Wyoming Trivia & Tidbits - Page 7

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

Founded in 1965 in Landers (pop. 68,67), the National Outdoor Leadership School teaches mountaineering, rock climbing, outdoor skills and environmental studies. More than 75,000 people have graduated, some earning college credit for their work.

first appeared: 10/9/2005

In August 2004, a bus that started up using diesel fuel and then switched to recycled vegetable oil rolled out of the National Outdoor Leadership School in Lander on a tour to promote the school and its message of environmental awareness.

first appeared: 10/9/2005

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department runs the Cutt-Slam program to increase public awareness and conservation of the state’s four native cutthroat trout subspecies: the Yellowstone, Snake River, Bonneville and Colorado River. Anglers can receive a certificate through the program by providing photographs, dates and locations where they caught—and released—each of the four subspecies.

first appeared: 9/25/2005

The National Park Service closes some of the routes to the top of Devils Tower, a 1,267-foot monolith south of Hulett (pop. 408), each year between March and August to protect nesting prairie falcons. Researchers have found that the falcons sometimes abandon their nests when disturbed by rock climbers. Other times, the raptors go on the defensive, diving at climbers who come too close to their eggs or chicks.

first appeared: 9/18/2005

Research on ancient chipped-stone tools by anthropologist George Frison gave rise to the expression "the Frison Effect," which describes how sharpening the edges of stone tools changes their shape and their use. In 1997, Frison became the first Wyoming scientist to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He was born in 1924 in Worland (pop. 5,250).

first appeared: 9/18/2005

In Campbell County (pop. 33,698), pronghorn outnumber humans. Commonly called antelope, pronghorn aren’t actually members of the antelope family. Scientifically, they are identified as Antilocapra americana, which means the "American goat-antelope."

first appeared: 9/11/2005

The name of Wyoming’s Star Valley comes from Starvation or Starve Valley, a name the area gained during bitter winters in the late 1880s. Many cattle were lost in the severe winter of 1889, when more than 40 inches of snow fell during two days and nights in March. Among the towns in the valley, which lies between the Salt River Range in western Wyoming and the Webster Range in eastern Idaho, are Afton (pop. 1,818), Alpine (pop. 550), and Thayne (pop. 341).

first appeared: 9/11/2005

In April, a University of Wyoming geologist, Barbara John, co-led an expedition during which scientists drilled a 4,644-foot hole below the floor of the North Atlantic Ocean. The hole was the third deepest ever drilled, coming close to where the earth’s crust meets the mantle. The project is part of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program.

first appeared: 8/28/2005

Elected the first governor of the state of Wyoming in September 1890, Francis E. Warren served only two months before being named by the Legislature to serve as one of the state’s U.S. senators. After he died in 1929, Fort D.A. Russell, near Cheyenne (pop. 53,011), was renamed for him. Today, the F.E. Warren Air Force Base is home to the 90th Space Wing and headquarters of the 20th Air Force, Air Force Space Command.

first appeared: 8/28/2005

Fifty million years ago, Fossil Lake boasted perch, herring and stingray, in a mountainous landscape that supported palm trees and crocodiles. These organisms are preserved in stone at Fossil Butte National Monument near Kemmerer (pop. 2,651). The 8,198-acre park, established in 1972, is one of the world’s richest fossil sites.

first appeared: 8/14/2005

Researchers at the University of Wyoming in Laramie (pop. 27,204) are developing a test for diagnosing altitude sickness in cattle. Also known as "brisket," the illness strains the animals’ hearts and is prevalent in herds at elevations above 5,000 feet. Currently the remedy most often used is simply to take the animals to lower ground.

first appeared: 7/31/2005

The Jackson Hole Aerial Tram left its base in Teton Village (pop. 175) for the first time on July 31, 1966, after two years of construction. The tram, carrying 45 passengers, climbs 4,139 feet to the summit of Rendezvous Mountain at 10,450 feet in 12 minutes.

first appeared: 7/17/2005

Olympic athlete Lance Deal was born in Riverton (pop. 9,310) in 1961 and graduated from high school in Casper (pop. 49,644) in 1979. He competed at four Olympic games, from 1988 through 2000, winning a silver medal in the hammer throw in 1996.

first appeared: 6/19/2005

One of the "new-fangled" devices that John and Eula Kendrick enjoyed at their 1913 Flemish Revival-style house, known as Trail End, in Sheridan (pop. 15,804) was a built-in vacuum cleaner. A system of pipes connected the electric motor in the basement to outlets for hoses throughout the 13,748-square-foot mansion. Trail End is now a state historic site.

first appeared: 6/5/2005

Located east of Yellowstone National Park in Wapiti, near Cody (pop. 8,835), the Elephant Head Lodge was founded in the early 1900s by Buffalo Bill Cody’s niece Josephine Thurston and her husband. Named for a nearby rock formation resembling an elephant, the property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as representative of Western dude ranching in the 20th century.

first appeared: 5/22/2005

A federal penal facility from 1872 to 1903, the Wyoming Territorial Prison in Laramie (pop. 27,204) housed the region’s most notorious outlaws, including Butch Cassidy. Today, the prison is part of a state historic site that includes a ranchland exhibit, frontier town and dinner theater.

first appeared: 5/8/2005

At the foot of the Bighorn Mountains, Castle Gardens Scenic Area, near Ten Sleep (pop. 304), gets its name from the rock spires that rise out of a landscape of sage, cedar and juniper.

first appeared: 5/8/2005

Founded in 1916 by Harry F. Sinclair, the Sinclair Oil Corp. operates two refineries in Wyoming: the Sinclair Refinery in Sinclair (pop. 423), which produces 60,000 barrels of petroleum products a day, and the Little America Refinery in Casper (pop. 49,644), which refines 20,000 barrels of petroleum products a day. The company markets its fuels in 21 states to 2,600 gas stations. Dino, the company’s dinosaur trademark since 1930, represents the geologic era when crude oil was first formed.

first appeared: 4/24/2005

Although the tracks have since been moved, a 60-foot-high, four-sided rock pyramid still stands near Laramie (pop. 27,204) at what was the highest point on the route of the Union Pacific Railroad. Completed in 1882, the granite pyramid was built by the railroad to honor brothers Oakes and Oliver Ames, who helped finance the route.

first appeared: 4/10/2005

On June 28, 1919, the Ferdinand Branstetter Post No. 1 opened in Van Tassell (pop. 18), becoming the nation’s first American Legion post. It was named for a local homesteader who was killed during World War I.

first appeared: 3/27/2005

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