Wednesday, July 25, 1923. Flooding in Thermopolis.

 Floods struck Thermopolis after having struck Natrona County only recently.

President Harding went fishing at the Campbell River in British Columbia.

Friday, January 9, 1942. Umm. . .about that salute. . . . Appropriated and Inappropriate Symbols.

On this day in 1942 West Virginia mandated a salute to the flag as a regular part of school activities.

German children?  Nope, US children in May 1942 giving the flag the "Bellamy Salute" that was advocated by Christian Socialist Francis Bellamy.  At the time, the association with Fascism and Nazism had not yet fully sunk in.

The measure was struck down by the US Supreme Court as unconstitutional the following year.

Until that summer, the salute would have been in the form advocated by Christian Socialist Francis Bellamy, who was also the author of the Pledge of Allegiance.  Bellamy had died a decade prior, but the pledge and the salute were gaining popularity since the onset of the war.  Concern over its Nazi like appearance caused adoption of the palm over the heart form of the salute now used by civilians in this gesture, a measure urged by the Veteran's of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.

Saluting by civilians is, frankly, in my view an odd deal.  Simply standing and taking off your hat makes more sense to me. But like a lot of things, things, this has really spread, and morphed, in our society.

Bellamy began advocating for it as early as 1892, when he wrote:

At a signal from the Principal the pupils, in ordered ranks, hands to the side, face the Flag. Another signal is given; every pupil gives the flag the military salute – right hand lifted, palm downward, to align with the forehead and close to it. Standing thus, all repeat together, slowly, "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all." At the words, "to my Flag," the right hand is extended gracefully, palm upward, toward the Flag, and remains in this gesture till the end of the affirmation; whereupon all hands immediately drop to the side. 

The Youth's Companion, 65 (1892): 446.

Bellamy of course meant no fascist connotations by it, and fascism wasn't even a thing at the time.  It spread slowly but picked up speed as a school thing following World War One.

In the same period of time, however, fascism and Nazism adopted the same salute.  Distinctions are sometimes made between it and the Bellamy salute, but in reality the only difference is that the fascist weren't attempting to copy Bellamy.  At any rate, it spread like wildfire in the 20s and 30s amongst fascistic movements, making a change in the US necessary.

This wasn't the only thing to suffer such a fate.  As noted on our companion blog, Painted Bricks:

One you definately do not see anymore, brickwork, Thermopolis Wyoming

Here's one that you would not see done again, and you might also expect to have been changed since 1945. Swastika motif in brickwork.

This is not as sinister as it might seem. Swastikas showed up as ornamental designs in quite a few things prior to World War Two, and they bore no association at all with the Nazi Party. In the west, they were associated with Indians, and were regarded as an Indian good luck symbol. Chances are that the architect of this Thermopolis, Wyoming building had that in mind, as Thermopolis is not far from the Wind River Reservation.

Indeed, at the time we're speaking of, the 45th Infantry Division, a unit made up of National Guardsmen heavily featuring Native American Oklahoman's, was only two years out from the redesign of its unit patch adopted during World War One, which looked like this:

And it gets even odder yet.  Lord Baden Powell waxed about it in What Scouts  Can Do--More Yarns, in 1921, in which he stated.

On the stole of an ancient bishop of Winchester, Edyndon, who died in 1366, is the Swastika or Scouts' Thanks Badge. It was at that time called the " Fylfot," and was said to represent Obedience or Submission, the different arms of the cross being in reality legs in the attitude of kneeling.

But as you know from the account of the Swastika Thanks Badge which I have given you in Scouting for Boys, this symbol was used in almost every part of the world in ancient days, and therefore has various meanings given to it.

It has been found engraved on weapons belonging to the Norsemen. It was also engraved on the spindles used by the ancient Greeks in their- weaving at Troy.

In India rice is spread on the ground in the form of the Swastika at the baptism of a baby boy to bring him luck.

The Indians in North America use it as an ornament, and it has been found engraved on ancient pottery in Peru.

How it got from one country to another, separated as they are by oceans, it is difficult to guess, but some people who say they know all about these things, affirm that there was once a great continent where now there is the Atlantic Ocean, but it went under the sea in an earthquake.

