The Casper Daily Tribune is almost a shock compared to other papers in the state this week. It didn't seem that worked up about the war.
It was starting off with the bold declaration that Casper, in the midst of the World War One oil boom, was "the city wonderful". It predicated a population of 15,000 in the next few years, which may or may not have been a pleasant thought to long term residents, but as things would play out, it's prediction was in fact lower than that which the city would rise up to in the near future. The refinery depicted in the photo on the bottom of the front page was much of the reason why. Already, as the paper noted, residents who were returning to the town after an absence were shocked to see how much it had changed.
Major Ormsby, that was his name, not his rank, was interviewed in the paper about radios. Ormsby was a local rancher who is remembered today for a road north of Casper that takes people to a rural subdivision, although it might be more recalled by some as it goes past the oldest of Casper's two strip joints (shades of what 1917 would bring in there). At the time, however, that was all rural land and apparently Ormsby had a radio set there. He was interviewed due to a rumor that his radio was going to be taken over by the Navy, although the article notes he'd heard no such rumor. He also hadn't listed to his radio for a long time, apparently. The paper noted that the nearest commercial station was in Denver, which was true, that being the very early predecessor to KOA, which is still in business.
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