Y Cross, UW, CSU, Donations, Money, and Lost Opportunities

About 14 years ago the Denver owners of the Albany County Y Cross ranch donated it to the University of Wyoming and Colorado State University.  A clause of the accepted donation was that the schools could sell it after 14 years.  They now intend to do so.

I don't know much about how the ranch was used in the 14 years the schools have owned it.  It was supposed to be used for the purpose of teaching agriculture, but from what I read, it wasn't used much.  The former owners now say that they regret donating it to the schools, and frankly they should regret it.

This is hard to understand.  A 50,000 acre ranch, situated near both schools, should have provided a variety of opportunities for both schools to both teach practical agriculture and, in this day and age, perhaps also experiment a bit with "sustainable" agriculture, a topic which has been hot in agricultural fields in recent years.  Now those opportunities will be lost, and the ranch will simply be sued to generate money.

On that both schools would be well advised to note the history of the results of ignoring the wishes of donors.  Potential donors to both schools are now on notice that the schools feel free to sell donated assets as quickly as they can.  Not all donations are suitable for long term keeping and preservation, of course, but if that is the wish of the donors, they now know that neither UW or CSU can be depended upon to do any more than accepting the donation requires.  That may give such potential donors pause, or at least put them on notice that a restrictive clause in any donation may be necessary.  For some it may mean no donation at all, something that at least UW, which is under orders to cut back financially, may wish to rethink.

Churches of the West: Catholic Church of the Ascension, Hudson Wyoming

Another example of how transportation, even close transportation, has changed:

Churches of the West: Catholic Church of the Ascension, Hudson Wyoming: This Catholic Church in Hudson Wyoming was built in 1917.  In a way, it shows the limitations of travel at the time, as Hudson is quit...

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Off Topic: World War One Made British Eats Bad

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Off Topic: World War One Made British Eats Bad

This has been linked in before, but a recent update is really insightful.

Today In Wyoming's History: June 6. Homesteading, agirculture and warfare.

A couple of big items are to be found in today's Today In Wyoming's History: June 6:



Here's one:

1894  In the reverse of the usual story, Colorado's Governor Davis H. Waite orders the Colorado state militia to protect and support tminers engaged in a strike at Cripple Creek.  Mine owners had already formed private army.

I don't know that Wyoming's National Guard was every used in strike breaking, but Colorado's was somewhat infamously used in that fashion at Ludlow prior to World War One.  Here, however, the reverse is true.  Interesting example of the Guard being called out to assist miners in avoiding violence.  Note that this is only slightly after Gov. Barber acted to basically prevent the Guard from being called out to stop violence during the Johnson County invasion, an act that would come back to haunt him.

Another interesting item:

1908  A man from Cody Wyoming was the co-winner of the Evanston Wyoming to Denver horse race, one of the long distance horse races that were common in Wyoming at the time.

There was quiet a culture of long distance horse races in Wyoming at the time.  This race is typical of them.

A big day in regional agriculture:

1912  President Taft signs the Homestead Act of 1912, which reduces the period to "prove up" from five years to three.  This was unknowingly on the eve of a major boom in homesteading, as World War One would create a huge demand for wheat for export, followed by the largest number of homestead filings in American history as would be wheat farmers attempted to gain land for the endeavor.  Attribution:  On This Day.

Wheat farmer, Billings Montana.

 This ear would see a boom in late Wyoming homesteading.  Contrary to the popular imagination, it was actually the last three decades of homesteading that saw the greatest number of entrants.  A rise in wheat prices due to World War One was a significant factor in this, in that it lead a lot of people to believe that they could get rich in wheat, even if they had no experience in growing it.  The Great Depression also lead to a lot of late entrants, even as many homesteaders were failing due to the economy and the horrible weather of the period.

Another war, and agricultural item:

1915  British commissioners began to purchase remounts in Wyoming.  The purchase of horses for British service in World War One created a boom in horse ranching which would continue, fueled both by British and American service purchases, throughout the war, but which would be followed by a horse ranching crash after the war.

 U.S. Army Remounts, Camp Kearney California, 1917.

 And a really big historical item:

1944 Allied forces land in Normandy, in an event remembered as "D-Day", although that term actually refers to the day on which any major operation commences.  This is not, of course, a Wyoming event, but at least in my youth I knew more than one Wyoming native who had participated in it.  Later, I had a junior high teacher whose first husband had died in it.  A law school colleague of mine had a father who was a paratrooper in it.  And at least one well known Wyoming political figure, Teno Roncolio, participated in it.  From the prospective of the Western Allies, it might be the single most significant single day of the campaign in Europe.

All the photos above are courtesy of the United States Army.

Today In Wyoming's History: May 30

Today In Wyoming's History: May 30:


1903  Theodore Roosevelt visited Cheyenne and Laramie.  He stopped first in Laramie, where he delivered a speech at Old Main.  Invited by Rough Rider veterans to ride to the next stop, Cheyenne, he did so.

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Off Topic: World War One Made British Eats Bad

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Off Topic: World War One Made British Eats Bad

Sheridan

Where Ft. Reno had been.

C Club Fights, Natrona County High School, April 1...

C Club Fights, Natrona County High School, April 1...:    It seems hard to believe it now, but Natrona...

Old Picture of the Day: Blacksmith Shop

Neat item from Old Picture of the Day, with interesting commentary as well:

Old Picture of the Day: Blacksmith Shop: Today's picture was taken in 1940, and it shows a blacksmith shop. This would have been a time that was pretty much the end of the era...

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Plain horse, plains, and plain table

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Plain horse, plains, and plain table

The packing geologist

U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Government hunters

Society of the Military Horse • View topic - Government hunters

When you could hunt in the park.

U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library

U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library

U.S. Geological Survey Photographic Library

Reviewing the Troops

Victory In Europe Day

1945 Celebrations break out in the Western World, including one in Halifax that results in a two day riot.

From today's SMH history thread.

Anyone have any interesting events they can relate about what happened in their towns on this day in 1945?

Teepee Poles, Laramie Range

Teepee Poles, Laramie Range: These photographs depict a teepee, sans cover, in the Laramie Range. Teepee poles can last in place for eons, and typically the users...

National Guard Armory, Yale Oklahoma

National Guard Armory, Yale Oklahoma

I recently was in Yale, Oklahoma, where I took the following photographs:



This Armory was built in 1936.  Nearby Stillwell apparently has a very similar armory built in 1937.  Stillwell is only about 15 miles away.

Today, in Wyoming, we live in an era in which armories are being closed down.  Since I got out of the National Guard in 1987, Guard armories in Rawlins, Wheatland, Riverton and Thermopolis have been shut down. The Guard is smaller now than it was then, but all these towns had active armories prior to WWII, when the Guard was much smaller.  Indeed, the 115th Cavalry Regiment actually had a small section that drilled in Glenrock, which is a very small town, which never had an armory.

Transportation was, of course, much more difficult prior to WWII, but it hadn't really dawned on me how many small armories there were until I saw this one.  Newcastle in our state has a little tiny one, where today it has no Guard unit.  What a different Guard culture this must have created.  The Guard today drills once a month, for a weekend, and for two to three full weeks a year. Back then, the annual AT was just as long, but they drilled one night per week.  With armories like this being all over, the units themselves must often have been really tiny.

That's both good and bad, I suppose.  I can envision quite a few reasons why this would be less than ideal, and a few why it would have been good. But what a different situation it must have been, compared to today.

University Women’s Club Marks 100 Years with Fashion Show

University Women’s Club Marks 100 Years with Fashion Show