Posted
on July 10, 2016
Why
Wyoming?
Because
on this date in 1890, it went from Wyoming Territory to the 44th
state of the United States.
Here
are some of Wyoming's nicknames:
Equality
State – this is the official nickname, and it goes along with
its official motto, Equal Rights, to point out something wonderful:
Wyoming gave women the right to vote before any other state. As a
matter of fact, it did so when it was just a territory, in 1869, so
it also can lay claim to being the first territory to grant women
suffrage.
Wyoming
also led as a pioneer in welcoming women into politics. Here are some
of the firsts: First women juries; first woman who served as a court
bailiff; first woman who served as a justice of the peace; first
woman elected as state governor.
Cowboy
State – There are a lot of ranches in Wyoming, and its state
symbol is a cowboy trying to keep its seat on a bucking bronco.
Apparently,
way back when, pioneers trying to get to Oregon, Utah, and California
often traveled with their livestock. They wanted the livestock in
their new homes, and of course cattle would provide milk on the way
there. But these pioneers felt the anxiety of getting to their new
homes before winter set in – they had to get over the Rocky
Mountains before the snows!
So
some of the pioneers ditched their cattle and other herds in Wyoming,
just before the mountains, because they were worried that the
livestock would slow them down. The animals that were left behind
thrived on the high plains of Wyoming, so eventually people figured
out that it was a great place to round up some livestock, fence off a
chunk of prairie, and call it a ranch!
Wonderful
Wyoming – Wyoming is SOOOO
wonderful, people thought the reports about it were fictional. John
Colter was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and he first
described the Yellowstone area in 1807. Clearly, he was spinning us
some yarns, people thought. Half a century later, Jim Bridger
explored Yellowstone and filed his reports on the region. Them were
some tall tales! people said.
Nobody believed that there could be bright bright bright blue pools of steaming hot water fringed by rainbow colors! Nobody believed in the stories of towers of hot water and steam shooting up 180-some feet into the air! Nobody believed the descriptions of weird bulbous rocks and terraces and bubbling mud pots and and and....
But
of course, all of that was real. And when the public discovered that
all those wild tales were true, Yellowstone was set aside for all to
see for themselves. There had never, in all the world, been a
national park set aside for everyone to own and see – a place to be
protected just as it was – until Yellowstone became the first
national park in the world, in 1872.
Like
women's suffrage, that was even before Wyoming became a state!
Yellowstone isn't all steam and bubbles; there are regular old (cold) lakes and rivers and waterfalls and...famously...loads and loads of wildlife.
Here
are some other wonderful things about Wyoming:
The
Grand Tetons
Jackson
Hole
Cody
Also
on this date:
.jpeg)
Plan
ahead:
Check
out my Pinterest boards for:
And
here are my Pinterest boards for:
