Let's Talk Wyoming
A podcast about Wyoming and everything we talk about including the weather, politics, energy & agriculture, sports & everything else effecting our state.
Let's Talk Wyoming
Let's Talk Wyoming - Winter's Dual Nature, Cowboy Football, 399 & Cheyenne Rise!
Could a winter wonderland be both a blessing and a curse for Wyoming? Join us as we unpack the latest weather patterns that are blanketing the state. The fresh snowfall might quench the elk fire but poses a real dilemma for farmers in the Bighorn Basin trying to salvage their beet harvest. As the clocks inch backwards for daylight saving time, we're diving into Wyoming's debate on following Arizona's lead in axing the seasonal switch. For sports enthusiasts, we'll analyze the recent woes of the Wyoming Cowboys football team and spotlight the buzz around the promising men's and women's basketball squads gearing up to hit the hardwood.
Our exploration doesn't stop with current events. We're peeling back the layers of Cheyenne's storied past—from its roots as a Union Pacific Railroad town to its rise as a vibrant commerce hub. Learn how this resilient city overcame early doubts, with robust support from the military and entrepreneurial livestock ventures, leading to the legendary Cheyenne Frontier Days. Fast forward to today, Cheyenne's economic landscape is thriving, thanks to its strategic location and business-friendly climate. As we inch closer to the ballot boxes, we cast an eye towards the high-stakes Montana Senate race, while Wyoming takes a breather with no major statewide contests on the immediate horizon.
Good morning and welcome to let's Talk Wyoming. I'm Mark Hamilton, your host, and today we'll be taking a look at our Wyoming weather and our first snow Daylight saving time this weekend. We'll also talk about Wyoming football and some men's and women's basketball, also the elections, and we'll have a moment to reflect on 399, the queen of the Tetons. Thanks for joining us. Hope you enjoy the show. Taking a look at warming weather here on the 30th day of October, snow on the ground had a really good storm go through all day yesterday. Rain turned to a wet, slushy snow, good moisture and of course it's going to be really effective with these fires. I think this pretty well could put the end of the elk fire across the hill from us and across the state. I think this is going to really help conditions. Again, it always affects somebody. The farmers here in the Bighorn Basin are in the middle of their beet harvest and so some of those areas might not have got as much moisture. It seemed like these storms have kind of missed parts of the central basin, but they still have a lot of beets to dig. Wet ground kind of shuts that down, but not for long. As dry as that ground is, they'll be back up and going. I see the temperatures are going to come back up to really, really warm, but I did see maybe 50 by the weekend. So I think we're in that pattern here. Coming into November we will have these type of days, some nice days, a storm rolling through and with daylight savings time. We're going to fall back Saturday night, get an extra hour of a sleep, which will be really nice for everyone. We'll be back getting up in the daylight. Right now it's dark. When we get up We'll be back in daylight and getting those early nights where it's going to get dark real quick. So it happens every year, no matter what. Now Wyoming is talked about doing away with daylight savings time. My daughter lives in Arizona. Now they do not have daylight savings time, so we're falling back. We'll actually be on the same times as they are down in that area. So daylight savings time and it's getting to that point. Thanksgiving's right around the corner.
Speaker 1:Getting into Wyoming football and Wyoming sports, the football team just can't buy a break. I guess when you're not having a very good season, that's usually the way it works. That's why you are not having a very good season. The breaks just don't happen. You just can't make the breaks.
Speaker 1:The Cowboys had a good opportunity playing in the War Memorial Stadium in Laramie on Saturday evening against Utah State. They ended up losing that game it was a heartbreaker Lost by a field goal. At the end of the game Utah State got the ball and drove down and got the field goal, but both teams had one win. On the season the Cowboys had some high hopes but it didn't turn out well. So the Cowboys are on the road this weekend as they head to Albuquerque, new Mexico, take on the New Mexico Lobos. That'll be an interesting game. New Mexico's had a lot of down years, got our new coach. We'll see how that game goes. But with the Cowboys they keep piling up injuries. But of course you're going to run into that, especially football this time of year. You start getting, the players are getting bumps and bruises and it gets tougher. So the Cowboys are pushing. Then the following week is the Border war down in Fort Collins and it looks like CSU is starting to come around. In the conference they were undefeated the last I saw and they are kind of recovering from the first of the season. They had a pretty tough schedule to start, but that should be an interesting game. So I don't know what's going to happen with the Cowboys. A lot of people are armchair quarterbacking about the coaching. There's been a lot of questions on the coaching. A lot of things happened behind closed doors. There's a lot of people questioning, but we'll see what happens with those games.
