Old Picture of the Day: More Gas Lines

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Old Picture of the Day: Gas Lines

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Old Picture of the Day: Migrant Labor Camp

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Old Picture of the Day: Travel Trailer

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Old Picture of the Day: Florida Trailer

Old Picture of the Day: Florida Trailer: This is another trailer park in Florida. This picture was taken in 1937. These trailers look like they are being used as residences and n...

Old Picture of the Day: Trailer Life

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The Joy of Field Rations: Bread of the Poilu, Part II

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Camp Douglas Prisoner of War Camp

Coal in the ICU

 

 Mine haul truck on display in Wright Wyoming.

Wyoming has had a long association with coal. The first coal mines in the state date back to the Union Pacific Railroad which, coming through as it did during the 1860s, needed sources of coal to fuel its trains.  Mining near the railroad started contemporaneously with the laying down of the tracks.

Coal's been in ill health for quite awhile, and it's been suffering of late along with petroleum oil.  More than oil really.  This makes a big difference to the state, as the state is funded on mineral severance taxes which have accordingly been declining.  And it makes a big difference to coal mining towns, like Gillette.  And, of course, the decline in coal fuels some delusional thinking in which "if only" the Federal government wasn't doing this or that, the market would recover.

Well, in today's Tribune, there's a double whammy for coal.

First, Peabody, the legendary coal mining concern, is laying off 250 people in Gillette from a corporate office its closing there. That's a significant thing for Peabody to do, as the area features a number of huge coal mines, albeit ones that have been suffering lately.  For an outfit with a history that is coal to signal that it's giving up on its local office is not only a personal disaster for the people who worked there, it's a huge signal of what going on in coal.

If that signal wasn't clear enough, also in today's paper we learn that Rocky Mountain Power, a large regional electrical generation company, has determined to switch away from coal over the next couple of decades. For a power company centered in a coal producing region that owns many coal fired power plants, and its own mines, that's a huge decision.  It will be going to alternative means of generation, such as wind.  It's announcement wasn't that it's "supplementing", or something, its coal fired plants with alternative means of generation, but that it actually anticipates replacing them.  That's a pretty stunning position assuming it was accurately reported, for a regional power generator.

This would seem to be a pretty clear indicator that coal's in a long term decline.  And with that, so are the state's revenues.  It's not as if coal is going to disappear, but it does seem to be slowly reducing in significance with no likely reversal of that trend in sight.  And that reduction in significance has been fairly dramatic and observable.

The expansion of coal mines into the Powder River Basin is something that really came on during my lifetime, and it built Gillette into what it currently is.  The decline will likely occur over the rest of my life time, but that it would become so evident, while not really a surprise, is fairly dramatic. 

I should note that it's hard to write something like this and not sound as if you are coming off as "anti coal".  In reality, however, I haven't said anything of the sort. When I was a geology student, eons ago, my specialty was in coal, simply because it seemed stable while petroleum was in decline.  But I was wrong about that stability, and the changes we now see are ones that I've been predicting for some time.  Being right about a trend tends to be confused with being partisan in a debate, but it isn't.

 

Geology classroom, University of Wyoming, 1986.

Lex Anteinternet: "This land is my land, but shouldn't be your land"...

 

 Grass Creek Oilfield in the early days.  At the time of this photo, oil entrants could still patent their claims, in the same way that mining claims could be patented, and indeed as "placer oil claims".

The incredibly bad idea that is circulating on both the Congressional level and the local legislative level that we spoke about here, (and elsewhere):

Lex Anteinternet: "This land is my land, but shouldn't be your land"...: This land is your land This land is my land From California to the New York island; From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters ...

turns out to have even seeped down to the county level.

We learn in today's Star Tribune that, in spite of the fact that the majority of Wyomingites oppose the concept, Natrona County is one of four Wyoming counties that have sent money to an entity called the American Lands Council, headquartered in Utah, backing this bad idea.  Big Horn, Lincoln, and Weston also have.  Two other counties, Teton and Albany, have gone on record opposing it, and a third, the heavily mining district of Sweetwater County, earlier sent a resolution to the Legislature opposing it.

An interesting thing about this is that it would seem to reflect an ancient split in Wyoming's politics.  At least two of these counties, Natrona and Sweetwater, have traditionally been dominated by the extractive industries in terms of their economies, but politically Sweetwater has traditionally been dominated by the rank and file of the mining industry, i.e., the miners.  In the 1932 Presidential election a majority of Sweetwater County votes went to the Socialist candidate that year, and the county has tended to be fairly Democratic up until very recently (and perhaps remains somewhat old school Democrat today).  Natrona, which is the local petroleum industry center, together with Fremont County (whose local GOP, the only real party there following the demise of the Democratic Party in Wyoming) at this point in time feature politics which tend to reflect the views of the industry itself, although the influence of mining in Fremont County meant that it was actually a conservative Democratic county up until some point in the late 1980s, when mining there shut down and the national Democratic Party began increasingly to loose its conservative wing.  

Note, I'm not arguing about this, merely noting that it tends to be the case.  History and reality are what they are, so there's no point in arguing about this.  Locally, however, the average citizen in Natrona County would most likely be very much against this view, and occasionally the county's sportsmen have really risen up when provoked. This happened in the early 1990s, when that was seen statewide in an effort to privatize wildlife in the state, and it also happened in reaction to the earlier Sagebrush Rebellion, which had very little sympathy in the towns and cities.  Indeed, for that matter, the rank and file of the petroleum industry, i.e., the guys on the rigs, if they are local (and often if they are not) are outdoorsmen themselves and aren't really keen on anything that might disrupt that.

One additional thing I should note is that the last time this sort of idea went around it was really spearheaded by the ranching industry.  No longer.  Agriculture really has more reason to be worried about the Federal government and its regulations than anyone else, and last time this movement expressed that. Since then, however, the real threat to agriculture has become increasingly clear, and that's the sale of ranch land to developers, often out of state, and to very well monied out of state interests.  This has caused local ranchers to no longer really conceive of the Federal government as a threat and it further has slowly started to recognize that keeping Federal lands in Federal hands also keeps that land in local ranching hands as well. So, this time, we don't see any angry ranchers in the mix.  What sportsmen have long dreamed of, an alliance of sportsmen, conservationist, and agriculture has actually occurred, although in the Taylor Grazing Act era, it took nearly 80 years for it to become a reality.

Anyhow, this story is particularly interesting in terms of Natrona County, as at the same time that the commissioners voted in favor of backing this concept, reflecting the view that what's good for the local industry is good for the county, the county has supposedly been undergoing a major demographic and economic shift which would, in the relatively short term, make that industry much less significant.  Indeed, the county is boosting its natural (i.e, sporting and wild) attributes as part of this, which would mean that the residents who are attracted to this county now, as the oil industry goes into a slump, would tend to not be particularly sympathetic with it.  Acts like this are therefore likely, in very short order, to be dimly viewed, and the politicians who support them likewise dimly viewed.  Something local politicians never seem to be able to grasp is that encouraging new industries, and new residents, means the importation of new political ideas, and those ideas are often totally opposite of their own. As a rule, new residents to Natrona County aren't likely to be from Niobrara County, and are more likely to be from the Napa Valley.  Whether this is good or bad can be debated, but a person can't really simultaneously back the county as a good place to live due to its natural attributes while also backing an idea that would possibly imperil them, and then have the people you induced to move look at you charitably.

Indeed, one of the original drafters of the act that passed the State Legislature to study transferring management of the lands did not specifically mention it in his post legislative success sheet.  That he'd omit it should not be regarded as an accident.  He's from this county, and he's no doubt already gotten an unhappy earful from sportsmen and conservationist.  He's likely to keep getting one, in spite of not mentioning this in his recent sheet.

Now, I'm not seeking to pick on the oil industry here, and the national industry didn't ask for this at all and is probably regarding it as absurdly naive. The local industry hasn't openly supported it.  So this tends to be a bill backed by the locally naive, who have so poorly thought this all out that should it pass, in the future they'll look very poor indeed.  But they may look very poor in the short term as well. With Natrona County changing its economy rapidly, Sweetwater County returning to its traditional politics, and Fremont County, where one of the major backers resides, is involved in a huge struggle with the Democratic Wind River Reservation which may shrink the practical impact of the county politically.  Riding the crest of this waive may end up getting some of the riders drowned. That tended to be the case a couple of decades ago, the last time this happened.

And if they do drown, perhaps its somewhat deserved.  One of the penalties for riding the waive of trends is not being able to recognize the swell behind them.  And one of the penalties for failing to have learned history is not grasping when something fundamental has changed. The Taylor Grazing Act brought in an 80 year history of slight antagonism between agriculture and conservationist in this state, or perhaps more accurately between ranchers and townsfolk, over the public land.  But that struggle has now really ended.  The state was built by agriculture, but it hasn't done much to assist and support it over the years, and various counties, including Natrona County, certainly have not.  The petroleum and mining industries have been the heavy employers, but they tend not to be local and are buffeted by the swings of the international economy.  The political swing to the right nationally and locally in recent years didn't really reflect much of a change on many key local issues, and all politics is local.  The Democratic Party in Wyoming may not be dead, but it's a mere shawdow of its former self, but those who looked to middle of the road Republicans and Democrats for protection of public lands are still there, but are seemingly being ignored.  Last time that happened, they rose up and slapped the politicians who forgot that.

Monday at the bar: Courthouses of the West: Sheridan County Wyoming Courthouse, Sheridan Wyomi...

Courthouses of the West: Sheridan County Wyoming Courthouse, Sheridan Wyomi...:

Lex Anteinternet: UW Foundation intent on cashing-in gift of Y Cross...

This past week the respective Wyoming and Colorado university benefactors (or actually the Colorado one, in what I read) of this substantial ranch land gift indicated that, having prevailed in their lawsuit with the donor, and having failed to reach an accommodation that would have otherwise helped preserved the donor's intent, announced that it's going up for sale.

