A day when 169 Wyomingites perished

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 crossing the state was pivotal. And one of the reasons for its exact route was the proximity to coal m...