Let's Talk Wyoming - Wyoming's Weather, Basketball Hurdles, and the Iconic Yellowstone Journey

Wyoming's weather is as unpredictable as a plot twist in your favorite novel, and we're here to unravel the mystery behind our state's recent mild temperatures and how they're blessing our farmers with a hint of early spring. But don't put away those snow boots just yet! We also talk about the looming threat of late-season snowstorms that could spell trouble for the agricultural community. Then, we turn the spotlight to the hardwood, where the Wyoming Cowboys and Cowgirls basketball teams are navigating through turbulence, and we dissect the elements they need to regroup and bounce back. High school athletes are on the edge of their seats, too, as state wrestling and basketball tournaments are about to unfold, marking the crescendo of the winter sports season.

Step back in time with us to the days of the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871, where the unlikely duo of Thomas Moran and William Henry Jackson embarked on an expedition that would change the face of the American wilderness forever. Their groundbreaking collaboration birthed a treasure trove of art that persuaded Congress to designate Yellowstone as the world's first national park. We'll explore how their enduring works—Moran's majestic paintings and Jackson's stirring photographs—continue to inspire conservation and art lovers alike, reminding us of the indelible mark they've left on both Wyoming and the global stage. Join us as we celebrate these trailblazers and the powerful legacy of their partnership in art and environmental protection.  If you have any comments, please contact us at mark.hamilton@letstalkwyoming.com.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:20

Good morning and welcome to let's Talk Wyoming. I'm Mark Hamilton, your host, and today we'll look at weather, we'll talk about some sports here in the state of Wyoming, we'll even take a look at natural gas and also we'll have a story on Yellowstone National Park. Thanks for joining us today and we hope you enjoy the show. Good morning and welcome to February 22nd, and the month of February is just flying right on by. Our weather has just suddenly turned unbelievably mild. We had a big snowstorm a week ago and it left quite a bit of snow on the ground, but it's been slowly but shortly disappearing with these warm temperatures and I see temperatures that look moderate through next week and I see this across the country. So maybe our winter has decided to give it up and maybe we'll have an early spring. You just never know. But we always worry about those late season snowstorms that come in and cause a lot of problems for us. Also, with this weather again we talked about in the past, our Wyoming stock producers are getting some good time to be calving or lambing. It's a benefit to those animals having these type of temperatures where you don't have a lot of issues. So a positive there for the livestock producers, farmers in the state will start getting a little anxious getting into February. They know they're not too far off before they're going to be able to get out in those fields, so they're pretty excited. So weather's cooperating, man, I tell you what. We'll take this weather every day we get it and before you know we'll be out mowing the yard and taking care of our summer chores.

Speaker 1: 2:19

In sports, the Wyoming cowboys they're stuck on a bad streak right here. They lost again their last game against Nevada. They just have made some runs and then just revert back and I think that indicative of a team that doesn't have a lot of experience playing together. There's only two returning players and one of those players, kenny Foster, has not played until this recently. He's been out with an injury. You take a bunch of players, throw them together and throw them out on the floor. You got to get some unity. The issues with college basketball right now it seems like not a lot of teams have these players that are there very long before they're off and looking for somewhere else to go. So the cowboys are having a little rough go. Our Wyoming cowgirls are in the same boat right now. Now they've been playing with the same players. But they had a tough preseason, took their lumps, but I think they learned some stuff. But they got in and did the Mountain West Conference play and they were tied for first place until that first go-around with UNLV and they lost that. And boy, they've just been having some tough go here. They lost to Boise State and lost to Colorado State and then last night they lost to UNLV. And the rematch in Laramie and they had every opportunity to win. That game ended up going to overtime and UNLV pulled away that. They have an issue with if someone been able to create a shot that when things break down they can take it to the hole and score. They were hoisting up a lot of three-pointers what they seem to do. No one that really can take anybody off the dribble and if you're not hitting those three-point shots it gets pretty brutal. So cowgirls are on a three game losing streak and they got New Mexico next. They lost to New Mexico earlier in the year. So we're hoping that the cowgirls can get it together. They've got a few more games to go before they get into Mountain West Conference tournament action in Vegas High school sports.

Speaker 1: 4:21

It's the kind of year that this sneaks up on everybody. You just felt like you started your winter seasons and you're getting into February and this week we have the state wrestling tournament in Casper for both the boys and girls, and the following week we'll start with our basketball state tournaments the 1A2A next week and then the 3A4A the following week. So we're, at that time of the year, district actions going on in basketball right now for 1A2A, 3a4a are finishing up that one more week of the regular season to go and then they'll start their regional tournaments. Next week 2A1A will start, state and Casper Following week 3A4A will hit Casper. The teams that do qualify will be there to chase the elusive state championship.

Speaker 1: 5:11

One other thing that's happening I guess you can call it an activity the legislature is meeting and it's been rather interesting. Some of the bills that have not passed and what's happening down there. It just don't seem to be able to get much done. A lot of infighting, a lot of issues going on. Interesting times right now.

Speaker 1: 5:31

I don't know if anybody had troubles that reports of issues with the cell phones overnight. I notice mine didn't charge. It was really weird that it didn't charge until later today and I did hear that Verizon and numerous cell phone providers had issues. They said it was their first wave of a potential cyber attack. They hacked into some of the medical records and such, and you know, people have been talking about this and most people just think it's people just talking, but they're starting to see it and I guess one of these mornings will wake up and cell phone won't work at all and a lot of other stuff will happen at the banking and everything else.

Speaker 1: 6:11

Then we're sitting around looking wonder what I should do now. Maybe. I guess the answer is still got time. Start preparing, making sure that you're ready for what they call. When you know what hits the fan, you'll be prepared. I want to hear in Wyoming, out here in the middle of nowhere, we can survive a little bit longer. In some of the people in the big cities you can have a lot of people that would be around looking for water, food and other things. Might get a little dicey, but here where I live, there's long ways before anybody's going to come here.

Speaker 1: 6:42

And finally, in a little energy news, as we talk about, with the weather and with these warmer temperatures and everything going on, natural gas hit a 30 year low today at $1.59. That is unheard of. That's some prices that I remember back many years ago. At one time back in the 80s I remember when natural gas was around $1 and a little bit lower, but it had been firming up. But with the current conditions between economic conditions, weather conditions and a lot of other factors the natural gas prices are just going out of sight. So everyone should see some reflection in their heating bills in the future with these current prices and I really don't see what's going to cause them to turn around at this point. So another issue, and here in our state of Wyoming we get a lot of our money comes back to the state through royalty payments, also a lot of taxes our assess on our energy production and as these prices go down it really affects our state of Wyoming. So natural gas really low right now, 30 year low, I guess, a trend of a lot of things happening.

Speaker 1: 7:56

Today we want to take a look at more of our history, as we do every week, and this article is by Doug Stevens, jackson and Moran the partnership that saved Yellowstone. We talk about Yellowstone quite a bit on our show. It's one of those places that is a one in a million, in my opinion, about everything that's in Yellowstone, or this article I should say comes from the winter issue of distinctly Montana, because Montana and Wyoming helped share Yellowstone Park. The west, that romantically unknown region beyond the Mississippi River by the beginning of the second half of the 19th century. Stories filtered back east of mighty mountains, expansive plains filled with millions of buffalo plains, indians that were very different to the eastern tribes, and wild, lawless mining towns. All this fed the voracious appetite of a populace wary. With a long, brutal civil war. One place in particular seemed to capture the nation's imagination more than others Yellowstone. Early accounts from trappers and mountain man such as Jim Bridger painted a picture replaced so different, so bizarre and so extreme that they could scarcely be believed.

Speaker 1: 9:14

The government needed to find out what was this vast territory that they controlled, about which little they knew for sure. One agency that looked through this was the United States Geographical and Geographic Survey of the Territories, established in 1867, the predecessor of today's USGS. They chose Dr Ferdinand Hayden as the geologist in charge. Hayden was a well educated and trained as a medical doctor. However, prior to the civil war, his interests turned to the new field of geology. By this 1867 appointment he was already a trusted veteran surveyor expedition leader and by 1869 he began his summer expeditions into the western territories, where he explored and mapped the Colorado Front ranges. In 1870 he led an expedition into Wyoming's Wind River Range and the Henry Fork region of Idaho. A company on that trip was a young photographer by the name of William Henry Jackson.

