd to see that speculated on in this context.

Love was also in the air, and yet another Guardsman went AWOL to elope, something that seems to have been a regular occurrence.

1918  The U. S. government ordered automobile production to halt by January 1, 1919, and convert to military production.

1918  The news of Amiens hits home and brewers lose a fight. The Laramie Boomerang, August 9, 1918.

The Germans were losing the war, and brewers were losing the fight for coal, as German reversals began to set in, and prohibition started to come in through the side door.

The intervention in Russia began to build steam. . . even at the point where its relation to the war in Europe started to become questionable.

And nice weather was predicted.

All on a Friday in early August, 1918.

1919 August 9, 1919. The Motor Transport Convoy reaches the Gem City of the Plains.

On this day in 1919, the 1919 Motor Transport Convoy went over Sherman Hill and on down into Laramie.

Sherman Hill is a legendary grade, so making the 57 miles in 11.5 hours is all the more impressive.

The entries noted that on this day, and the prior one, the weather was cool.

The prior day in Cheyenne the convoy had been feted with a rodeo and celebration.  To my surprise, this story does not seem to have regarded as anywhere near as important as I would have thought.  The arrival of the convoy was on the front page of both Cheyenne papers the day it occurred, but it didn't make the front page of the Laramie or Casper paper, both of which had wire service. The arrival of the convoy in Laramie didn't seem big news anywhere else and only made the cover of one of the two Laramie papers.

The convoy was headed to the Pacific coast, of course, and if things in the interior seemed a bit primitive. . . or not, things on the coast were definitely not.

1920 

1937  The Casper Alcova Project renamed the Kendrick Project in honor of John B. Kendrick.

1944   The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time.  It's interesting to note that at least some WWII era anti forest fire campaigns were very war themed.

Smokey's first appearance.

1974    Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States following the resignation of Richard M. Nixon.  Ford has a connection with Wyoming in that his father was part of a family that had shipping and commercial interest in Wyoming and Nebraska.  Ford was born on Omaha Nebraska as Leslie Lynch King, and his parents divorced almost immediately after his birth.

Nixon departing the White House on August 9, 1974.

August 8

International Cat Day

Lex Anteinternet:  Eee gads, I almost missed it.

It's International Cat Day.  August 8.

1854   Smith and Wesson patented a pattern of metallic cartridge.

1902  The first Weston County "Old Timers' Day" held. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916   The Cheyenne State Leader for August 8, 1916. The mysterious disappearance of Private Dilley 

Guardsman Pvt. Dilley mysteriously disappeared.

1919  August 8, 1919. Making Cheyenne.

The 1919 transcontinental Motor Transport Convoy entered Wyoming on this day in 1919.

The convoy east of Cheyenne.

Governor Carey was on the road as well, meeting the convoy at Hillsdale, a small Wyoming town that is now a shadow of its former self.  From there they proceeded on to Cheyenne, where Ft. D. A. Russell somewhat ironically provided a cavalry escort through Cheyenne and onto the post.

They were treated to a rodeo at Frontier Park and the town's businesses closed at 4:00 p.m. for the festivities.

Elsewhere, the Third Afghan War came to an end when the warring parties signed the Ango-Afghan Treaty of 1919. The war had been short and fought for limited purposes. The result was the establishment of the current Afghan border and the end of British subsidies to Afghanistan.

In the wreck of the Austrian Empire, the First Hungarian Republic dissolved.  As confusing as the names may be, it was replaced by the Hungarian Republic, a more conservative government.

1929  Major Doyen P. Wardwell of Casper, a World War One veteran of the Lafayette Escadrille and a pioneer Wyoming aviator, dies in an airplane crash.  The Wardwell Addition to the City of Casper would be named after him, and the Casper Municipal Airport was renamed for him. That airport later formed some of the city streets for Bar Nunn Wyoming.

1936  Ernest Hemingway visited Laramie.  Hemingway visited Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain fairly frequently. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1944 Wyoming has its smallest lamb crop in eight year.  This was likely due to sheep requirements during World War Two, which would have reduced the number of ewes.  Attribution: Wyoming State Historical Society.

1989  Robert Arthur Harris, the first Wyomingite to become a Major League baseball player, died in North Platte Nebraska.  He was born in Gillette in 1915.