This continent was called Atlantis, and joined up Europe with America.

It was supposed to have four vast rivers running from a central mountain in different directions—North, East, South, and West—and the Swastika is merely a map of Atlantis showing those four rivers rising from the same center.

The Thanks Badge

I want specially to remind Scouts to keep their eyes open and never fail to spot anyone wearing this badge. It is their duty then to go up to such person, make the Scout sign, and ask if they can be of any service to the wearer.Anyway, whatever its origin was the Swastika now stands for the Badge of Fellowship among Scouts all over the world, and when anyone has done a kindness to a Scout it is their privilege to present him—or her—with this token of their gratitude, which makes him a sort of member of the Brotherhood, and entitles him to the help of any other Scout at any time and at any place.

I have heard of several instances where Scouts have done this, and it has greatly increased the value of the Thanks Badge to the persons who were wearing it when they found that Scouts recognized it and were anxious to do a Good Turn to them.

All that is more than a little cringe worthy now, but prior to the rise of the Nazis, the symbol had a wide range of meanings and in fact was quite common in the US, derived from Native American usage.  Of course, that can take you into the conversation about European Americans appropriating Native American symbols and identities, but that's another topic (albeit one we've discussed before).

By 1939, when the 49th Infantry Division went to its new symbol. . .

it was already the case that the Nazis had claimed this one forever, although perhaps a final non fasicst use carried on, for quite awhile, by the Finns.

Finnish Me109s during the Continuation War.  Some below the radar use of the swastika goes on in Finland today, due to its wartime use, even though a turn away from it started in 1945 when the Finns ended up reluctantly declaring war on the Germans.

In Slovenia, partisans engaged the Germans in what would become the Battle of  Dražgoše.

Admiral Yamamoto made a statement to Taketora Ogata in which he stated:

A military man can scarcely pride himself on having 'smitten a sleeping enemy'; it is more a matter of shame, simply, for the one smitten. I would rather you made your appraisal after seeing what the enemy does, since it is certain that, angered and outraged, he will soon launch a determined counterattack.

This is likely the origin of the claim that on December 7, he stated that he feared that all the attack had done was to "awaken a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve".

Joe Louis regained the heavyweight boxing title by knocking out Buddy Baer in round one of a match at Madison Square Garden.

Back to saluting, I'm very glad, as I'm sure everyone is, that the Bellamy salute was dropped and I'm okay with the hand on the heart salute, although personally I think simply standing and uncovering the head would be enough, but since the First Gulf War, and dating back to the Reagan Administration really, saluting in the military style by civilians has really spread and I really don't like it.

This really started with President Reagan giving a snappy salute to the Marine Corps guards and other servicemen he routinely encountered. At the time, that was technically illegal, although probably unenforceable, as it was reserved for servicemen.  Reagan had served as a reserve cavalry officer before the war and during the war in the entertainment branch of the U.S. Army, which I do not wish to discount, but he was a civilian and should not have done that. Since then, however, every President has, encouraging the creeping militarization of our society.

At some point in the 90s or 00s, the law in this was officially changed to allow veterans to use the salute, and some really do.  I could, as I’m a veteran.  I don't, as I'm a civilian.  There's no need for it.

The Spanish Flu Claims Its First Casper Victim and The Danger of Even Home Guard Service Is Made Plain: October 5, 1918.

As the war raged in Europe, while peace feelers started to be sent out, the Spanish Flu claimed its first victim in Casper.

And Home Guard service proved lethal for Pvt. O. B. Duncan, who fell from a train and was run over it by it. Why Pvt. Duncan was riding on the train isn't clear, but at least as late as World War Two the Home Guard did guard the rail yards for a time in Casper, so presumably something similar was occurring.

Oddly, Thermopolis was a setting for both tragedies.

Railhead: Transportation juxtaposition

I recently posted this on our companion blog, Railhead: Transportation juxtaposition:

I noted in the text for that;

BNSF rail tunnels on left, Wyoming Highway Department tunnels on the right.

Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.

