Lex Anteinternet: Movies In History: Wind River

Lex Anteinternet: Movies In History: Wind River: I often dread watching modern movies set in Wyoming (I tend to give the older ones a pass) as they get things so wrong.  And, of course, as...

Lex Anteinternet: The plank in our own eye. Considering the memoria...

Lex Anteinternet: The plank in our own eye. Considering the memoria...: Why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the great log in your own?  And how dare you say to your broth...

Lex Anteinternet: The View from the San Jacinto Monument

Lex Anteinternet: The View from the San Jacinto Monument: A live webcam, right on the harbor.

Some Gave All: The Sundance, Wyoming Rest Stop Memorials.

Some Gave All: The Sundance, Wyoming Rest Stop Memorials.: 

 Memorials at the Sundance Wyoming Rest Stop.

I usually don't put a bunch of memorials, even at one single spot, in one single post.  Each, I generally feel, deserves its own post as each is its own topic, in terms of what it commemorates.

 Black Hills Sign at the Sundance Wyoming Rest Stop.

I'm making an exception here, however, as these are grouped so nicely, they seem to require a singular treatment. 

The first item we address is the Black Hills sign. This sign discusses the Black Hills, which straddle the Wyoming/South Dakota border.

 Crook County sign.

The second sign discusses Crook County, named after Gen. George Crook, and in which Sundance is situated.

The sign oddly doesn't really go into Crook himself, but then its a memorial for the county, not the general.  Still a controversial general, Crook came into this region in the summer campaign of 1876 which saw him go as far north as southern Montana before meeting the Sioux and Cheyenne at Rosebud several days prior to Custer encountering them at Little Big Horn.  Crook engaged the native forces and then withdrew in a move that's still both praised and condemned.  At the time of the formation of Crook County in 1888 he was sufficiently admired that the county was named after him, at a time at which he was still living.

 Custer Expedition Memorial.

Finally, the Rest Stop is the location of an old monument noting the passage of Custer's 1874 expedition into the Black Hills, which is generally regarded as the precursor of the European American invasion of the Black Hills and the Powder River Expedition of 1876.  Obviously, it's more complicated than that, but its safe to say that the discovery of gold in 1874 gave way to a gold rush which, in turn, made conflict with the Sioux, who had taken over the Black Hills (by force) from the Crow, inevitable.

This memorial is interesting in the super heated atmosphere of today given that the historical view has really changed since 1940, when this roadside monument was dedicated (surprisingly late, I'd note, compared to similar Wyoming monuments). In 1940 Custer was still regarded as a hero.  By the 1970s, however, he was regarded in the opposite fashion, by and large, at least in terms of his popular portrays are concerned.  The 1874 expedition into the Black Hills is not favorably recalled in history now at all.

I have to wonder, however, in terms of the history if this expedition changed history the way it is recalled.  The Black Hills always seem to be an attractant.  They attracted the Sioux who took them (in living memory in 1874) from the Crows and it seems highly likely that they would would have attracted European Americans as well.  Certainly they continued to even after the hopes of gold seekers were dashed.

Lex Anteinternet: Berlin Air Lift Rates

Lex Anteinternet: Berlin Air Lift Rates:

Berlin Air Lift Rates

One plane every minute.

C-54 during the Berlin Air Lift

That was the highest rate achieved for the Berlin Air Lift in 1949.

Today, for the eclipse, the rate is predicted to be one plane every two minutes.

Will that actually occur?

Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: "The Confederate Monuments and C...

Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: "The Confederate Monuments and C...: When I posted this last week I didn't think we'd see memorials coming down so fast, or maybe at all: Lex Anteinternet: The Confede...

Some Gave All: The Powder River Country, Braodus Montana

Some Gave All: The Powder River Country, Braodus Montana:

A lot of history in this region of Montana, and in the adjoining part of Wyoming.

Blog Mirror: MeredithinWyoming; August 2, 1867 The Wagon Box Fight on the Bozeman Trail.

August 2, 1867 The Wagon Box Fight on the Bozeman Trail

Wyoming Fact & Fiction - Neil A. Waring: Wyoming - The First Cattle

Wyoming Fact & Fiction - Neil A. Waring: Wyoming - The First Cattle: Living only a few blocks from the North Platte River, I often think about how important it once was. Not that it is unimportant today, supp...

Lex Anteinternet: It's National Doughnut Day!

Lex Anteinternet: It's National Doughnut Day!: Or Donut Day, if you prefer. John A. Johnston, First Vice President of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Ironwork...

