Wyoming Trivia & Tidbits - Page 15

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

Yellowstone National Park’s Radiator Geyser got its name because the area was once a parking lot, and the small geyser was seen erupting underneath a parked car—where it was at first mistaken for an overheated radiator.

first appeared: 10/20/2002

Three U.S. Navy ships have carried the name of the state’s major attraction—Yellowstone. The first was a freighter built in 1917. The second, a destroyer tender (repair ship) was launched in 1945. It earned the nickname “Old Faithful”—after the national park’s reliable geyser—for its work in the Atlantic Ocean. The third U.S.S. Yellowstone, also a destroyer tender, was launched in 1979.

first appeared: 10/13/2002

Oscar-winning actress Barbara Stanwyck (1907-1990) donated her awards and papers—including her Oscar for her lifetime achievements in film—to the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming in Laramie (pop. 27,204). The collection also includes copies of her scripts from movies such as Double Indemnity.

first appeared: 10/6/2002

The unique construction of a Sheridan (pop. 15,804) hotel once earned it a mention from Ripley’s Believe It or Not. The Sheridan Inn, built in 1893, features raised or dormer windows on all second- and third-floor rooms. Ripley’s, referring to the peaks formed by the windows, called the hotel the “House of 69 Gables.”

first appeared: 9/29/2002

The tales of Casper Mountain elves and witches spun by author and artist Neal Forsling are celebrated at the Crimson Dawn Museum near Casper. Forsling’s cabin on the mountain contains examples of her art, while trails leading from the cabin are dotted with markers celebrating the creatures of Forsling’s imagination.

first appeared: 9/29/2002

Mount Sacagawea in the Wind River Mountains is named for the young Shoshone Indian woman who accompanied Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s expedition of 1804-1806 to the Pacific Ocean. She was the wife of a French Canadian fur trapper hired to guide the Corps of Discovery. While on the journey, she gave birth to a son whom Clark later raised as his own in St. Louis.

first appeared: 9/22/2002

The father of a Wyoming governor is the only man who was ever able to win a conviction against outlaw Butch Cassidy. Bill Simpson was the father of Milward Simpson, who served as governor from 1955 to 1959, and the grandfather of U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson. Bill Simpson was the prosecutor for Fremont County when he won a conviction against Cassidy for horse theft in 1894. The conviction resulted in Cassidy’s only prison stay—at the Wyoming Territorial Prison in Laramie (pop. 27,204).

first appeared: 9/15/2002

Wyoming’s first schoolhouse was actually in the Utah Territory until 1868. The schoolhouse, located on the former military post known as Fort Bridger, was built by W.A. Carter in 1860 to educate his children. The area become part of the Wyoming Territory in 1868. The school is still at the fort, now a state historic site.

first appeared: 9/8/2002

The first county library system in the country was born in Cheyenne. It was created in 1886 and marked the first time a county government was responsible for library operations.

first appeared: 9/1/2002

Life on a ranch near Cheyenne inspired Mary O’Hara to write what some consider her most famous book. My Friend Flicka is the best known of the books O’Hara wrote while living in Wyoming. The book was published in 1941.

first appeared: 8/25/2002

John Wesley Powell was famous for being the first man known to navigate the Colorado River. But that’s not why the people of Powell (pop. 5,373) named their town for him. They were honoring his efforts as a federal official in the late 1800s to get an irrigation system built that allowed agriculture to flourish in the area.

first appeared: 8/25/2002

The state’s lowest spot is in its northeastern corner near the Belle Fourche River. About 3,100 feet above sea level, that is still twice the elevation of Ohio’s highest point.

first appeared: 8/18/2002

The red-tiled roofs and stucco walls that characterized the Spanish mission architectural style popular in the 1920s dominate the homes in the town of Sinclair (pop. 423), which was built by an oil company in the 1920s.

first appeared: 8/18/2002

A publicity stunt left a skydiver stranded on top of Devil’s Tower near Sundance (pop. 1,161) for nearly a week. George Hopkins parachuted onto the flat top of the 1,267-foot tower in October 1941, planning to use a rope to descend from the peak. But the rope went over the side of the mountain, leaving Hopkins stranded and the subject of newspaper headlines around the country for six days. He was finally rescued by a team of eight mountain climbers.

first appeared: 8/11/2002

The world’s first winner of horse racing’s Triple Crown retired to Douglas (pop. 5,288). Sir Barton, who won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes in 1919, was purchased by Douglas horse breeder Dr. Joseph Hylton in the 1930s and lived at the doctor’s farm until his death in 1937. A monument in the horse’s honor stands at the Wyoming Pioneer Memorial Museum in Douglas.

first appeared: 8/4/2002

What is believed to be the first surgical procedure by a trained doctor in Wyoming involved two key figures in Western history. Dr. Marcus Whitman, the missionary who became famous for his efforts to convert American Indians in the Oregon Territory to Christianity, removed an arrowhead from the back of famous mountain man Jim Bridger near Pinedale (pop. 1,412) in 1835. The surgery took place at a Green River Rendezvous where mountain men from around the region gathered to socialize.

first appeared: 7/28/2002

The National Bighorn Sheep Center in Dubois (pop. 962) is dedicated to teaching people more about Rocky Mountain sheep, or bighorn sheep. Located near one of the country’s largest populations of Rocky Mountain sheep, the center features extensive displays about bighorn sheep and their habitat, as well as offering visitors a chance to tour parts of nearby Whiskey Mountain to see the animals firsthand.

first appeared: 7/21/2002

Mrs. A.C. Keyes of Casper designed the Wyoming state flag, which displays a white bison with the great seal of Wyoming in the center. The flag was adopted by the 14th Legislature Jan. 31, 1917.

first appeared: 7/14/2002

John Wesley Powell began his three-month exploration of the Colorado River at and on Green River. Powell and his nine companions arrived in the town of Green River (pop. 11,808) in May 1869 and launched their boats in the Green River, successfully following it as it merged with another river to become the Colorado and then floating through the Grand Canyon. Powell’s departure point is marked with a small plaque on what is now called “Expedition Island.”

first appeared: 7/7/2002

Wyoming’s first oil well was built at a site already well known for “coal tar.” The well was drilled in 1884 south of Lander (pop. 6,867) on top of an area where oil flowed to the surface, creating a “tar springs.” Before the well was drilled, settlers used the oil that reached the surface to grease wagon wheels, fill lamps, and as a balm to ease their aches and pains.

first appeared: 6/30/2002

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