1991  The keel was laid down for SSBN 742, the USS Wyoming.

August 7

1886  Fort Fred Steele deactivated. A town remained behind where the fort had been, and survived for many decades until the Lincoln Highway bypassed it.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1892  The Johnson County invaders plead not guilty, in Cheyenne, to the charges against them. Attribution:  On This Day.

1895  The Buffalo town hall was swept away in a flood. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1914  Jackson incorporated.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1974  The Garrett Allen Prehistoric site in Carbon County added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

2009  Cmdr. Diego Hernandez relieved Cmdr. Roger Isom as commander of the USS Wyoming SSBN 742  during a change-of-command ceremony at the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay Chapel.

Launching the Governor

85c0f5f0c3fb42e0a490a9b60c5145b1.jpg (JPEG Image, 736 × 508 pixels)

A Wyoming National Guard tradition at one time.

Wind River Virtual Museum

Wind River Virtual Museum

August 6

1814  Esther Hobart Morris, nee McQuigg, born in Tioga County, New York.

1846  DeForest Richards, Governor from 1899-1903, born in Wilcox County, Alabama. Attribution:  On This Day.

1850   Louis Vasquez becomes the Postmaster at Ft. Bridger.

1867  Indians raided Union Pacific near the present location of Lexington Nebraska.

1890     Cy Young made his major league debut with the Cleveland Spiders of the National League.

1898  The Wyoming Battalion left the steamer Ohio in Manila Bay and went into camp at Paranaque.Attribution:  On This Day.

1910  Crystal Lake Dam completed.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1916    Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages. Previewed on this day.
 

The film Intolerance was previewed in Riverside California on this day in 1916.  Regarded as a masterpiece of this era, the film is a series of vignettes involving a poor young woman separated by prejudice from her husband and baby and site between stories of intolerance from throughout history.  It was a reaction, in part, to the negative reaction to the racists Birth of a Nation by the same director.  Like a lot of silent movies, it was long, running 3:17.
1916  The Sunday State Leader for August 6, 1916. Laramie steps up to the plate with Guard recruits.
 

Cheyenne's Sunday State Leader was reporting that neighboring Albany County had come in with Guardsmen to help fill out the state's National Guard.

And the GOP comments on Wilson's policy on Mexico wasn't being well received everywhere.

And labor was unhappy in New York.
1945  The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, the first use of such a weapon, and of course one of only two such uses.

 Japanese photograph found in 2013 of cloud from Hiroshima approximately thirty minutes after detonation.

1965     President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.

August 5

1888 Philip Henry Sheridan dies in Nonquit, Massachusetts.  Sheridan County, Wyoming, is named for him.

1916The Cheyenne Leader for August 5, 1916: Recruits still needed.
 

The Wyoming National  Guard was still shorthanded, which was delaying its deployment.

1917 The entire National Guard, only recently released from duty due to the crisis with Mexico, and then recalled due to the outbreak of World War One, was conscripted into the U.S. Army. The technicality of conscription was necessary due to an Adjutant General's opinion that the National Guard could not serve overseas.

For more on this topic:  http://lexanteinternet.blogspot.com/2017/08/today-in-wyomings-history-august-5-1917.html

1942  Earthquake felt at the West Thumb Ranger Station in Yellowstone Park.

1991  William Goodale House in Laramie added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

1996  Cheyenne's Lakeview Historic District added to the National Registry of Historic Places.

2018  The last in house printed, in Casper, edition of the Casper Star Tribune rolled off the presses, and with it over a century of there being a locally printed newspaper in Casper. The paper continued on, but printed by a contractor in Cheyenne.

2020 "STATE'S RIG COUNT REACHES ZERO"

Headline in the paper today.
Never thought I'd see that one.

On the same day, the Goshen County Commissioners passed a resolution calling the state's Coronavirus restrictions as "overblown".

August 4

1778  The Wyoming Independent Company establishes Camp Westmoreland near Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, in the Wyoming Valley.

1876  Frank E. Lucas, the13th Governor of Wyoming upon the death of Governor William B. Ross in 1924, born in Grant City, Missouri.  Upon his defeat by Nellie Tayloe Ross, he returned to his adopted town of Buffalo and became the editor of the Buffalo Bulletin.  His term as governor was a mere matter of months in length.

1886  Doc Holliday, doing well living on an income from gambling, was arrested in Denver Colorado for not having a legal means of making a living.  This was part of a city wide crackdown on gambling.

