Wyoming Trivia & Tidbits - Page 13

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

The world’s largest herd of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep can be found wintering at Whiskey Basin/Little Red Creek Wildlife Habitat Management Area, near Dubois (pop. 962). The 12,181-acre area was established in 1954 to provide a winter range for the 1,200 wild sheep, whose rams bear distinctively curled horns.

first appeared: 5/25/2003

The historic Sheridan Inn in Sheridan (pop. 15,804) celebrates its 110th anniversary this year. It opened in May 1893, and was once leased by Buffalo Bill Cody, who hired his Wild West Show performers from the front porch. Other notable guests include Ernest Hemingway (who began writing A Farewell to Arms there), President Herbert Hoover, Thomas Dewey, Will Rogers, Mary Roberts Rinehart, and Gen. John J. Pershing.

first appeared: 5/18/2003

People have lived for more than 10,000 years at what is now the Medicine Lodge State Archeological Site near Hyattville (pop. 73) in the Big Horn Basin area. Archeological digs through 26 feet of soil have revealed more than 60 cultural levels. The site also is known for its petroglyphs and pictographs.

first appeared: 5/11/2003

Black Thunder mine near Wright (pop. 1,347) is one of America’s largest coal mines, producing more than 65 million tons of coal annually—enough to generate electricity for nearly 4.5 million households. On average, Black Thunder produces more than two tons of coal per second, every day throughout the year. Wyoming is one of the nation’s largest coal producers.

first appeared: 5/4/2003

The bucking horse that appears on the Wyoming license plate has a name—Steamboat. The horse was owned in the early 1900s by John Coble of the Iron Mountain Ranch near Cheyenne and later by C.B. Irwin, of the Irwin Brothers Wild West Show. Legend has it that Steamboat couldn’t be ridden: at least 38 cowboys are known to have tried, and although one is said to have succeeded, most stayed on only briefly.

first appeared: 4/27/2003

Platte County takes its name from the North Platte River, which in turn was named Rivière de Plat, or Flat River, by French trappers. Although the river offers challenging Class III and IV rapids near Six Mile Gap, much of its run is indeed flat and calm, offering prime trout fishing.

first appeared: 4/20/2003

Francis E. Warren, a Medal of Honor winner in the Civil War who moved to Cheyenne in 1868, was elected Wyoming’s first governor in 1890. He lost the job a few weeks later when the state Legislature elected him a U.S. senator.

first appeared: 4/13/2003

In 1936, residents in the rural southeast organized the state’s first electric cooperative, Wyrulec, based in Lingle (pop. 510). Residents paid $5 each to ensure that electricity would be extended to their farms.

first appeared: 4/6/2003

At 13,804 feet, Gannett Peak in the Wind River Mountains on the Continental Divide, about 24 miles northeast of Pinedale (pop. 1,412), is the state’s highest mountain peak and is a rugged 40-mile roundtrip hike.

first appeared: 3/30/2003

Steven Spielberg’s 1977 blockbuster movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, was filmed at Devils Tower National Monument, 27 miles northwest of Sundance (pop. 1,161). The 1,200-foot volcanic rock was designated the country’s first national monument in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt.

first appeared: 3/23/2003

One of 25 Big Boy steam engines built by Union Pacific from 1941 to 1944 is permanently parked in Cheyenne. Number 4004 could pull a 3,600-ton train up steep grades through the Wasatch Mountains on the route between Cheyenne and Ogden, Utah. The Big Boys’ massive frames were articulated, or hinged, to easily navigate curves.

first appeared: 3/16/2003

A Wyoming cowboy introduced rodeo to China. Warren “Freckles” Brown, a native of Wheatland (pop. 3,548) and a champion bull rider and member of the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, put on a rodeo while stationed in China during World War II, using army mules as the bucking stock. At the event he won first place in the “saddle mule riding” and “bareback mule riding” events.

first appeared: 3/9/2003

In 1885, stockman John Coble shot a hole in a painting hanging in the upscale Cheyenne Club, the gathering spot for Wyoming’s rich cattle barons. Coble said the painting, which depicted a bull and a cow, was “a poor imitation” of a cow. The painting later hung on display in the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne—bullet hole and all.

first appeared: 3/9/2003

One of the original four-horse coaches used on the Cheyenne-Black Hills stagecoach line from Cheyenne to Deadwood is at the Stagecoach Museum in Lusk (pop. 1,447). The museum also houses a collection of covered wagons and early firefighting equipment.

first appeared: 3/2/2003

Cheyenne, the state’s capital, takes its name from a word meaning “aliens, or people of foreign language.” The Sioux Indians gave this name to another tribe that roamed the open plains in the area.

first appeared: 2/23/2003

Wyoming became the last state in the nation to set its legal drinking age at 21 in July of 1988. Before that, the legal drinking age had been 19.

first appeared: 2/23/2003

Joseph M. Carey, the state’s first U.S. senator, was elected governor in 1910 on the Democratic ticket—even though he was a registered Republican.

first appeared: 2/16/2003

Saratoga (pop. 1,726) owes its name to area springs. While surveying a town site in southern Wyoming in 1886, Fenimore Chatterton (who later served as governor) named the area’s springs “Saratoga Hot Springs” because they reminded him of a spa in New York. The first part of the name stuck to the town.

first appeared: 2/9/2003

The 7,000-acre Eatons’ Ranch near Sheridan (pop. 15,804) is one of the earliest dude ranches in the world. In 1904, the Eaton brothers—Howard, Willis, and Alden—moved their ranching operation, which also had become a dude ranch, here from North Dakota.

first appeared: 2/9/2003

When issuing sentences in the 1860s, Cheyenne’s first justice of the peace, Luke Murrin, added 25 cents to every fine—for “liquid refreshment.”

first appeared: 2/2/2003

jump to page: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21

newspaper partner login create account

Recent

Popular

Recipes

Below are the most recent American Profile articles:

Below are the most recent, highest rated American Profile articles:

Below are the most recent, highest rated American Profile recipes:

Relish

Spry

Below are the most recent articles from our Relish sister site. Click on the "Spry" tab above to see the most recent articles from our other sister site.

Below are the most recent articles from our Spry sister site. Click on the "Relish" tab above to see the most recent articles from our other sister site.