Wyoming Fact & Fiction - Neil A. Waring: Western Books

Wyoming Fact & Fiction - Neil A. Waring: Western Books: I have often read that Owen Wister's publishing of  The Virginian , 115 years ago this week, on May 28, 1902, was the start of Wes...

Lex Anteinternet: That horse on the license plate, everyone knows its Steamboat. Right?

Lex Anteinternet: That horse on the license plate, everyone knows it...:  This spectacular depiction of a rodeo horse at the University of Wyoming does in fact depict Steamboat.  And it might also depict what ...

Como Bluffs: Dinosaur Graveyard and Train Robberies

These two historic markers are located at Como Bluffs, between Rock River and Medicine Bow Wyoming. I'm sure I've stopped at them before, but it's probably been over thirty years and I've never photographed the markers before, or if I did it would have been that long ago.

The first marker is for the fossil fields nearby.  The sign tells the story.  I'd only note as an aside that my father told me that back in the 1940s he stopped at the fossil cabin with his father and the owner of hit gave him a fossilized dinosaur egg from the nearby fossil beds.  Unfortunately, it's long since been lost.

The train robberies sign also speaks for itself.  The first robbery noted is a famous one by The Whole In The Wall Gang, famously depicted in the film Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.  The other details the life of Bill Carlisle, the "Gentleman Bandit". 

Structures at this site are depicted in these two photographs, including the famous "fossil cabin".  A nearby sign notes that it was featured in "Ripley's Believe It Or Not".

Some Gave All: Wyoming Veterans Museum: World War One Display

Some Gave All: Wyoming Veterans Museum: World War One Display: Display dedicated to George Ostron, who was an accomplished armature illustrator and who won a contest to design what became the unit ins...

Lex Anteinternet: Baseball's Only Double No Hitter, May 2, 1917

And yes, it's off topic

Lex Anteinternet: Baseball's Only Double No Hitter, May 2, 1917:

On this day.

 Winning pitcher Toney.

The Reds v The Cubs.  Ten innings.  One run.  Victory to the Reds.

 Hippo Vaughn.

Fred Toney v. Hippo Vaughn.  They both pitched the entire game.

When the run came in, and the Cubs lost, Cubs owner Charlie Weeghman stuck his head into the Cubs clubhouse and yelled at the team, “You’re all a bunch of asses!

 Charlie Weeghman, far left, in 1914.

Lex Anteinternet: Blog Mirror: Today In Wyoming's History: May 1. ...

Lex Anteinternet: Blog Mirror: Today In Wyoming's History: May 1. ...: From our history blog: Today In Wyoming's History: May 1 : 2017  A complete freeze on state hiring commences. But what does that me...

Wyoming Fact & Fiction - Neil A. Waring: The Closing of Fort Laramie April 20, 1890

Wyoming Fact & Fiction - Neil A. Waring: The Closing of Fort Laramie April 20, 1890: On April 20, 1890, the last soldiers left Fort Laramie.  127 years ago does not seem long ago as I have lived more than half those years.  ...

Some Gave All: The Black 14, University of Wyoming, Laramie Wyoming

Some Gave All: The Black 14, University of Wyoming, Laramie Wyoming

This is a monument to The Black 14 in the University of Wyoming's Student Union.

The Black 14 were fourteen University of Wyoming football players who, in 1969, wanted to wear black armbands during the University of Wyoming v. Brigham Young football game. The action was intended to protest the policy of the Mormon church in excluding blacks from leadership roles in their church.  Coach Eaton, the UW football coach at the time, dismissed all fourteen players prior to the game, ending their football careers at UW and, at least in some cases, simply ending them entirely.

 

The event was controversial at the time, and to a lesser degree, has remained so.  Generally, in most of Wyoming, Coach Eaton was supported, rather than the players, which doesn't mean that the players did not have support.  As time has gone on, however, views have changed and generally the players are regarded as heroes for their stand.  Views on Eaton are qualified, with some feeling he was in the wrong, and others feeling that he was between a rock and a hard place and acted as best as

he could, even if that was not for the best.

It is indeed possible even now to see both sides of the dramatic event.  The players wanted to wear black armbands in protest of the Mormon's policy of not allowing blacks to be admitted to the Mormon priesthood and therefore also excluding them from positions of leadership in the Mormon church.  This policy was well know in much of Wyoming as the Mormon theology behind it, which held that blacks were descendant of an unnatural union on the part of Noah's son Cain, resulted in black human beings.  This was unlikely to be widely known, however, amongst blacks at the University of Wyoming, most of whom (but not all of which) came from outside of the state.  A week or so prior to the UW v. BYU game, however, Willie Black, a black doctoral candidate at UW who was not on the football team, learned of the policy.  Black was head of the Black Students Alliance and called for a protest.  The plan to wear armbands then developed.