What I didn't note is how emblematic of modern local transportation this is.  The rail line on the left, running from Thermopolis to Riverton Wyoming, is spectacular in this stretch, but it carries only freight, like every other Wyoming rail line. At one time, that wasn't true.  It carried passengers as well. But that was decades ago.

The highway on the right is also spectacular, one of Wyoming's best in my views.  The replacement for the means of conveyance on the left, although in fairness I'm sure the road is quite old.  I don't know when the highway tunnels were put in.

Big Horn Hot Springs, Thermopolis, Wyoming. April 8, 1918.

This photograph was taken a century ago, today.

If it looks familiar, perhaps that's because we use it as the flagship photograph for our Railhead blog, dedicated to railroad themes.

Sunday morning Scene: Churches of the West: St. Francis Catholic Church, Thermopolis Wyoming

Churches of the West: St. Francis Catholic Church, Thermopolis Wyoming:

This is St. Francis Catholic Church, in Thermopolis Wyoming.  This attractive Romanesque style Church has a very classic European style to it.  I'm not aware of when it was built.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Community Federated Church, Thermopolis Wyoming

Churches of the West: Community Federated Church, Thermopolis Wyoming:

This is the Community Federated Church of Thermopolis, Wyoming, which serves a combined Methodist and Presbyterian congregation, the first church serving a combined congregation that I've run across, although something similar exists in regards to an upcoming post for Basin Wyoming.

The Church is a classic modern Gothic style church, but otherwise I know nothing about it.

The Local News: The Casper Record for January 2, 1917

But, the Casper paper didn't feature Mexico at all.

Indeed, I'd be disinclined to put this one up, given the stories that I've been following, but for the fact that by only putting up the Cheyenne papers that covered the story in Mexico extensively I'm giving a false impression.  In Central Wyoming, when you picked up your local paper (there were two) you might not be reading about such events at all.

Residents of Natrona County Wyoming, on this day, were reading about a railroad disaster near Thermopolis. That spot, by the way, is still bad and there's been a train wreck there within the last couple of years.

Like residents of Cheyenne, they also were reading about the weird gubernatorial spot in Arizona.  Long term residents of Wyoming would recall, however, that Wyoming had a similar episode about 20 years prior to this one.

And there were the cheery economic articles, common to Wyoming papers of this era.

Courthouses of the West: Hot Springs County Courthouse, Thermopolis Wyoming...

Courthouses of the West: Hot Springs County Courthouse, Thermopolis Wyoming...:

Big Town, Small Town.

"I grew up in a small town"

Everyone has heard this comment, probably a million times, and let it pass on without comment.  Indeed, the American background story is, almost invariably, "I was born in a small town" or "I grew up on a farm".  So archetypal is it, that rocker John Cougar penned a song called "Small Town" which is entirely about the virtues of small towns.  Iris Dement, on the other hand, penned the heart breaking "Our Town" about a town that's clearly a small, and dying, small town.  John Prine went one step further and penned "Paradise" about Paradise Kentucky, a real small town, that he somewhat fictionally claims was "hauled away" by the Peabody Coal Company, to their enduring irritation.

The small town of Paradise Kentucky, in the late 19th Century.

Leaving the "I grew up on a farm" comment aside for a moment, it might serve to actually look at the statement. What's it mean?  That is, what is a small town, and do we really recognize one when we see one.

Do we really recognize a small town when we see one?

I grew up in Casper Wyoming.  It's not a small town, it's a medium sized city.  Because it is a western city, however, it's a medium sized city that's an island in the prairie to some extent, although this is now less true than it once was. Suffice it to say, however, the entire time I've lived in Casper, it's been a medium sized city, although my father lived in it when it was a small city and he lived through its growth to be a medium sized city, something he never commented on but which I'm glad in a way hasn't been my experience, as I would have lamented the change.  Having said that, I have lived in a small city, Laramie Wyoming, for a period of several years, and because it too is an island in the prairie, or more accurately the high plains, the geographic feel of the city doesn't vary tremendously from Casper in some ways.

