Wyoming Trivia & Tidbits - Page 9

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

The Wyoming Livestock Board in Cheyenne (pop. 53,011) has 28,000 brands on record. Counties recorded livestock brands until 1909, when the state took over the task. The state compiles a new book of all state brands every 10 years, with the next brand renewal due in 2005.

first appeared: 8/22/2004

The amount of water coming from Intermittent Spring near Afton (pop. 1,818), also known as Periodic Spring, fluctuates dramatically every 15 to 20 minutes in late summer and fall. Cold water flows from an opening in a canyon wall, then stops, then starts flowing again, reportedly due to a siphoning effect from an underground cavern.

first appeared: 8/15/2004

The National Museum of Wildlife Art near Jackson (pop. 8,647) features more than 2,000 works of art devoted to wildlife. Fittingly, the museum sits on a butte in Jackson Hole, overlooking the National Elk Refuge and on the way to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.

first appeared: 8/8/2004

Saddlemaker Don King is known for his Sheridan-style stock saddles, named for Sheridan (pop. 15,804), a center for saddlemaking since the late 1800s. The Sheridan saddles are hand tooled with wild rose and other floral carvings and are so unique that the National Endowment for the Arts awarded King a National Heritage Fellowship in 1991 for lifetime achievement.

first appeared: 8/1/2004

The state Capitol’s copper dome in Cheyenne was covered with gold leaf for the first time in 1900 and has been regilded several times because of wear and storm damage. The Wyoming State Museum reports that because gold leaf is extremely thin, less than one troy ounce of it is needed to cover the 800-square-foot dome.

first appeared: 7/25/2004

The Union Pacific Railroad donated funds to help found the Museum of the Mountain Man in Pinedale (pop. 1,412) in the 1960s, even though the town was some 100 miles from the nearest railroad. The Pinedale area was significant, however, because it had provided timber that was cut into railroad ties and floated down the Green River in the 1860s to aid the railroad’s construction.

first appeared: 7/18/2004

One of the artifacts preserved by the Museum of the Mountain Man is a 40-caliber half-stock rifle that Louis Vasquez gave to his friend and business partner, mountain man Jim Bridger, in 1853.

first appeared: 7/18/2004

The Equality State has 15,846 miles of fishing streams and 297,633 acres of fishing lakes, according to the Secretary of State’s office. More than 75 species of fish, 31 of which are game fish, live in the Wyoming’s 3,400 lakes, ponds and reservoirs.

first appeared: 7/11/2004

The state holds an annual art competition for its conservation stamp, which hunters and anglers in Wyoming purchase each year for $10. Dustin Van Wechel won the state’s annual competition with his painting of a mountain lion, titled Untamed, which will appear on about 300,000 conservation stamps in 2004. The artwork will be placed on permanent display at the Wyoming Game & Fish Department’s headquarters in Cheyenne (pop. 53,011).

first appeared: 6/27/2004

The fourth naval vessel to bear the state’s name, the USS Wyoming—or SSBN-742, a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine—was commissioned July 13, 1996. The ship’s crew designed the submarine’s emblem, which includes Wyoming’s state mammal, the bison.

first appeared: 6/20/2004

Within 36 hours of Wyoming’s Amber Alert system—designed to notify state residents of a missing child—being implemented in January 2004, the state’s first alert was initiated, at the request of Utah officials. The abducted child was found safe in Rawlins (pop. 8,538) four hours later.

first appeared: 6/13/2004

Como Bluff, a quarry near Medicine Bow (pop. 274) in southeast Wyoming, is known for its dinosaur fossils, including the Camptosaurus fossils found there in the 1880s. Its name is Greek for “bent lizard,” which describes how it appeared when walking.

first appeared: 6/6/2004

The Sweetwater Speedway, located at 6,250 feet above sea level, is referred to as “The Crown Jewel of the Rocky Mountains.” Located in Rock Springs (pop. 18,708), the 3/8-mile banked oval track seats nearly 5,000 spectators.

first appeared: 6/6/2004

The state’s first brewery was established in Green River (pop. 11,808) in 1872 by Adam Braun. Known as the Green River Brewery, its name was changed to the Sweetwater Brewing Co. in 1899 by new owner Hugo Gaensslen. Sweetwater beer won medals at the 1904 and 1905 World’s Fairs.

first appeared: 5/30/2004

Big Country Speedway, built in 1948 in Cheyenne, is reportedly the only asphalt oval racetrack in Wyoming.

first appeared: 5/30/2004

The state adopted the nephrite form of jade as its official gemstone in 1967. Nephrite contains silica and magnesia, and gains its various shades of green from the amount of iron in the stone. Jade was reportedly first discovered near Lander (pop. 6,867) in 1936, with “jade fever” beginning after a Popular Science magazine article in 1945. During the summer of 1945, 7,000 to 8,000 pounds of Wyoming jade were collected.

first appeared: 5/23/2004

On July 29, 1878, inventor Thomas Edison was among the scientists gathered in Rawlins (pop. 8,538) to observe a solar eclipse. While there, he tested his tasimeter—a tool he’d designed to measure the heat of the sun’s corona (the outermost part of the sun’s atmosphere, which is visible as a glow around the darkened sun during an eclipse).

first appeared: 5/16/2004

Dr. T.A. “Al” Larson, author of the 1965 book History of Wyoming, is considered the dean of Wyoming historians. He taught history to some 16,000 students during his 37 years at the University of Wyoming in Laramie (pop. 27,204), where he was head of the history department for 20 years. Prior to his death in 2001, he also served four terms in the state Legislature.

first appeared: 5/9/2004

The Wind River Range of the Rocky Mountains near Pinedale (pop. 1,412) is home to more than 50 glaciers—including seven of the 10 largest glaciers in the American Rockies. Scientists are studying grasshoppers that were trapped in the ice there 450 years ago, looking for clues to the Rocky Mountain locust’s extinction in the last century.

first appeared: 5/2/2004

Buck Brannaman, whose compassionate touch with troubled horses was portrayed in the book and movie The Horse Whisperer, ranches with his wife, Mary, in Sheridan (pop. 15,804). Author Nicholas Evans based his main character on Brannaman, who also served as technical advisor for the movie.

first appeared: 4/25/2004

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