The protest, therefore, came in the context of a civil rights vs. religious concepts background, a tough matter in any context.  To make worse, it also came during the late 60s which was a time of protest, and there had been one against the Vietnam War just days prior to the scheduled game. Following that, Eaton reminded his players of UW's policy against student athletes participating in any demonstration, a policy which raises its own civil liberties concern. The players went ahead with their plans and Eaton removed all of them from the team.

 

Looked at now, it remains easy to see why Eaton felt that he had to act, while also feeling that he acted much too harshly.  Not everyone agrees with this view by any means, however.  Many, but a declining number, still feel Eaton was right.  A much larger number feel he was definitely wrong.  Few hold a nuanced view like I've expressed.  Even those who felt that Eaton was right often admire the protesting players, however. 

 

Anyway its looked at, the Black 14 are now a definite part of Wyoming's legacy as The Equality State, even if most of them were not from here (at least one, and maybe more, were).  This year at Wyoming History Day, a statewide high school history presentation competition, which had the theme of "taking a stand", they were the subject of one static display and two video presentations.  They may be more well remembered now than at any time since the late 1970s, and this memorial in the student union certainly contributes to that.

Some Gave All: Cattlemen Monument, Sublette County Wyoming.

Some Gave All: Cattlemen Monument, Sublette County Wyoming.:

 

Some Gave All: The Lander Cut Off, Oregon Trail. Sublette County...

Some Gave All: The Lander Cut Off, Oregon Trail. Sublette County Wyoming:

Monument for the Lander Cut Off of the Oregon Trail, an early road
project on the part of the Federal Government.  This is located just
outside of Marbleton, Wyoming.

Some Gave All: South Pass, Wyoming

Some Gave All: South Pass, Wyoming

Wyoming Fact & Fiction - Neil A. Waring: Some of My Favorite Wyoming People

Wyoming Fact & Fiction - Neil A. Waring: Some of My Favorite Wyoming People: Today I thought that I might write a piece on famous people from Wyoming. Looks like I may need to put that off. Why? Too much research. I...

Lex Anteinternet: Uber comes to Wyoming. . . . and I don't like it.

Lex Anteinternet: Uber comes to Wyoming. . . . and I don't like it.: I started this post a couple of weeks ago.  True to form, it's taken me awhile to get back around to it.  Today the same story hit the c...

Lex Anteinternet: Evidence that maybe somebody at your local paper i...

Lex Anteinternet: Evidence that maybe somebody at your local paper i...: Hmmm. . . . if that photo is right Sgt. Bellamy was in the Wehrmacht during World War Two. . . .

Lex Anteinternet: Wyoming's most prolific inventor

Lex Anteinternet: Wyoming's most prolific inventor: This is a semi automatic rifle designed by John Pedersen, Wyoming's most prolific inventor.  This rifle competed with others early on...

Some Gave All: March 29 Designated National Vietnam Veterans Day

Some Gave All: March 29 Designated National Vietnam Veterans Day: By an act of Congress signed into law on this day by President Trump, March 29 will hence forth be National Vietnam Veterans Day.

Wyoming Fact and Fiction: A Few Thoughts on History – From an Old History Te...

Wyoming Fact and Fiction: A Few Thoughts on History – From an Old History Te...: I mentioned, in a speaking engagement a week ago, that new history consistently replaces older history. Things that happened in the past ...

Red Dirt In My Soul: Ranchlife In Wyoming: Help!

In case somebody can help:

Help!

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Carol

A while back I had a reader comment with this:
“Carol, I am 92 and my father, William H. Small, owned two ranches near Ten Sleep . . .

It seemed wet

The Casper Star Tribune is reporting that:

Wyoming’s three main winter months – December through February – were the wettest in the state’s recorded history, according to the National Weather Service.

Almost 5.5 inches of precipitation fell on the state this season, breaking the previous record of 4.93 inches set in 1898.

It seemed wet, that's for sure.

And its not really over yet.

 

Wyoming Experiences a Population Decline for the first time since 1990

The Casper Star Tribune is reporting that:

Wyoming’s population contracted for the first time in nearly three decades, likely because people left the state for work elsewhere, according to estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau and state.

In July, 585,501 people called the Cowboy State home, a decrease of 0.2 percent from July 2015, or 1,054 fewer Wyomingites.

We always have a transient population, and surely this came as no surprise to anyone who watched how heated the oil and gas fields became in the last few years.  Many of the workers who came in at that time expressed an intent to return home when they could, and they no doubt did.