Speaker 1: 10:18

Jackson was originally from upstate New York. At an early age, when his mother taught him to sketch and paint, he became a prolific sketch artist, sketching everywhere he went, which made for a good companion to the extensive diary he kept. After enlisting in the army during the civil war, he endeared himself to his platoon mates by providing sketches of them camp life and their experiences. He discovered photography after the war, working as a photographer in photographic studios in Vermont. However, wanderlust for the gold fields of Montana finally got the best of him. In 1866 he made his way to Nebraska City where he signed on as a bullwacker on a team headed for Virginia City by Salt Lake City. He had changed his mind and now a dream of a new paradise known as California, making it to Los Angeles by the end of January of 1867. But like for dust bowlers who would follow 70 years later, california was not for Jackson, the Garden of Eden it had been betrayed, to be Now feeling very homesick, he signed out on another wagon train heading east and ended up in Omaha by August of that year, where he decided to stay and return to photography. His travels had been grueling and at times degrading, but he had learned valuable life skills along the way. One day in the summer of 1870, hayden appeared looking for a photographer to accompany him on his next survey expedition to the wilds of Wyoming. Jackson's wife, molly, says how much her husband wanted to join Hayden, so she offered to look after the businesses during the summer month while he was gone. Jackson would remain a vital member of Hayden's team for the next eight years and Molly diligently washed over the business in his absence.

Speaker 1: 12:10

Two privately funded expeditions ventured into the Yellowstone region in 1869 and 1870. The first was a small prospecting expedition of Cook, folsom and Peterson. The next year, a larger one was led by Henry Washburn and Nathaniel Langford, lieutenant Gustafus Jones providing military protection and support by Helena financier Samuel Hauser. The Washburn expedition provided the first credible account of the extraordinary features of Yellowstone. Upon their return, langford approached the new but respected periodical Scribner's Monthly, who published his account of the expeditions Wonders of Yellowstone, accompanying the article with sketches made by two expedition members, charles Moore and Walter Trumbull. The sketches were crude, amatrous and not up to the Scribner's standard. The editor assigned the magazine's well regarded illustrators to rework the drawings, a gifted artist by the name of Thomas Moran.

Speaker 1: 13:13

Moran had led a city life in Philadelphia, but inside he yearned to break up of greater majesty and grandeur. For about four weeks in the summer of 1860, at the age of 23, he had ventured out into the wilds, a trip to the picture rocks area of the upper peninsula of Michigan. It was probably his first experience with camping. In November of 1870 he landed a job as the illustrator for the inaugural issue of the high end periodical Scribner's Monthly. Though Moran was a gifted artist and illustrator, it was difficult to make much sense of the Moore and Trumbull drawings and sketches. He had not seen these things with his own eyes. He did the best he could, but deep inside he fed right into his pent up wanderlust. He wanted desperately to see and paint them himself. He was keenly aware of the work and notoriety of the landscape painter Albert Bernstad for his paintings of the Yosemite Valley. Deep down. He wanted that for himself too.

Speaker 1: 14:13

About the same time Hayden had heard of the Washburn expedition discoveries and Medley Petition Congress for funds for a believable scientific survey of the area, backed up by images from the team's photographer, jackson. By June of 1871 Hayden's team was assembling all the necessary resources they had into Yellowstone. When Moran heard that there was to be another survey of Yellowstone that year, he moved heaven and earth to Tag along. Moran knew Jay Cook, a wealthy financier involved with the northern Pacific Railroad. Cook was also an associate of Lankford's, so he knew what the Washburn expedition found. A rail route through Wyoming would benefit greatly from the possible tourism Yellowstone could provide. Between Crook and the magazine, moran was able to raise sufficient funds to tag along at no expense to the expedition, with promises of painting and stories in return. Hayden had actually planned to have two other artists along, including Albert Bernstad, but neither of them could make it. This was Moran's big chance to establish himself as a rival to Bernstad. So with his place on the team now assured, moran headed west, rendezvousing with Hayden team in Virginia City in July of 1871.