1916   Cheyenne State Leader for August 4, 1916. The Wyoming National Guard still short of recruits.
 

The August 4, 1916 details the continued efforts to bring the Wyoming National Guard up to strength, this time with an appeal from the Governor for five recruits from every county.

2020  Mills became a city under Wyoming law.

The proclamation by Governor Gordon reflected the municipality having achieved a population in excess of 4,000 residents.  This by extension meant that Natrona County became the only county in Wyoming to have two first class cities within its boundaries.

August 3

1823 Union General Thomas Francis Meagher, designer of the Irish tricolor, was born in Waterford, Ireland. Meagher studied law in Dublin and then became deeply involved in Young Ireland, a nationalistic organization that opposed British rule in Ireland. After participating in the Irish rebellion of 1848 (in a year that would see revolutions all over Europe) Meagher was convicted of high treason. Authorities commuted his death sentence to hard labor and exiled him to Tasmania. He escaped and made his way to New York City. He married into a prosperous merchant's family and became a leader within the Irish-American community. When the Civil War broke out, Meagher became a captain in the 68th New York militia, an Irish unit that became the nucleus of the Irish Brigade in the Army of the Potomac. He was successful as a commander in general, but his command suffered high casualty rates for which he was criticized. He resigned his commission in 1863 when Gen. Hooker refused his request to return to New York to raise new recruits. He returned to duty and served in the Army of the Tennessee in early 1865. After the war, President Andrew Johnson appointed Meagher secretary of Montana Territory. He at Fort Benton, Montana, on July 1, 1867, after falling from the deck of a riverboat on the Missouri River. His body was never recovered.

1867  Troops dispatched from Ft. Phil Kearny to establish Ft. C. F. Smith.

1869  Territorial Governor Campbell issued a proclamation that calling an election for delegates to Congress and members of the Wyoming Territorial Legislature. Attribution:  On This Day.

1886  The Johnson County Fair opened, making it the first fair held in the Territory.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1902  Stephen W. Downey, the "father of the University of Wyoming", died in Laramie. \

1916   The Cheyenne Leader for August 3, 1916: Wyoming still mustering its Guard.
 

There was a variety of grim news for this day which pretty much shoved it to the side, but Lyman Wyoming was hoping to be the home station for a new National Guard company being raised to go to the border.  The telling thing is, really, that Wyoming was still trying to come up to strength for border duty.

Railroad strikes, the Deutschland submarine, and the imminent execution of Roger Casement took precedence, however, in the day's news.

Vienna appears to have been a bit optimistic, we'd note.

1939  Seminoe Dam generates electricity for the first time. Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1941   The first Annual Bondurant BBQ held at St. Hubert the Hunter Church, where it has happened every year since.  The 1941 date was in celebration of the dedication of the church.

1950 Congress removed the existing limitations on the size of the Army. The Army issued an involuntary recall of 30,000 enlisted men, mostly from the Volunteer and Inactive Reserve, to report in September.

August 2

1867  Just one day after a nearly identical event occurred outside of Ft. C. F. Smith, the northernmost fort on the Bozeman Trail,  9th Infantry repulsed a Sioux and Cheyenne attack in  the mountains near Ft. Phil Kearney in the Wagon Box Fight, a battle again demonstrating the superiority of the new breach loading rifles over the muzzle loading rifle.  The soldiers were grossly outnumbered during the fight.

1876  James Bulter "Wild Bill" Hickock killed in Deadwood by John McCall in Deadwood's Saloon No. 10.  He was uncharacteristically sitting with his back to the wall and was holding a hand of cards made up of Aces and 8s, known ever after as a "Deadman's Hand".  McCall was shortly tried and found innocent, surprisingly enough. Thereafter he fled to Wyoming, where he was unwelcome by Wyoming authorities who regarded the Deadwood trial as invalid as the Deadwood settlement was illegal, being an unauthorized town on unceded Indian Territory.  McCall was subsequently tried in Yankton, Dakota Territory, and sentenced to death.

Hickock left behind a widow, Agnes Lake, in Cheyenne.  He'd written her:  "Agnes Darling, if such should be we never meet again, while firing my last shot, I will gently breathe the name of my wife — Agnes — and with wishes even for my enemies I will make the plunge and try to swim to the other shore."

