What Happens To Wyoming When The Snow Does Not Come

March is acting like May across Wyoming, and the timing couldn’t be more worrying. We’re seeing 80-degree warmth, wind, and bone-dry conditions that turn grass and rangeland into quick-burning fuel. As fires continue in the region and red flag style conditions loom, we talk through what this early heat signals for Wyoming wildfire season, rural safety, and the communities that depend on stable spring moisture.

From there, we zoom in on water. With low snowpack in spots like the Lander area and thin inflows into Boysen, irrigation decisions may have to come before any real runoff arrives. We unpack what that means for the Bighorn Basin, canal timing, and the uneasy feeling of “unknown territory” that starts to sound like a Dust Bowl warning. It’s not just weather talk, it’s a practical look at how drought stress can ripple into forage, livestock losses, and long-term recovery when the rain just doesn’t show up.

We also connect the weather to Wyoming’s economy. Rising fuel prices can change travel plans, and tourism is now a lifeline for many towns. We touch on Thermopolis, Hot Springs State Park changes, the Star Plunge closure, and the surprising strength of the fly fishing boom, while also noting how low water levels could threaten a blue ribbon trout experience. Then we shift into Wyoming history with territorial education and the early goals that shaped the University of Wyoming, before riding into classic Old West territory with the Hole in the Wall and the outlaw legends that still define the landscape.

If you value grounded Wyoming weather updates, practical drought talk, and local history that actually connects to life today, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review. What are you seeing where you live right now?

Transcript

Unseasonal Heat And Fire Risk

Water Releases And Drought Fears

Tourism And Local Economy Pressures

Schooling In Territorial Wyoming

Hole In The Wall Outlaw Legends

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Good morning and welcome to Let's Talk Wyoming. I'm Mark Hamilton, your host, and today we'll be talking about our Wyoming and our warm weather, our fire danger weather. We'll talk about other things happening in the state. We'll talk about territorial Wyoming and we'll talk about the hole in the wall. Thanks for joining us today, and we hope you enjoy the show. Taking a look at the Wyoming weather here on a Monday morning, the 23rd day of March. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Also a great St. Patrick's Day, or didn't mention much about it last week, I should say. But here we are. Every time I get up or get moving around these last few days, it feels like we should be in May sometime with the weather. After having a weekend of 80 degree plus weather, it's been just hot. Our fires are continuing on in the region. Nebraska fires are ongoing. Here in the state of Wyoming, we're starting to see fires pop up everywhere due to these conditions with all the wind and heat and dry. I did see on the National Weather Service that they had a warning out for Wednesday was the day that was going to be the most full of Wyoming, and this area here in the Rocky Mountain area is dry. So fires were building up and starting to take hold in Montana and Colorado and just all the way around us. We had some small fires in southern Wyoming and southwestern Wyoming, but you're gonna get them this time of year. And I don't know, it was over another trip over to the lander area and went by Boyson and there at the causeway. It's just bone dry. There's a little trickle growing into the lake, and went over to lander and up above lander. There's just really not much snow in that area. And again, it was warm. And coming back, it was that way everywhere in that country. And then made a trip up on Saturday morning up to Whirland, and those farmers have done, got their farming, got stuff planted and preparing to start filling the canals, and they should be coming on stream anytime. And when those canals start filling up, and the irrigation will have to take off quick. And right now they've got a pretty well a minimal amount coming out of Boyson, but they're gonna end up having to let it go. Now the Worland farmers and the and the Bighorn Basin farmers have the first call on the water, so they're wanting water and they're gonna start letting it out of Boyson. So it will drop it even more before any type of major runoff comes in. There isn't anything in the forecast. The 10-day forecast is very little of anything happening, just more warm weather and more warm weather. So I don't know what we're gonna end up doing. It's gonna be a little bit of an issue going forward on what is gonna happen to us as we get into this. It's unknown territory. My wife and I were talking about the Dust Bowl era, and we may be into another Dust Bowl era. I don't know how much we can do about it. I guess you pray and and pray for moisture. I just my heart just aches for all those people in Nebraska in that um country down there in the sand hills, and there's so much grass in that country, and the agricultural community really needs that. Also, there's lots of livestock producers in that area, and all these areas are right in the middle of calvin season right now, and all those young ones are out, and they got fires coming and animal loss. I'm I'm waiting to see what type of numbers they have, trying to get those animals to a safe spot, especially those calves aren't the easiest bunch to move with a mama cow. And the impact it's gonna have a lasting impact for quite a few years, because yes, that grass is gonna be burned off, and but they to get new grass to grow to where it's really growing, you're gonna have to have some moisture. And unfortunately, you don't have any sprinkler systems in that area that you can turn on and put water to it, and just like it is here in the basin. I'm gonna fire up my well this week, turn it back on, and start watering. Earliest I've ever had to turn on my water. There's been years where it's into May before I even think about having to turn the water on. We get so much moisture, or we've had so much snow, and I've got a hedgerow around the place, and usually it pretty well packs in with a lot of snow, drifts up, um, a lot of snow and a lot of moisture there, and that's a slow, slow drip into those bushes there. And boy, there's none this year, and I'm a little concerned about those. So we are got a lot of a lot of uncertain things going on here in the state of Wyoming with our weather, and I don't know how this is going to impact our tourist season, depending on if we started getting fires in any of our areas, Yellowstone or uh Grand Tetons, Bighorns, a lot of these areas that the tourists flock to. Um, we have one of those type of years with fires that might keep people away. And right now, it couldn't be at a worst time. Price of fuel has gone up about a buck here in the state of Wyoming. I was involved with a group over the winter months. I was traveling quite a bit and back and forth, and I was filling up at$2.40 between$2.40 and$2.60 for unlettered at the time. Now we're up at$3.89, so actually we've gone up more than a dollar. I saw three almost$3.99, and I expect it's going to get into the middle fours before we're done with this. So it's having an impact, and maybe it's going to have an impact on travel. Might have, I mean, a lasting impact. The the thing is, our state of Wyoming, the tourism dollars are so big here anymore. With our kind of our cutback on our energy side, one thing with this, I saw that they're going to start coal production. Current administration has lifted some of the restrictions, so it looks like maybe coal will be able to maybe get a second start. But um tourism is a big one here. It kind of the lifeblood, especially up through up through the basin here. Our little town of Thermopolis, they're going to be messing around with the state park. The state decided to change things, come in with a one loan concessionaire that's going to redo the park. And last year we had our the star plunge has been closed, really had an impact on the uh traffic that comes into Thermopolis and down to that state park, and still nothing has happened, so I'm waiting to see when they're going to start construction. I guess the saving grace, as I've said before and in the podcast, that our fly fishing industry has taken off here. Over the weekend, there were a couple spots just out south of town where I live, right there at the bridge on one of those curves. There were probably eight drift boats stacked up. Kind of got into a mini traffic jam. Too many people on the water at the at a time. With this uh warm weather raven, it's bringing those fishermen in from all over the country. These aren't just local people, it's a lot of people just coming here to fish. Of course, it's all guided fishing, majority of it. We've got um some new fly shops in town, and so there's a lot of guides, and uh they bring in their clients to fish here, then they'll go up to Montana, go to southern Wyoming wherever they can. Of course, with this water levels, this is gonna have an impact on fishing, also with these low water conditions. If it does get to that point, it could have an impact on that fishing, and that would be a big blow. So with this early warm period, I'm waiting to see if we start seeing some tourists. I know the park doesn't usually open until the first of May. Um, we'll see when it does open. Uh, with some of the budget cuts and such, there was always a question about how they were going to keep it open and what was going to happen there. So we'll definitely find out as we get into that time of year. But right here in the state of Wyoming, we are continuing on like everyone else across the country. But here we're kind of waiting and just hoping that we get some rain and not any thunderstorms, which would really be disastrous right now. So a little bit of rain and a lot of prayers for the people here in the state of Wyoming and for all of our neighbors around, especially those people down in Nebraska. All the hardships that they're facing. Prayers go out to all of them. Continuing on today with territorial life, we always have to go back to T. A. Larson, the history of Wyoming. We're going to talk about education here in the territory of Wyoming. The first school in Wyoming was the one begun by the chaplain at Fort Laramie, the Reverend William Vox, in eighteen fifties. The usual date given is eighteen fifty-two, but Mrs. Lodisa Watson in her MA thesis report, having found a letter written by an Army major at Fort Laramie in eighteen fifty eight complaining that Vox had not begun instruction until March of eighteen fifty-six and was a most unenthusiastic schoolmaster and was negligent chaplain who never visited the sick or concerned himself with the morals of the soldiers. The first legislature in December of eighteen sixty-nine supplied the basic law for public education, making the otter ex officio superintendent of public instruction. He was given five hundred dollars for his educational duties, which included general supervision of all the district schools, recommending uniform textbooks, making reports, and distributing school funds among the counties. Elective county superintendents were to divide the settled parts into school districts, apportioning the county school taxes and other school funds among the several school districts, examine and certifying teachers, and visit each school at least twice each term and generally supervise the schools. The length of the school term varied considerably. In the eighteen seventy three legislature, they established the minimum when it required that every child between the age of six and eighteen attend three months each year. This seemed not to have been enforced. Most communities do not have high schools, although high school work was sometimes offered in school, not designated as high schools. One of the better educated pioneers who came to Wyoming with considerable training in both law and medicine and who served as the territorial's first superintendent of public instruction was J. H. Hayford. He was the Laramie editor. He wrote in his centennial on january tenth, eighteen seventy nine, we would have our youth taught something in our schools by which they could make a living. He suggested manual training, watchmaking, telegraphy, and typesetting. Hayford knew the school curriculum well because he had many children. He believed an early acquaintance with work, placing a ten-year-old son in his back shop. As of eighteen ninety-three, the average number of days school was in session was eighty-nine point two one. There were only five high schools in eighteen ninety-five Buffalo, Cheyenne, Evanson, Rollins, and Sundance. In eighteen ninety-six, only one pupil in 44 was enrolled in a high school program. The University of Wyoming, whose history has been written by Professor W. O. Clau, opened in 1887 at Laramie with a$50,000 building, a faculty of seven, and forty-two students, most of them at the college preparatory level. Indeed, for many years, the availability of college preparatory work at the university made it unnecessary for Laramie to establish a separate high school. Poorly supported outside Laramie, it would be many years before the institution could live up to its pretensions as a university. Dean Justice F. Souls recalls during the first twenty-five years we never knew whether we should be there or not the next year. Secretary of the first Board of Trustees was the versatile editor Hayford, who transferred to the university level his passions for Unitarian education. On May first, eighteen ninety-six, in his newspaper report of the first board meeting, he set the tone. While not ignoring the benefits of classical education, the board recognized the fact that the world has more use for engineers, mining, civil, gas, and electrical engineers for architects, chemists, and mechanics than it has for men who could merely crackle Greek. No doubt from the beginning the trustees were, like most men on the frontier, inclined to emphasize the practical. Yet it would be a long time before the little Frontier University could turn out many engineers, architects, and chemists. Listening to what their intentions were, it didn't sound that bad. Sounded like a good idea. And boy, would they be surprised at what the University of Wyoming has become since those early territorial days. The red sandstone inscarpment dominates the area, rich in the legend of outlaw activity in the late 1800s. It was a favorite hiding place for