Wyoming Trivia & Tidbits - Page 19

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

The small amount of rain that falls on Wyoming’s Red Desert never reaches a body of water. The desert is inside a basin formed by a split in the Continental Divide from which there is no natural drainage. So the annual nine inches of rain in the area between Rawlins and Rock Springs simply soaks into the brick-red soil or evaporates.

first appeared: 8/12/2001

Arrowheads and ancient tools made by American Indians inside what is now Yellowstone National Park have turned up as far away as Ohio and Michigan. Researchers believe the tools made their way east through a very active trade of the stone found at Obsidian Cliff.

first appeared: 8/5/2001

The grave of mountain man John “Jeremiah” Johnson, whose life was depicted in the movie Jeremiah Johnson, starring Robert Redford, is in Cody (pop. 7,897). Although Johnson spent many years in the wilderness areas of Wyoming, Colorado, and Montana, he died in Los Angeles in 1899 and was buried there. His remains were shipped to Cody in 1974 for reburial at the town’s historic “Old Trail Town” attraction. Redford attended the service.

first appeared: 7/29/2001

With a depth of 800 feet, the Pittsburg and Midway Coal Mine, near Kemmerer (pop. 3,020), is the largest open pit coal mine in the country. The mine is capable of producing 4.2 million tons of coal a year and is located inside an area believed to contain up to 500 million tons of coal.

first appeared: 7/29/2001

—Wyoming is home to one of the rarest mammals in the world. The black-footed ferret was feared extinct until 1981, when one colony of the rare animals was found near Meeteetse (pop. 368). When a disease outbreak threatened the colony, a captive breeding program was launched that brought the species back from the edge of extinction. The ferrets are now being reintroduced to the wild in several areas of the West.

first appeared: 7/22/2001

During the winter of 1905-06, the town of Worland (pop. 5,742) did a little skating—buildings and all. Worland was originally built on the west side of the Big Horn River. But when the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad announced plans to build a rail line on the east side of the river, residents agreed a move was in order. They slid Worland’s 10 buildings across the frozen river to the present location.

first appeared: 7/15/2001

The Pitts Special, a world-famous stunt airplane, is manufactured at the Aviat Aircraft facility in Afton (pop. 1,394). Aviat got its start in the 1940s producing airplanes for agricultural uses and later branched out into the aerobatic airplane market.

first appeared: 7/8/2001

Periodic Spring, a mountain spring which almost seems to be equipped with a timer, can be found near Afton (pop. 1,394). During the late summer and early fall, water gushes from a cliff face for about 18 minutes before stopping for 18 minutes, then beginning the cycle again.

first appeared: 7/1/2001

The world’s first major find of dinosaur fossils was made near Medicine Bow (pop. 389) in 1877. Since then, paleontologists there have found fossils from almost all of the Jurassic-era species known to roam North America—including the first discovery of the diplodocus, the largest known dinosaur.

first appeared: 6/24/2001

Ranchers William Rogers and Willard Ripley were the first to climb Devils Tower, which reaches more than 1,200 feet above the prairies of northeastern Wyoming. On July 4, 1893, Rogers and Ripley pounded stakes into the tower and then nailed pieces of wood to the stakes, creating a crude ladder they used to climb the tower.

first appeared: 6/17/2001

Esther Hobart Morris, instrumental in Wyoming’s decision to become the first territory to grant women the right to vote, is believed to have been named the world’s first female justice of the peace in 1870 when she was appointed to the position in South Pass.

first appeared: 6/17/2001

One of the largest active sand dune areas in the country can be found in the Red Desert of southwestern Wyoming. The Killpecker Sand Dunes shift constantly, thanks to easterly winds. The dunes range in width from two to 10 miles and reach a height of up to 150 feet.

first appeared: 6/10/2001

A number of Wyoming locations carry the name of a French trapper who frequented the state’s southeastern corner. Two towns, Laramie (pop. 26,687) and Fort Laramie (pop. 243), a river, a county, a mountain range, a mountain peak, and a plain are all named after Jacques La Ramee (also spelled La Ramie). La Ramee was reportedly killed by American Indians in the 1820s.

first appeared: 6/3/2001

Wyoming’s first Roman Catholic Mass was performed in 1840, near what is now Daniel (pop. 110), by Father Pierre Jean DeSmet. The priest performed the ceremony during a “rendezvous” of area fur trappers, who met once a year to buy and sell supplies and furs.

first appeared: 6/3/2001

During Prohibition, a potent drink known as “Kemmerer Moon” could be found at speakeasies across the country. The bootlegging industry in Kemmerer (pop. 3,020) became so active that the town earned the nickname “Little Chicago.”

first appeared: 5/27/2001

Millions of fossil fish, insects, and plants can be found at the Fossil Butte National Monument near Cokeville (pop. 493). The fossils are contained in slabs of oil shale that was once the sediment-covered bottom of an ancient freshwater lake.

first appeared: 5/20/2001

Cheyenne was one of the first cities in the West to have electric lights. Beginning in 1882, batteries to run the lights were charged during the day at a power plant and then delivered to homes before nightfall.

first appeared: 5/20/2001

Yellowstone National Park’s Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most famous geysers in the world, appears to be losing steam. For many years, its eruptions, which shoot water up to 140 feet in the air, occurred about every 64 minutes. That schedule slowed to about every 76 minutes prior to an earthquake in 1998. Since the earthquake, the geyser has erupted about every 80 minutes.

first appeared: 5/13/2001

In 1920, Jackson (pop. 4,472) became the first town in America to be governed entirely by women. Voters elected four women to the town council and as mayor and town marshal.

first appeared: 5/6/2001

The oldest standing bridge in Wyoming is the Fort Laramie Iron Bridge, built over the North Platte River in 1875 to serve the fort.

first appeared: 4/29/2001

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