1882  The  Brush-Swan Electric Light Company of Cheyenne incorporated.

1887         Rowell Hodge receives a patent for barbed wire, an invention that would make fencing the range practical.

1887  The Catholic Diocese of Cheyenne created.  

1903         Martha Jane Cannary, "Calamity Jane", died at age 51.  Her death on this date is particularly odd, as she claimed to have been married to Wild Bill Hickock, but to have divorced him so that he could marry Agnes Lake, although there seems to be no independent evidence for that.

1918  August 2, 1918. The odd war news.

In a lot of ways, the news of August 2, 1918, was the same in character as for other days, but with a slightly odd (and also, we'll note, period racist) tinge.

The article on the bottom right brings this paper here.  That must have been an awkward family reunion.

Sad news from Laramie on this day.  A professor of my former department at the University of Wyoming, the geology department, had died of disease while serving in France.  As he was a professor of "economic geology" at a later school, we can take it that he was a professor of economic minerals.  The war was taking quite a toll in all age ranges.

Evidence of that toll and the scale of the war is in this paper.  Every military age male, according to this Cheyenne paper, was now in service.

And the Onondaga had declared war.

On this paper, the terms used here are clearly racists in regard to African American soldiers.  It's odd, to say the least, to see headlines of this type in a newspaper in common circulation, giving us an idea of how deeply ingrained racists ideas were at the time.

1923  Thursday, August 2, 1923. The Death of Warren G. Harding.

Warren G. Harding died suddenly at 7:30 p.m. in a San Francisco hotel. As readers here know, he had been ill for several days prior.  His probable cause of death was a heart attack.

Harding had been traveling the US, including Alaska, in his Voyage of Understanding.  He was well liked during his period in office, and he was deeply mourned in the U.S., and around the globe, following his death at age 57.

Following his death, his reputation has declined.  He had not really wanted to be President in the first place, and it turned out that while he was personally not involved in them, his administration was scandal ridden.  Harding was not free from scandal himself, however, as he'd had at least two affairs during his marriage, the first of which was to a woman who may have been a German spy. The second would lead to the birth of an illegitimate daughter, his only child, a fact which was hidden during his lifetime and contested by his widow thereafter.

Elizabeth Ann Blaesing, daughter of Warren G. Harding,

Harding was seemingly unprepared for death and indeed, while he looked much older, at 57 he wasn't all that old.  His medical care while ill has been criticized as hastening his death, but at the time little could be done for strokes (which was what his death was attributed to at the time) and heart attacks were frequently fatal.  Given the history of his illness, there's reason to suspect that he may in fact have suffered a heart attack several days prior, or at least was suffering from heart problems several days prior.

Florence Harding, his widow, was fiercely protective of his legacy and reputation.  In photographs, she rarely appears to be happy while they were in the White House.  Very unusually for the age, she did not wear a wedding ring.  Harding was her second marriage, and she was slightly older than he was.  She'd die the following November at age 64.  Blaesing, who lived a quiet life and avoided commenting on her parentage, died at age 86 in 1995.

Most Americans would not learn of the Presidents' death until the following day, when newspapers hit their doorsteps.

As an aside, Harding's death remains relevant to the present age, and actually shows us how things have improved and not.  Medically, physicians may well have detected Harding's heart condition before it proved fatal, if they had our current abilities in that arena.  This is not necessarily so, however, which points out that our two top contenders for the Oval Office today are literally on death's doorstep.

Also of interest, in the era it was obviously easier to keep personal secrets, as Harding had done for many years.  Keeping an illegitimate child of a President unknown is almost unimaginable today.  But also of interest is that it would have been a devastating scandal had the news broken.  As recently as President Clinton's term in office, an affair was scandalous, but now there's real reason to wonder if it would be.  Indeed, a certain section of former President Trump's support comes from Evangelical Christians (although not all support him), which undoubtedly would not have occurred had Trump lived in the 1920s.

1985  A category 3 tornado occurred outside of Sheridan.

2001  The Casper Army Air Base was enrolled on the National Register of Historic Places.  The Air Base is now the Natrona County International Airport, but many original structures remain, and a museum is on the location.

August 1

1839  Austin Texas, the new capital of Texas, held the first sale of town lots for the city.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1845  Gen. Zachary Taylor forces landed on St. Joseph Island to protect Texas from Mexican interference after annexation.  Attribution:  On This Day

1866  The War Department orders the raising of Indian scouts.

1867  Cheyenne attacked a haying party near Fort C.F. Smith, Montana.  Their attack failed as the haying party was armed with .50-70 cartridge rifles, then new, which allowed them to hold off the attack via superior and repeated firepower.  This battle is remembered as the Hayfield Fight and is a significant event in Red Cloud's War..  Attribution:  On This Day.

1870  It was noted that payday increased hospitalization at Ft. Laramie, on this day.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1876  Colorado admitted to the Union as a state.

1885    Louis Riel found guilty of treason and sentenced to death.  The defense had plead insanity, which does seem like a poor strategy under the circumstances.

1897   The Utah & Northern and the Oregon Short Line were consolidated under the name Oregon Short Line.  Attribution:  On This Day.

1915  Automobiles first admitted into Yellowstone National Park.

1916   Cheyenne State Leader for August 1, 1916. Guard getting ready to leave and some leaving the Guard.
 

Cheyenne's less dramatic evening paper was reporting on this day that it expected the National Guard to depart for the border at any moment.   South Dakota's Guard, we read, was in fact off to the border.  There was quiet a bit of dramatic news for Cheyenne residents returning home to their paper that today.

Somewhat surprisingly, the paper actually reported on who was being discharged for physical infirmity, and even giving the name of one who was being discharged on August 1.

Also, perhaps emphasizing the improving relations with Mexico, in spite of the ongoing deployment of the National Guard, Carranza's forces were pursing a five man raiding party that had been earlier pursued by the 8th Cavalry.  Perhaps emphasizing the global outbreak of violence, we read also that Zeppelins had the UK for the third time in a week.

1917  The United States Senate passes the text of the 18th Amendment to be sent to the states for ratification.   It read:

Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all the territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.
Section 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

The US entry into World War One spurred prohibition on, oddly enough, over concerns about the exposure to alcohol to young men that military service would bring about.  Congress had already passed a law prohibiting beverage alcohol within so many miles of military reservations, bringing prohibition to Cheyenne due to the presence of Ft. D. A. Russell there, and banning it on U.S. Territories (such as Hawaii), as opposed to states.  The use of grains for distillation had also been banned on the basis that it took valuable grains away from the production of food.

1917         Pope Benedict XV urges "an end to useless slaughter" of World War One.  His statement declared:

TO THE HEADS OF THE BELLIGERENT PEOPLES:

From the beginning of Our Pontificate, amidst the horrors of the terrible war unleashed upon Europe, We have kept before Our attention three things above all: to preserve complete impartiality in relation to all the belligerents, as is appropriate to him who is the common father and who loves all his children with equal affection; to endeavor constantly to do all the most possible good, without personal exceptions and without national or religious distinctions, a duty which the universal law of charity, as well as the supreme spiritual charge entrusted to Us by Christ, dictates to Us; finally, as Our peacemaking mission equally demands, to leave nothing undone within Our power, which could assist in hastening the end of this calamity, by trying to lead the peoples and their heads to more moderate frames of mind and to the calm deliberations of peace, of a "just and lasting" peace.

Whoever has followed Our work during the three unhappy years which have just elapsed, has been able to recognize with ease that We have always remained faithful to Our resolution of absolute impartiality and to Our practical policy of well-doing . We have never ceased to urge the belligerent peoples and Governments to become brothers once more, even although publicity has not been given to all which We have done to attain this most noble end....

First of all, the fundamental point should be that for the material force of arms should be substituted the moral force of law; hence a just agreement by all for the simultaneous and reciprocal reduction of armaments, according to rules and guarantees to be established to the degree necessary and sufficient for the maintenance of public order in each State; then, instead of armies, the institution of arbitration, with its lofty peacemaking function, according to the standards to be agreed upon and with sanctions to be decided against the State which might refuse to submit international questions to arbitration or to accept its decisions.

Once the supremacy of law has been established, let every obstacle to the ways of communication between the peoples be removed, by ensuring through rules to be fixed in similar fashion, the true freedom and common use of the seas. This would, on the one hand, remove many reasons for conflict and, on the other, would open new sources of prosperity and progress to all....

With regard to territorial questions, such as those disputed between Italy and Austria, and between Germany and France, there is ground for hope that in consideration of the immense advantages of a lasting peace with disarmament, the conflicting parties will examine them in a conciliatory frame of mind, taking into account so far as it is just and practicable, as We have said previously, the aspirations of the peoples and co-ordinating, according to circumstances, particular interests with the general good of the great human society.