the infamous Butch Castie and the Wild Bunch gang, who often hid out in the 1883 log cabin preserved at the Old Town Museum in Cody Wylman. The Wild Bunch included wrestlers and train bank robbers such as William Ellsworth Elsey Leigh, Harry Sundance Kid Longbaugh, Ben Talltex and Kilpatrick, and Harvey Kid Curry Logan, William News Carver, Laura Bullion, and George Flatnosed Curry. But these criminals weren't the only ones that made the hole in the wall of their hideout. Other outlaws such as Al Smith, Bob Taylor, Tom O'Day, Laughing Sam Carey, Black Jack Ketchum, the Roberts brothers, and others also utilized the area to as a hiding place and as a base of operations to coordinate their outlaw activities. Even Jesse James was said to have visited the Hole in the Wall hideout. Collectively, these various groups and individual outlaws were known as the Hole in the Wall Gang. It was not one large organized gang, but was made up of several separate gangs all operating out of the Hole in the Wall Pass, using it as their base of operation. The gang formed a coalition, each planning and carrying out its robberies with very little interaction with the other groups. At times, members of one gang would ride along with the other gangs, but usually each gang operated separately, meeting up only when they were each at the hideout at the same time. Geographically, the hideout had all the advantages needed for gangs attempting to evade the authorities. The areas were remote and secluded, easily defended because of its narrow passes and impossible for lawmen to approach without alerting the outlaws. It contained an infrastructure, with each gang supplying its own food and livestock, as well as its horses. A corral, livery stable, numerous cabins were constructed, one or two for each gang. Anyone operating out of there adhered to specific rules of the camp, including a particular way of handling disputes with other gang members and never stealing from other gang supplies. There was no leader, with each gang adhering to its chain of command. The high out was also used for shelter for the outlaws to lay up during the harsh Wyoming winters. When the weather was better, the outlaws often used the remote paths to move horses and cattle from the area. On one occasion, a cattle rancher fought back in what is known as the hole in the wall fight. It was well known that cattle rustling had been taking place in the area with the cattle and outlaws hiding within the hole in the wall country. In 1897, Bob Devine of the Sea White Cattle Company planned a roundup of this area to gather stock belonging to various ranch outfits. He was warned to stay out of the area with an anonymous note that stated, Don't stick that damn old grave head of yours in this country again if you don't want it shot off. However, Devine and several other ranchers were not deterred by the threat. On Thursday, july twenty second, Devine along with other CY Ranch Cowboys, men from the Ogallala Land and Cattle Company and the Circle L Ranch, Jim Drummond, a Montana livestock inspector, and Joe LaFors, a U.S. Deputy Marshal, all set out to round up cattle. They entered the Hole in the Wall country through the Bar C Gap and headed south, passing by the Hole in the Wall Ranch. About three miles in, the group came upon Bob and Al Smith and Bob Taylor, who were members of the Hole in the Wall gang. There was animosity between Bob Devine and Bob Smith, and tension was in the air. Devine asked if they had seen any sea white cattle, and Smith replied not a damn one. Believing Devine's hand to be gripping his gun, Smith pulled his six shooter and the fight was on. Shots were fired, horses were pitching, and the dust flew. When the smoke cleared, Bob Smith lay on the ground with a bullet hole in his back. Devine's horse had been killed, and he and his son Lee had been wounded. Al Smith escaped after his gun had been shot from his hand. Bob Smith was taken to the hole in the wall cabin and died the next morning. Bob Taylor was captured and taken to Netrona County jail and later released. Shortly afterwards, Devine led a contingent of heavily armed men and two deputies to the hole and drove several hundred cattle out. They were watched closely by several armed men but were never bothered. By the late eighteen sixties to around nineteen ten, the pass was used frequently by numerous outlaw gangs, eventually it faded into history, with gangs using it less frequently. Today, the hole in the wall in the Middle Fork region contains approximately 80,000 acres of public land, including lands managed by the state of Wyoming and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. The remote area is located about thirty five miles southwest of Casey, Wyoming, and sixty miles north of Casper along the Red Wall Backcountry Scenic Byway. The Middle Fork Powder River is located about twenty miles southwest of CC, Wyoming. The Middle Fork Powder River management area contains such notable sites as Outlaw Cave, rumored to have been used as a hideout by various outlaws. It contains diverse topography and vegetation ranging in elevation from 5,000 to over 8,000 feet with numerous steep incise canyons, a deep sandstone encarpment known as the Red Wall, and open grassland parks, interspersed with Ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, and limber pine forests. The wildlife found here are equally diverse. There are elk, mule deer, antelope, mountain lions, eagles, among other small mammals and rodents. The middle fork of the Powder River lies at the bottom of a fairly steep canyon, but if you can make your way to the bottom, the fishing. Is outstanding. This is a blue ribbon trout stream containing brown and rainbow trout. Other fishable streams in the area include Blue Creek, Buffalo Creek, and Eagle Creek. We want to thank Kathy Weiser Alexander from Legends of America for sharing this story. It was a quite a time in our state of Wyoming, and everyone, no matter where you live, has heard of the hole in the wall game and Butch Casty and the people that were involved, and there's a lot of the happenings of the area that go back to this hole in the wall. And the hole in the wall game, there's just so many tales that have been told of the old West that involve this definitely the legend of the West here in Wyoming.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

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.