Speaker 1: 15:35

Moran and Jackson couldn't have been more different in terms of life experiences. Jackson had been out west for many years now, first during his stint as a robust bullwacker, then, as Hayden's photographer, he knew the west, how to live in it. By contrast, moran, at 34, six-year Jackson senior, arrived looking thin and very green with very little experience outside the city. According to Jackson, he was poorly equipped for a rough life as anyone I've ever known. He had never been on a horse or held a gun and had great aversions to the fatty camp food. Many doubted he could handle the rigors of the upcoming mission, but he persevered, determined to prove them all wrong. Within days he had enough horsemanship to be competent and he practiced with his rifle until he would at least come close to the target. He said that while Moran practiced with his rifle, everyone ran in duck for cover.

Speaker 1: 16:33

Despite their different backgrounds, the two men hit it off right away. Both were self-taught artists, loved music and valued nature for its beauty. They quickly developed a deep friendship that would last well beyond the Yellowstone trip through the rest of their lives. The first wonder they encountered were the terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs, something missed by the earlier Washburn expedition. While the geologists did what geologists do, jackson and Moran set about creating images. They were soon working close together, helping each other with compositions, to the point where, for many of their images. Their representative collaborating process, moran even appears in many of Jackson's photos for scale, presumably as well as pitching in with the process of preparing plates and later helping to develop them. In return, moran would often use Jackson's photographs along with his own field sketches, to create his Yellowstone painting.

Speaker 1: 17:33

After returning back east, after Mammoth Hot Springs, the expedition rode to the summit of Mount Washburn, down to Tower Falls over to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. After the main party left the Grand Canyon, jackson and Moran spent an extra four days of photographing, sketching and painting. They rejoined the main party on the shores of Yellowstone Lake. From there they fought their way over to the Geyser Basins through endless blowdowns of lodgepole pines. The Geyser Basin had already been visited by the Washburn expedition, but it was Hayden's group who got to see the eruptions. As some of the park's largest geysers. They gave them names such as Giant, giantus, grand and Castle. They also confirmed the regularity of one in particular, which seemed to erupt about every hour. The year before Langford had given it the name Old Faithful.

Speaker 1: 18:24

Now that Hayden parted, gather around it where Jackson preserved the moment with the very first photo of the most famous, most photographed geyser in the world by fall, the survey was over and everyone returned to home. Hayden set out immediately. Lobbying Congress to set aside Yellowstone due to its unique no-transcript Doubted. Some of the descriptions Hayden brought back. However, when faced with Jackson's photographs and some of the Moran's sketches and call for paintings, the doubts were soon put to rest. Congas almost unanimously passed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act, which was signed into law by President Grant on March 1st of 1872.

Speaker 1: 19:05

In commemoration of establishing Yellowstone as the world's first national park, moran painted the huge 7 foot by 12 foot painting of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It hung at the US Capitol until 1950. Moran and Jackson remained friends for the balance of their lives. They reunited twice, once in 1881, for a railroad trip from Denver to Mexico and back and again in June of 1892, when they reprised their trip to Yellowstone. After that trip, moran painted another huge mural of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, this one even larger than before, at 8 foot by 14 foot. It now hangs in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC.

Speaker 1: 19:48

Today we take National Parks for granted. There are 63 national parks in the US and over 6,550 worldwide, but they all trace their origins to the world's first Yellowstone National Park. Through their images, jackson and Moran were able to convey the awe and majesty of that land in a way that Hayden's dry scientific reports could not Suffice it to say. In the end, the impact of their art proved to be so powerful that even the most reluctant of the Conglusson would have to vote to protect Yellowstone. Thank you, william. Henry Jackson and Thomas Moran Thanks for joining us today, and we hope you enjoy our podcast. As for the code of the west, we ride for the brand and we ride for Wyoming.