Lex Anteinternet: UW Foundation intent on cashing-in gift of Y Cross...: UW Foundation intent on cashing-in gift of Y Cross ranch We've commented on this before , but an ongoing "boo hiss" is in or...

Well, once again, but Boo Hiss.

And people wonder why the Wyoming average citizen and sporting public is skeptical about the state acquiring the Federal domain.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: First Methodist (First Methodist Episcopal), Salt Lake City, Utah.

Churches of the West: First Methodist (First Methodist Episcopal), Salt ...:

William G. McAdoo, Former Secretary of the Treasury – 1919

William G. McAdoo, Former Secretary of the Treasury – 1919

From when 78s were a means of mass communication. Really weird to think of people buying or recording a political speech such as this, let alone one by somebody who was the "former Secretary of the Treasury".

Visiting the battlefield

 

 "Last Stand Hill", Little Big Horn.

You can't understand a battlefield, really, unless you've visited it. You certainly can't as a writer, anyhow.

Now that's a dispiritiing thing for a writer to admit, but it's quite true.  You just can't.  Yet some try to do it.

 

 Fetterman Fight battleground.

Relatively recently work took me on a trip which put me within easy driving range of a very famous Civil War battlefield.  I'd read about it many times before, but I'd never seen it.  Quite a shock to actually see the field, it wasn't really what I'd expected, even after having read the books, seen it depicted in film, and having reviewed the maps many times.  Seeing, I realized what a desperate confusing affair it was, and what the overall conditions must have been like.

Likewise, there's several Indian Wars battlefields I'm quite familiar with, and several of those are repeatedly written about, not always very intelligently.  The prime example of that would be the Battle of the Little Big Horn, which is oddly subject to a lot of discussion about "why did this happen?".  Well, visit the battlefield and what happened is pretty obvious.

Today In Wyoming's History: The Casper Star Tribune decides to put out a book ...

Today In Wyoming's History: The Casper Star Tribune decides to put out a book ...: The Casper Star Tribune is collection pre 1940s photographs for a book on Casper's history up through 1939 that it's putting out.  I...

An example of your public lands

 

The Trapper's Route landing, a location on Bureau of Land Management property.

This land of multiple use is leased for grazing, and is near a trail still used by cattlemen. The area is frequented by hunters and fishermen, and there are camping spots not far off.

Here, however, is a boat landing, used extensively by fishermen on this blue ribbon trout stream.

Federal land. The land that some in Wyoming want to take away from the Federal government and have the state administer.  Or even own.  There's no reason that to believe the state could do any better. 

Monday at the Bar: Courthouses of the West: Sheridan County Drug Court, Sheridan Wyoming

Courthouses of the West: Sheridan County Drug Court, Sheridan Wyoming:

This court is now the "drug court", but it was pretty clearly an early courthouse in Sheridan that was preserved and later converted t this use. As the existing courthouse in Sheridan is quite old, my guess that this one doesn't predate the other (maybe) but that it might have served some other court rather than the district court.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: St. Mark's Episocopal Cathedral, Salt Lake City Ut...

Churches of the West: St. Mark's Episocopal Cathedral, Salt Lake City Ut...: \

Movies In History: Band of Brothers

Band of Brothers

Before reading this entry, a person probably ought to read the entry for Saving Private Ryan.  This film isn't revolutionary in being highly materially accurate, as it followed in the wake of Saving Private Ryan which was revolutionary in those regards. Still, this movie not only met the standard (which isn't surprising given the involvement of the same people) but it mastered them. This includes odd material details, such as German horse usage, which is typically omitted from World War Two movies.

The film is of course based on the work of straight history by Ambrose, and it covers it very well, even including some things that were omitted in the book.  It undoubtedly stands as the most accurate single work on World War Two in Europe by leagues, and is a monument to both the American Army of World War Two and to this genera of film.  If a person was to see only one movie about the war in Europe (which would be a mistake), and if you wanted that movie to depict an American topic, this would be it.  And if a person is doing a study of films on the war that portray it accurately, this is a must see.

Postcript

I just noted in my review of Battleground that I was going to review this, and going back and looking at my earlier entries on "Movies In History", I saw that I already had.

I"m actually  suprised to see how short this entry was, as this is such a major cinematic work. but the summation is a good one. This film surpasses any other in historical accuracy and accuracy of material details.  It's excellent.

Indeed, in thinking about it, it occurs its so excellent that it might slightly skew the field in some ways. Taking one single company of the 101st Airborne, the movie might properly be viewed in context as representative of about any American infantry company of the war.  I think it is generally viewed that way, but the fact that the film portrays paratroopers of the 101st Airborne, and is a true story, has caused a degree of over focus on this particular company in this particular division.  The title said it well, Band of Brothers, but it's important to note that the same could be said of about any single ground combat unit of the US Army during the war, and the fact that this story is focused on this particular unit doesn't mean that this particular unit was truly unique.  As the only film following an American Army infantry unit from training all the way through past the German surrender, the film is not only excellent, but probably best regarded as representative of the entire class of American soldier during the war.

Again, excellent by any measure.