While Casper is a small city, or rather a medium sized city, I've heard time and time again, both in the past and currently, that Casper's a "small town".  Far from it. It's definately not.  It has ample population to be regarded as a medium sized city, and if the greater metropolitan area is included, there's no doubt of that at all.  So why do people think that?

I wonder if it is, in part, because true "towns", at least in this region, have taken such a hit.  A lot of them are mere shadows of their former selves, if they are there at all.  For example, in this county, the small town of Powder River at one time spread across both sides of the highway and the town featured a church, post office, bar/restaurant, another restaurant, a hotel and a store.  It also had a railroad station.  It was never more than a small town, however.

Today, Powder River retains a church and a post office (and maybe the hotel is functioning, I'm not sure), but nothing else I've mentioned above still exists.  A person cannot even buy gasoline there, and the  nearest station is over 20 miles away.  It's not a town that a person could live in and expect to have any local services.

 

House of Our Shepherd Church in Powder River, Wyoming.  This Assemblies of God church is served by a pastor who is a local rancher, which adds another element to this story, as this town was always so small as to have a single church, in so far as I'm aware.  Slightly larger towns, like Shoshoni Wyoming, had considerably more services, including churches of more than one denomination.  The blue building to the left is or was a hotel.

Arminto, just up the railroad, may provide a better example.  It was always quite small, but none the less it was at one time very active.  It was the largest single railroad loading facility for sheep on earth, at one time.  It had a famous bar, a store, and a population that served the railroad.  Now, the bar is gone (burned down), there is no store, and the railroad doesn't stop there any more.

Arminto Wyoming, looking towards a grove of trees that stand where the bar and a hotel once did.  This town has the Disappearing Railroad Blues.*

And I could go on.  But, suffice it to say, in order for a small town to really survive now, it has to have a reason independant of isolation and the railroads, and even then things might be rough for it.  Shoshoni Wyoming, for example, hangs on, but it's at a junction for two state highways near a very busy recreational reservoir.  And even it is a mere shawdow of its former self.

For that reason, I think small cities, like Riverton Wyoming, get confused for "small towns" fairly frequently.  A true town, like Lander Wyoming or Thermopolis Wyoming, is probably a larger town by historical standards. Small towns that really hang on, for example something like Hudson Wyoming, or perhaps Dubois Wyoming, are exceptions, and exceptions for a definite reason.  We hardly recognize a real small town when we see one.

___________________________________________________________________________________

*From the lyrics of The City of New Orleans, about a train named that, on its last run.

Matters of preception. "Rancher"

This past Sunday, the local paper ran an article on Frank Robbins.

Robbins is a Thermopolis area landowner who ranches around that area.  Often the articles about him repeat his often stated desire, at age 59, to protect his way of life from the Federal government.  He's been involved in a variety of spats with the government since he showed up there.

Yes, I said showed up. Robbins bought three or so ranches in that area and combined them into one, after selling a ranch in Montana.  He did that about a decade or more ago.  And he came into Montana from Alabama.

In Alabama, apparently, he was in the lumber and flooring business, and did very well at it. So well that he amassed a fortune of this type, or so I've read, seeing as I only know about him what I've read.

Now, out of staters coming in to ranch isn't new, it's indeed the original story of ranching in the region.  Homesteaders were not, after all, from here.  But in terms of "way of life", do you have a good claim to that in an area you aren't native too, particularly as the modern story of ranching is that the vast amount of money required to buy a ranch now effectively means that locals, including many families and individuals with strong connections, are priced out of owning their own places.  In a way, Robbins is preventing other people, purely accidentally, from engaging in their way of life, as we're from here and don't have that kind for fortune.  Under those circumstances the "way of life" claims rings pretty hollow to natives.

The Big Picture: Thermopolis Wyoming in 1918

Transportation, Early 20th Century

Monday, May 4, 2009 2:02 AM MDT

Natrona County Tribune, 1909 A trip to write about -- "AN auto-stage line is to be established between Shoshoni and Thermopolis in the near future, and every editor in the state is hoping that the gasoline wagon will be in operation before the meeting of the Press association."

An item noted in today's Casper Star Tribune.