Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
Sorted by date Results 101 - 125 of 200
There is so much more to see than just Devils Tower. I am writing about the “Wyoming Black Hills,” which although lesser known than their South Dakota big brothers, still offer some wonderful visiting opportunities. Yes, Devils Tower is the center of everything. This towering monolith was our nation’s first national monument back in 1906 and it is a totally impressive place. State Sen. Ogden Driskell has a historic ranch up there and also operates the KOA campground, which looks up at the tower...
The history of coal’s significance to Wyoming’s economy is being written today. It is beginning to look like a swan song. Wyoming’s long love affair with coal can be written in five brief epochal paragraphs: First, plentiful underground coal in places like Hanna, Rock Springs and Kemmerer were key determining factors in the Union Pacific Railroad choosing a route through the future state of Wyoming in the 1860s. Without the railroad, the state, as we know it, would have not come into being...
Although local Wyomingites are not surprised by this fact, out-of-staters are always stunned by the velocity of our wind. It is scary powerful. And it is probable that our wind is cursed more often than it is viewed as a blessing. But when it comes to the future of renewable energy in America, Wyoming’s abundant, cool afternoon winds are viewed as a gold mine. And one of the biggest prospectors in this modern day gold rush is an incredibly patient Denver billionaire with some Wyoming history. P...
Charles Pelkey, a state legislator and attorney in Laramie, put a story on Facebook about the pitfalls of being a grown-up adult in today’s society: “A bit of an existential crisis: I stopped by my favorite liquor store for a bottle of wine. A couple of folks were sitting at the bar as I ordered the Pinot Noir I planned to enjoy with dinner. One of them turned to me and asked ‘are you a lawyer?’ “’Yes. Yes, I am,’ I replied, perhaps thinking I had another client in the hopper. “Cool,” said...
Surprisingly, we saw some “local” tourists from Wyoming, Montana and Idaho in Yellowstone this past week while making two trips through the world’s first national park. Most regional folks try to get there in early May, late September or early October. The crowds, well, they are just too much for most of us who live in such isolated states. Have you ever been in Disneyland? In a typical day, more people are there than are in the entire state of Wyoming. In many ways, Yellowstone is getti...
My 45 years in Wyoming has been mainly spent as a journalist. Most folks who know me see me as a newspaper owner, writer, columnist, author or reporter. But I have had a duplicate career as a tourism promoter. Our companies have published and distributed millions of high quality magazines, newspapers and brochures promoting everything from snowmobiling, watching wildlife, exploring backcountry trails to Yellowstone Park. I suppose it was in this tourism promoter role that caused the new PR...
Over the years, a person in my line of work has heard hundreds of stories from politicians. A great many of them are funny and memorable. Recently in Laramie, several such stories were told from the same podium and I would like to share them with you. At the salute to the state’s 125th anniversary of statehood event, some people with political backgrounds shared several good stories. Milward Simpson is director of the state’s Arts, Parks and Cultural Resources Department. He is also the nam...
Mummies are common in the ancient world but were there ever mummies in Wyoming? In at least three cases the answer to that question is yes. West of Cody along the Wapiti Highway to Yellowstone is a site known as Mummy Cave. Reason for that name is “Mummy Joe,” a 1,200-year old body of an Indian male who was discovered in somewhat of a restored state in that cave in 1957 by Gene Smith of Cody. Archeologists say Mummy Cave was occupied for over 8,000 years from 7280 B. C. to 1580 A. D. The sit...
It is highly possible that there is a small spot in Wyoming which once was bordered by four different territories, parts of which together became the future home of our great state. This spot is somewhere in a corner of Sweetwater, Fremont, Natrona or Carbon County, according to a map created by Velma Linford in her amazing history of Wyoming in 1947 called Wyoming Frontier State. This one amazing spot touched what were once Texas in 1845, Mexico in 1848, the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and...
When I was in high school, it was easy to impress me. It did not take much for a teacher, parent, sibling, friend or newsmaker to convince me about certain facts in the world. That was a long time ago but perhaps it is time to debunk a few facts that have changed or perhaps were never true in the first place. Let’s take a crack at three facts. This, by the way, is what I would say had some school asked me to give the commencement talk this year: 1) You were told your entire lives that America w...
It is hard to find any evidence of some mysterious serial killings that allegedly occurred in Wyoming 147 years ago. According to a couple of books, a notorious family named Bartlett killed 22 young men before being hunted down and killed back in historic South Pass City. Following is the straight story, according to the authors of the books. At the end of this, we have some dissenting comments. Most of the crimes centered on pretty Polly Bartlett who was adept with arsenic. From 1866 to 1868, S...
My favorite all-time tourism slogan for our state was the short-lived BIG WYOMING, which described our towering mountains, vast high plains, amazing deserts and long distances. Just about everything about Wyoming over the last 180 million years has also been BIG. Although it was vast, the Wyoming of 180 million years ago sure looked different from today. Instead of high plains with semi-arid desert lands and towering mountains, that earlier place was wet. Very wet. Wyoming is a land of giants...
Most everyone in Wyoming and across the nation knows about the two biggest “firsts” that occurred here – Yellowstone National Park being the first national park in the world in 1872 and the granting of women the right to vote in 1869 in Wyoming territory. But did you know that our state is also home to a myriad of other firsts? I had a lot of help from folks from around the state in compiling this list, such as: The first national forest was the Shoshone and the first national monument was D...
Wyoming is such a special place. At least it certainly is to me. Yet I often get into an argument with various folks when I put our “low-population, high-empty space place” on a pedestal. This happened two weeks ago when my column talked about Wyoming exceptionalism, through our Universal Truths and Fundamental Values. Are we special or not? One critic, who I respect very much, said in the circles that he runs in, well, my conclusions were met with derision, especially any reference to Equ...
Ah, springtime in Wyoming; you gotta love it. In recent weeks, we have dodged storms in Cheyenne, Laramie and Rawlins and endured them in Lander and Jackson.One day, you can be wearing shorts and a tee shirt, the next you are bundled up against a harsh wind and heavy wet snow. Because Nancy and I are retired, we are fortunate we can leave a day early or stay an extra day, as a way to avoid these spring storms. We did that in both of these trips. After playing golf in shorts with my brother Pat...
The wind is our neighbor. Wind was here first. We deal with it. – Number 14 on the list of fundamental values. When you talk about Wyoming people or think about our wonderful state, are there specific universal truths and fundamental values that come to mind? Are they unique to our state and to our people here? I always thought so. My quest to identify them started when I ran for state office back in 2002. It seemed like a good idea then if I could identify them but this effort became a b...
Does size matter? It sure does when you are Wyoming, whose massive geographic size has nothing to do with its great advantages of being the smallest state in the union when it comes to population. Spanning 97,818 square miles, the 563,000 people occupying our state are unique in all the USA. For example, we are the only state that does not have a city larger than 65,000. The New York Times did a story a few years ago bemoaning, in the writer’s opinion, the horribly unfair U. S. constitution, and...
Vexing. That is the best word I could find that describes how irritated I have been lately when all sorts of modern techno-gadgets go on the blink. And after hours of talking to nice folks on the telephone, we finally got some of these devices, at least, back to work. Most of my career has been in the newspaper business, which involved lots of complicated, expensive machines ranging from fussy cameras up to noisy, rattling presses. Keeping them all going was a constant worry. Most recently, my... Full story
Railroads and coal. Together they made history in Wyoming. Some of it quite tragic. Wyomingites tend to celebrate our cowboy heritage and we use the bucking bronco on our license plates and as the state logo. But the reality is it might be more fitting to use a hard-charging steam locomotive, which caused Wyoming to come into being. This year during our 125th anniversary of statehood, it is perhaps fitting to try to decipher the origins of what really built Wyoming. The Union Pacific Railroad...
It would be hard to find anyone in Wyoming who is not reeling from hearing about the death of Mick McMurry, 69, of Casper March 10. Rarely does a family, a city or a state come across a citizen like McMurry. He was Wyoming’s Good Samaritan. His business career, after years of hard effort during the state’s lean years, prepped him for an amazing record of success. He was wealthy thanks to a persevering attitude that allowed him and his partners to discover two of the biggest natural gas fie...
It seems like every year, more and more people choose to follow the entrepreneurial path that has guided my life. Here are a few thoughts on the subject: We have a small group up here in Fremont County called Entrepreneurs Anonymous. We try to meet each month in Lander or Riverton and we talk about how to run a small business. One of the guys who has started his own company told this story at a recent meeting: “Our little business is very small operation by any means of comparison. Yet it is t...
Last fall, Wyoming’s present and future peacemakers learned about a new hero for them to emulate, when a young Lander man was killed while trying to break up a fight in Laramie. I knew Joe McGowan his entire life. If there ever was a nicer young man, I have not found him. He had no enemies. When described by his friends, his big smile and wonderful attitude were always mentioned. An artist and a skateboarder, he was a student at the University of Wyoming and looking forward to a wonderful l...
As of this writing, more than 21,000 of our Wyoming-themed coffee table books are in circulation, a figure that completely staggers my imagination. And thanks to all of you who bought these books. So, now on to the next project – a history-themed coffee table book to celebrate Wyoming’s 125th anniversary of becoming a state, which occurs this year. Title of the new book is Wyoming at 125, Our Place in the West. This is also the theme of the celebration being planned in commemoration of a cen...
Could journalism be any more different today than it was when I started over 50 years ago? How on earth can you give advice to aspiring journalists about their futures today? Those questions loomed high in my mind recently. So there I was, trying to interpret their futures to juniors and seniors at the University of Wyoming. After 51 years in media, it was easy to see myself in their faces, only a half century earlier. They were embarking on a career that might last as long as mine has – but i...
February can seem to be a confusing month here in Wyoming. It is that short month where the weather cannot decide if it is spring or a continuation of winter. So far, it has been spring-like. But cold snaps arrive quickly and you better be prepared for the worst when you travel a vast state like Wyoming. As a perpetual weather whiner, I always welcome this month as it means we are one step closer to Wyoming’s manic-depressive spring. Will spring be warm and toasty? Or will it be full of r...