The same spirit of equity and justice should direct the examination of other territorial and political questions, notably those relating to Armenia, the Balkan States, and the territories composing the ancient Kingdom of Poland, for which especially its noble historical traditions and the sufferings which it has undergone, particularly during the present war, ought rightly to enlist the sympathies of the nations. Such are the principal foundations upon which We believe the future reorganization of peoples should rest. They are of a kind which would make impossible the recurrence of such conflicts and would pave the way for a solution of the economic question, so important for the future and the material welfare of all the belligerent States.

1918  August 1, 1918. Mustering the Home Guard
 

The size of World War One is perhaps demonstrated in part by the fact that, like World War Two, the militia was expanded to include bodies in each state that replaced the Federalized National Guard.*

Normally these units are called State Guards, and they've existed in every state in modern times only during World War One and World War Two, although some states have retained State Guard separately from from somewhat before the war until the present time and a few have established them once again in modern times.  Most states don't have them, however.  They're state troops liable only to their Governors for service for the most part, unlike National Guardsmen who also serve as a reserve of the Army.

By this point during the Great War, Wyoming was experimenting with mustering its State Guard.  Of interest, rifle production had now caught up with demand and the State Guard was being issued brand new rifles, almost certainly M1917 Enfields, which were replacing the Krag rifle of Spanish American War vintage.  As Krags were perfectly adequate for what the Home Guard was to do, and indeed wasn't really obsolete in larger terms, it shows that production was catching up with need by this point in the war.

_________________________________________________________________________________

*As we earlier noted, the US also formed sort of a national militia of this type in the form of the United States Guards during the war. 

 

1927  Guernsey Dam completed.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society.

1941  Parade magazine devotes three full pages to a feature article describing the U.S. Army's new vehicle, the Jeep.  In some ways, the Jeep really was a revolution in military transportation, but not so much as the much less heralded 6x6.  The extent to which all wheel drives would revolutionize travel in Wyoming can hardly be overstated.  Prior to World War Two, 4x4 trucks almost didn't exist in civilian hands, and those that did were not suitable for general use.  After the war, they rapidly entered into all types of backcountry use.  In terms of agriculture, this meant ground that was formerly completely inaccessible in winter before the war, was now accessible in many instances year around, eliminating the need for cowhands to be stationed in remote areas during the winter, and also just flatly eliminating the need for the same number of hands as previously employed.  For those in cities and towns, particularly sportsmen, the country was also suddenly opened up during the winter, when previously it simply had not been.

Jeep as lead vehicle in convoy, Iran, World War Two.

1941   President Roosevelt forbids the export of oil and aviation fuel from the United States except to Britain, the British Commonwealth countries and countries of the Western Hemisphere. Japan is left with only limited stocks of oil.

1942    Canadian Parliament passes the Veterans Land Act to provide settlement assistance to returning vets.

1947  The USS Wyoming, BB-32, is decommissioned.

1953  The movie Shane was released. The film, regarded as a Western classic, was filmed in Jackson's Hole.

The movie is based very loosely on the events of the Johnson County War and has remained popular all these years.  It's been subject to some wild interpretations as a result.  Like most movies which us the basic story of the Johnson County War as inspiration, it presents a heroic vision of the small, helpless farmer (rather than small rancher) who is pitted against merciless large ranchers.  Sets and costumes used in the film are mixed in regards to their authenticity, with the large cattlemen being most accurately depicted in regards to their appearance.  Jack Palance's gunman is particularly accurately attired.

Probably demonstrating my contrarian streak,  I always root for the large cattlemen in the film.

1957     The United States and Canada create the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).

1959  Wyoming's artillery and armor National Guard units were consolidated into the 49th Field Artillery Battalion, which I was in, back in the old days.

1981     The music video cable channel MTV made its debut, heralding the end of civilization.

1985  The worst flood in Wyoming's history occurs in Cheyenne when the town is struck by a severe thunderstorm..  Property loss was $65 million in 1985 dollars.  Twelve deaths and 70 injuries occurred with particularly horrific flooding occurring in downtown Cheyenne. The event happened in the evening and people were caught unawares, including attendees of a downtown Cheyenne movie theater.