Wyoming Trivia & Tidbits - Page 11

Looking for Wyoming trivia? Try our list Wyoming little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Only Wyoming and Virginia have no slogans on their license plates.

first appeared: 1/25/2004

The Black Thunder coal mine near Wright (pop. 1,347) yields more than 65 million tons of coal annually—providing enough electricity to power 4.5 million homes.

first appeared: 1/25/2004

On the morning of June 30, 1903, an explosion occurred at Union Pacific Coal Co.’s No. One Mine at Hanna (pop. 873) killing 169 miners. In 1908, another 59 miners died in a similar explosion at the same mine. A state mining inspector called the mine, “a valuable coal body, but I doubt the company can get men to work it.” The mine closed permanently that year.

first appeared: 1/18/2004

The origin of Wyoming derives from an American Indian word, mecheweamiing, which translates to “at the big plains.” The state’s nickname, the Equality State, stems from it being the first to give women the right to vote (in 1869) while Wyoming was still a territory.

first appeared: 1/11/2004

Rodeo is the official state sport. Nearly every town or city of any size in Wyoming has one or more rodeos scheduled throughout the year. Cody (pop. 8,835) is called the “Rodeo Capital of the World” because the Cody Nite Rodeo has been held every summer evening since the 1930s. The Wyoming State Fair Park in Douglas (pop. 5,288) hosts the Wyoming High School Finals Rodeo.

first appeared: 1/4/2004

The bucking horse and rider icon has appeared on Wyoming license plates since 1936, and is a registered trademark. The woman depicted in the state seal represents the state motto, “Equal Rights,” and the two men represent cattle ranchers and miners.

first appeared: 12/28/2003

The 3,100-mile Continental Divide National Scenic Trail from Canada to Mexico traverses some of its most spectacular terrain in Wyoming, where it passes through Yellowstone National Park and the national forests of Bridger-Teton, Shoshone and Medicine Bow-Routt.

first appeared: 12/21/2003

The Red Desert in Sweetwater County (pop. 37,613) is home to the largest desert elk herd in the world, the largest migratory game herd in the contiguous United States (the 50,000-strong Sublette antelope herd), thousands of mule deer, and seven wilderness study areas. It contains 150-year-old ruts from the Oregon and Mormon trails, along with landforms such as red-bottomed desert lakes scattered with lime colored greasewood, shifting sand dunes and colorful badlands.

first appeared: 12/14/2003

Edness K. Wilkins State Park, six miles east of Casper (pop. 49,644), is the only Wyoming state park named in honor of a woman. Wilkins was born in Casper in 1896 and served as a Democratic representative from Natrona County almost continuously for 25 years, from 1954 to 1980. She also helped to preserve South Pass City, a mining community from the late 1860s.

first appeared: 12/7/2003

KCWC-TV, the state’s first public broadcasting station, signed on the air May 10, 1983. The station, also known as Wyoming Public Television, is licensed to Central Wyoming College in Riverton (pop. 9,310) and carries the college’s name in its call letters. KCWC-TV served only Fremont County when it launched and today reaches 85 percent of the state.

first appeared: 11/30/2003

The state’s first school was established at Fort Laramie (pop. 243) in 1852 by post chaplain William Vaux, who was assisted by his daughter, Victoria. The state’s second school was opened at Fort Bridger (pop. 400) in 1860 by Judge William Carter, with Miss Fannie Foot as the teacher.

first appeared: 11/23/2003

In 1906, residents of Worland (pop. 5,250) slid their buildings on skids across the frozen Big Horn River to take economic advantage of railroad tracks being laid on the east—and opposite—side of the river. Even today the community prospers on the river’s east side.

first appeared: 11/16/2003

Rev. Samuel Parker held Wyoming’s first Protestant worship service in 1835, near present-day Bondurant (pop. 155). Father Pierre De Smet celebrated the state’s first Catholic Mass in 1840, near present-day Daniel (pop. 89).

first appeared: 11/9/2003

An 1896 treaty with the Shoshone and Arapaho tribes opened one of the world’s largest mineral hot springs, producing about 18.6 million gallons a day, for public use. Located in Thermopolis (pop. 3,172) within Hot Springs State Park, a free bath house maintains the spring’s water at 104 degrees for the safest healing effect.

first appeared: 11/2/2003

Between 1899 and 1917, 16 public libraries were built in Wyoming, thanks to grants provided by industrialist Andrew Carnegie. The first was built in Cheyenne (pop. 53,011) in 1899, Green River’s (pop. 11,808) in 1905, and Newcastle’s (pop. 3,065) in 1911. Carnegie provided funds for 2,509 libraries throughout the English-speaking world.

first appeared: 10/26/2003

Patricia MacLachlan, author of Sarah, Plain and Tall, was born March 3, 1938, in Cheyenne (pop. 53,011). The book, which tells the story of a young girl living on the American prairie in the 19th century whose family is joined by a mail-order bride from Maine, received the Newbery Medal from the American Library Association in 1986.

first appeared: 10/19/2003

Beginning in 1903, copper ore traveled from the Ferris-Haggarty Mine on the west side of the Continental Divide to the smelter near Grand Encampment (pop. 443) and Riverside (pop. 59) on the east side via a 16-mile aerial tramway. The tramway, strung between 370 towers that varied from 10 to 70 feet tall, carried 985 ore buckets on a cable that traveled at about 4 mph.

first appeared: 10/12/2003

The Little America Travel Center on Interstate 80, 14 miles west of Green River (pop. 11,808), is named for Adm. Richard E. Byrd’s “Little America” base camp in Antarctica from 1928 to 1930. The travel center was founded in 1932 by S.M. Covey, whose experience while caught in a blizzard inspired him to create a shelter for travelers. The center’s symbol is a penguin.

first appeared: 10/5/2003

All 23 of the state’s counties have experienced earthquakes during the past 120 years, with Yellowstone National Park and Teton and Lincoln counties being the most active. The state’s earthquakes are caused by movements along fault lines or in the magma chamber that lies beneath Yellowstone, or by human activity such as mine blasting.

first appeared: 9/28/2003

The Fallen Firefighters Memorial at the Wyoming Fire Academy in Riverton (pop. 9,310) honors state firefighters who have lost their lives, and was created after the heavy fire seasons of 1987 and 1988. Many of the state’s firefighters worked together to design and build the memorial, which includes rocks from the Wind River Indian Reservation, all counties, Bureau of Land Management districts and national forests, and both national parks in Wyoming.

first appeared: 9/21/2003

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