Speaker 1:On Saturday. Also, that time of year we're getting into the winter sports. Our basketball team, the men's team, has had an exhibition game. Sundance Wicks, who is from Gillette, wyoming, was an assistant and then he left and went to Green Bay and coached and then when Coach Linder left, he took over as the head coach. So he's going to bring a lot of energy. But he's going to do the same thing, bringing in a lot of transfers. That's just what college basketball is now. That's just the name of the game is transfers. So we'll see how the men's team does the women's team. They are also in one of the favorites for the Mountain West title. They have most of their players back, so they are prepped, they have the experience out there, so hopefully get a chance to go to one of their games and also they should be on TV, so get a chance to catch up with them Also.
Speaker 1:It's that time of year. We all dread and we all know it's going to come the election next Tuesday. Been so much money. I made a trip up to Montana last week. I had a second trip. I've made up to work on a pipeline project and all you can listen to is the stations in Montana and you hear election stuff.
Speaker 1:And John Tester if you're not familiar with him, he is the senator, democratic senator from Montana. He has spent $70 million on his campaign. So John Tester and the Democratic Party has pumped that much money. It's so important to get that Senate seat. His opponent, sheehy, is at $20 million and right now Sheehy is in ahead of the polls. But you never know with the voting going on there. But I see a lot of support for him and I think a lot of that's from the Trump train activities going on.
Speaker 1:So elections are drawn down. One bright spot on the statewide. We don't have anything of any consequence. This year It'll be two years and we'll actually have the state-wide governor's races and secretary of state and so forth and so on. It draws a little bit more interest Locally, like, I think, all across the country. Our big ones are county commissioner and school board. We have a lot of people running for school board and I tell you what I like to see those people out there running for school board.
Speaker 1:I really think the school board has two things to do with school boards across the country is that you need to declare your party affiliation, and I think they need to put term limits in. I think you need to have these people. I appreciate anybody that's willing to serve, but I think we need to put a two-term limit for these people and get new people. In that way we don't keep the same stagnant group that gets in there. Bring new people in, bring some new ideas, some changes.
Speaker 1:Of course, the big one is the presidential election coming up. It's going to be a crazy Tuesday Been a lot of voting across the country. I'm really not going to get into a lot of the details. You can follow that depending on what your interest is, but it's going to definitely be a hectic period ahead of us Coming up after the election. No matter what happens, I think there's going to be some civil unrest and some issues. So we'll pray for our country and again, I always like to tell people carry that Bible with you. It's your guide for what you need to do if you're going to vote and what you care about in our country and finally here in the state of Wyoming kind of a somber time with the loss of our grizzly 399, the Queen of the Teton.
Speaker 1:She was quite a legend, 28 years old. She did have her cub this year that she had with her. When she was hit. She was hit by a car and I had heard a person over in the Jackson area that had followed her quite a bit talk about that. Probably that's what was going to happen. A car would probably hit her. That's how she would die and her cub Spirit was not found. It seemed to be okay, but they have not been able to locate Spirit, the last I've known. People are thinking it's probably old enough now that it can survive.
Speaker 1:But 399 just was so important to a lot of people, a lot of people in our state and people across the world. I saw the one lady said that she started following her during the COVID years and just something to look forward to and she just really enjoyed her and she did blaze. She was definitely an ambassador for the state of Wyoming. She was an ambassador for grizzly bears. She will be missed. They're having discussions on what to do. I saw somebody say something about having her stuffed and I don't think that's a good idea. I don't want to see a dusty 399 sitting in a building someplace. Her spirit's out roaming the wilderness and she will definitely be missed. I mean, she did so much for so many people. Kind of a sad moment for 399. I think I saw the talking about 610. Was her one of her cubs? And she be the, the new princess, maybe now going to be the new queen if she can survive, but a lot of people will miss her. She made an impact on our lives and it's amazing when you think about what a bear could do, but it's really what she stand for. I think that's what people got behind. 399, you'll be sorely missed because we know you're walking across the wilderness now. Rest easy. $3.99. Today in our history section, I'll look at a story from wildhistoryorg Cheyenne Magic City of the Plains, by Laurie Van Pelt.
Speaker 1:Union Pacific locomotives still rumble through Cheyenne as they first did 150 years ago. But after the railroad arrived in November of 1867, skeptics questioned whether the town would last. 1867, skeptics questioned whether the town would last, as so many other end-of-the-track communities had died once the craters and track layers moved on General Greenville. Dodge had established the first Union Pacific Railroad town site in the area at Crow Creek. On July 4th of that year Three married couples and three men arrived on July 9th. Three married couples and three men arrived on July 9th.
Speaker 1:First referenced to as Crow Creek Crossing, the name of Iron City was reportedly considered for the place, which the railroad had first publicized as one of the most important sites to be built between Omaha and California. Dodge and some of those friends are said to have renamed it Cheyenne for the Great Plains Indian tribe, are said to have renamed it Cheyenne for the Great Plains Indian tribe. The town site in which the still Dakota Territories then was four miles square. By July 22, the office had opened to sell lots. On July 25, 1867, the first frame house was erected at the corner of Ferguson and 16th Street. Construction of Fort DA Russell, a military post to protect the railroad, began a couple weeks later.
Speaker 1:The life of this place was tied to the railroad. The first tracks reached Cheyenne on November 13th of 1867. A combination of construction challenges and the efforts of enterprising businesses. The life of this place was tied to the railroad. The first track reached Cheyenne on November 13th of 1867. A combination of construction challenges and the shrewd efforts of enterprising businesses helped the town endure and grow. Wyoming historian TA Larson noted that Cheyenne spent six months as an end-of-the-track town, a much longer period than was allowed by any other Wyoming town. Cheyenne merchants, he explained, supplied goods to railroad camps on Sherman Hill and also to Colorado towns at the Kansas Pacific Railroad built towards Denver. Larson also credited Fort Russell as being a stabilizing force in the Cheyenne economy Growing rapidly.
Speaker 1:Cheyenne soon gained another name the Magic City of the Plains. The Cheyenne leader reported 200 businesses in town by November of 1867. By July of 1868, just a year after the first settlers arrived, the paper noted a population of not less than 5,000. Lake Marin defeated attorney WW Corlett to win the election as the town's first mayor on July 23, 1868. Early-day revenue is accumulated in the city coffers from businesses, licenses and fines. When Dakota Territory Judge Bartlett ruled in March of 1868 that only businesses named in the charter were required to pay license fees, city finances suffered Eventually a bond issue and even the sale of desks and tables owned by the city would become necessary. Larson explains town citizens endured a disorderly behavior such as shootings, thefts and stabbings. Entertainment included dance halls and saloons. One barkeep named James McDaniels was known as the Barnum of the West, according to Larson, who stated McDaniels' flamboyant attraction included a free museum, live theater and a zoo stocked with porcupines, parrots, monkeys, apes, snakes and bears.
Speaker 1:Methodists, episcopals and Roman Catholics established congregations in Cheyenne. However, larson noted, church folks were not legion. In Cheyenne's end-of-the-track day In May of 1869, wyoming Territorial Governor John Campbell named Cheyenne the temporary capital and the territorial lawmaker soon approved. Still during the 1871 and 1873 legislative session, other towns, including Laramie and Evanston were considered as possible capital sites. The cornerstone of the Wyoming capital in Cheyenne was laid on May 18, 1887. The building was completed in the spring of 1890, with additional wings constructed in 1915.
Speaker 1:The Durbin brothers brought shape to the area in 1870. In July of 1870, hiram High Kelly shipped the first cattle out of Wyoming loading stock and rail cars at the Cheyenne Depot. Francis E Warren, who would become the state's first governor and one of the first two US senators, was prominent in the livestock business as well. Years later, warren reportedly recalled the rough-and-tumble atmosphere of early Cheyenne, noting every man slept with one to a half-dozen revolvers under his pillow. Another early stock raiser, alexander Swan, is credited with bringing the first herbert cattle into Laramie in 1880.
Speaker 1:The Cheyenne Club, patronized primarily by owners of the territorials whose ranches were established in 1880, but following brief prices followed by the harsh winter of 1886-87, brought a bust to the cattle business. Interest in the elegant clubhouse and its bar, billiards and reading room diminished. The first Cheyenne frontier days occurred in the fall of 1897. Warren Richardson, the event's first chairman, credited the idea which he said was born on the train between Cheyenne and Greeley, colorado, to Colonel EA Slack, editor of the Cheyenne Daily. Sun-leader Slack envisioned a Western show to rival Greeley's Potato Day celebration. The first Frontier Day cowpunchers, cowpony and wild horse races, bucking horses, stagecoaches and Indians, as well as other events. Purses for the races ranged from $25 to $75. The newspaper reported that thousands came on the railroad to attend the festivities.
Speaker 1:Fort DA Russell retained its military significance. Troops trained there for service in the Spanish-American War and for World War I. In 1929, the fort was renamed in the honor of Francis E Warren. Transportation remained important to the city, with airplanes added to railroad tracks as technology advanced. In 1930, cheyenne became a major stopover for transcontinental aviation. Historian Rick Ewing notes that by 1935, united Airlines had scheduled a dozen arrivals and departures daily.
Speaker 1:In 1942, when flying was restricted on the West Coast because of World War II, united relocated its pilot training school to Cheyenne. At the same time, the company opened a factory that modified military bombers, installing new guns and instruments on B-17s and B-24s. Workers modified more than 5,000 aircraft. Half of the 1,600 employees were women. Uig estimates that the aviation payroll in Cheyenne, which also included the Civil Aeronautics Authority, inland Airlines and Plains Airways, totaled in the millions of dollars per year. As aircraft became more modernized, for example the use of pressurized cabins, the airlines moved their hub to Denver. However, united created a stewardess school in Cheyenne in 1947, with more than 6,000 women eventually being trained. In 1961, the school was moved to Chicago. Also during World War II, frontier Refining built a special fuel refinery in Cheyenne for aviation fuel, which was critical for aircraft of the era and Kennedy's operation.
Speaker 1:After the war ended, in 1947, fort Warren became a US Air Force base. In 1947, fort Warren became a US Air Force base, now the oldest continually active base in that military branch of service. The base has no airfields, however. In the late 1950s it was chosen as the headquarters for the Atlas ICBM missiles under the leadership of the Strategic Air Command, according to EWIG, by the summer of 1963, 200 missiles were located in silos within 100 miles of the base in Wyoming, colorado and Nebraska. In 1966, mayor Hubert Kingham appointed James Byrd as the first black chief of police in Cheyenne, and Byrd became the first black police chief in the state. He served for 16 years in under several different mayoral administrations before retired In 1977, fe Warren Air Force Base, one of the largest missile command bases in the nation, was designated a National Historical Landmark.
Speaker 1:Ewing called the economic impact of the base and its early days Fort Russell predecessor incalculable. Early days Fort Russell predecessor incalculable. He reported that the US Air Force officials estimated the annual economic contribution of the facility in 1952 as more than $156 million, which included military and civilian salaries for personnel who comprised about 13% of Laramie County's workforce. Cheyenne citizens elected their first Wyoming mayor, marion Orr, in 2017. She used social media extensively during her campaign. She plans to increase the number of police officers, which also had previously decreased, and wanted to eliminate blight in the city. Population for the Magic City, according to the US Census estimate, was 64,019 on July 1, 2016.
Speaker 1:State figures show that Cheyenne's prosperity continues to be dominated by government, as has been since the city was first established as the territorial capital in 1869. According to the Wyoming Division of Economic Analysis, government jobs were the largest sector of the economy in 2000. There were more than 15,709 of them, or 29.4% of total employment, in the next two largest sectors. By comparison, service jobs totaled 12,370 and retail jobs totaled 9,822. And retail jobs totaled $9,822. But the government jobs paid much better on average than jobs in the next two largest sectors. Total earnings that year were $868.1 million for government, $449 million for services. That slightly averages out more than $55,000 per job in the government compared to $36,000 in the private sector. By 2015, according to state figures, the number of government jobs had risen to 17,503., but because employment was growing faster in other sectors, government jobs represented only 26.2% of total employment. Government earnings in 2015 in Laramie County were slightly more than $1.4 billion, which comes to an average of about $81,000 per job with benefits In 2016,.
Speaker 1:Cheyenne Frontier Days total attendance was tallied at 259,193. Attendance was tallied at 259,193. The Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association Rodeo, considered to be the world's largest outdoor rodeo, drew nearly 1,500 contestants competing for a total purse of more than $1 million. Other events include nightly concert by well-known entertainers, free pancake breakfasts, parades, indian Village art show and air show by the US Air Force Thunderbird.
Speaker 1:The Wyoming capital arguably the most important historical building in the state and a dominant structure of the Cheyenne skylines, is currently being restored. The model of the three-and-a-half-story structure, 300 feet long by 83 to 112 foot wide, is expected to be finished in 2018. The height of the center and the wings is about 60 feet. The distance from the grade of the building to the top of the spiral of the dome is about 146 feet. All offices in the capital have been moved to temporary location for duration of this project.
Speaker 1:Interesting story again about how we got to Cheyenne and even though this is an older story back to 2018, it is pretty much in line with everything that was said here. As far as the employment numbers, the number of state offices and such in Cheyenne, and also with the railroad and the military base in its location to Colorado and the interstate, it is definitely an active area for a lot of businesses that are interested in coming to Wyoming. Thanks for joining us today and we hope you enjoy our podcast. As per the Code of the West, we ride for the brand and we ride for Wyoming. We'll be right back. One, two, three, four. © BF-WATCH TV 2021.
