Friday, January 11, 2019

January 11, 1919. Casper Gets Gas (no. . . really). Women ponder keeping their jobs.


Wyoming Oil World, and industry paper in Wyoming with a circulation of about 18,000, reported that Casper was going to be piped for natural gas.

It's somewhat odd to think of a time that Casper didn't have natural gas.  When I was a kid, natural gas in Casper was so cheap that the gas company would install gas yard lamps for free.  One of our neighbors had one.  Because of the way it worked, it burned night and day in their backyard, an odd thing to think of now, although gas flares, of course, aren't exactly a thing of the past in the oil patch.

Powder River Basin gas flare.

Elsewhere airmen who would later climb to higher heights of fame were now on occupation duty in Germany, including the legendary Billy Mitchell, and Lewis H. Brereton who would have air and ground commands during World War Two.
A group of serious looking American airmen; Brigadier General William Mitchell, chief of Air Service, his staff. From left to right: French Capt. R. Vallois, Ltc. Lewis Hyde Brereton (1890-1967, who rose to senior command in World War Two), Brigadier General William Mitchell, Maj. Ira Beaman Joralemon (1884-1975, who became a mining engineer), Capt. O. E. Marrel, First Lieutenant E. F, Schwab.  Dierdorf, Germany, January 11, 1919.


Some Americans were still in France, of course.

90th Division officers Major General Henry Tureman Allen, Cavalry (1859-1930).  He'd been commissioned after graduating from West Point in 1882 and was a veteran of the Spanish American War, the Philippine Insurrection, and the Punitive Expedition.  His son Captain Henry T. Allen Jr. (1889-1971). The Younger Allen would participate in the 1920 Olympics as an Army equestrian competitor. At the time, all equestrian competitors were Army officers. And Captain Sidney Webster Fish (1885-1950), of the famous New York political family.  Cote d'Or, France, January 11, 1919.


And some women weren't excited about giving up their wartime jobs.


And of course, there were always donuts.


No comments: