Lori Van Pelt

Lori Van Pelt is an award-winning poet, fiction and nonfiction writer who has written books and numerous articles on Wyoming and the West. Her books include Dreamers and Schemers: Profiles from Carbon County, Wyoming’s Past. Glendo, Wyoming, High Plains Press, 1999; Capital Characters of Old Cheyenne. Glendo, Wyo.: High Plains Press, 2006, and Amelia Earhart: The Sky’s No Limit. (New York: Forge Books, American Heroes series).
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Lillian Heath: Wyoming’s First Female Physician Packed a Pistol

Lillian Heath, Wyoming’s first woman physician, practiced medicine in and around Rawlins, Wyo., beginning in 1893. As a teenager, she trained with Union Pacific Railroad surgeon Dr. Thomas Maghee, and assisted Maghee and Dr. John Osborne in their post-mortem investigations into the brain of outlaw Big Nose George Parrot. Later she won a medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Keokuk, Iowa, where she specialized in obstetrics. She retired after 15 years of practice, but remained keenly interested in medicine until her death in 1962.

Encyclopedia : January 2, 2013 - 12:03pm

Wyoming’s First State Prison

Wyoming’s first state prison was located in Rawlins, Wyo., and housed inmates for 80 years, beginning in 1901. In 1988, a joint powers board turned the abandoned building into a museum and renamed it the Wyoming Frontier Prison. Visitors today can tour the cells and see the grounds where 13,500 prisoners, including 11 women, served time.

Encyclopedia : February 16, 2012 - 4:57pm

Elk Mountain Hotel and Garden Spot Pavilion

The Historic Elk Mountain Hotel, built in 1905 by John Evans, is located beside the Medicine Bow River, a place where Overland Trail travelers made crossings during their journeys west. In the 1940s and 1950s, the hotel’s Garden Spot Pavilion became well-known for its springy dance floor and for the many big-name musicians like Hank Thompson and Louis Armstrong who played there. The hotel underwent extensive renovation in the early years of this century, and the pavilion was demolished. Guests today enjoy modern conveniences, private baths and a dining room.

Encyclopedia : December 31, 2011 - 12:31am

Hotel Wolf

The Hotel Wolf in downtown Saratoga, Wyo. opened in 1894 as a hostelry and stage stop and continues to serve locals and travelers today.

Encyclopedia : December 26, 2011 - 1:24pm

Carbon County, Wyoming

Beautiful Carbon County in south-central Wyoming was established in 1868 and named for its coal. Since fur-trade days, through coal, copper, cattle, sheep, uranium, coal again, natural gas and wind power, booms, busts, and new booms have dominated the economy. The Union Pacific Railroad has by contrast offered a steadying influence, as has the state prison in Rawlins, the county seat. And the North Platte River, locals say, offers the best trout fishing in the world.

Encyclopedia : April 22, 2011 - 1:46pm

Bill Carlisle, Gentleman Bandit

Bill Carlisle robbed passengers on the Union Pacific Railroad three times in 1916 and once more in 1919, after escaping from the state penitentiary in a box of shirts. In 1936 he was paroled and opened a café and tourist court in Laramie, and later wrote a book about his remarkable life.

Encyclopedia : March 30, 2011 - 4:11pm

William Jefferson Hardin: Wyoming’s first black legislator

Old West adventurer, orator, barber, reported bigamist, and passionate defender of civil rights, Kentucky-born William Jefferson Hardin was Wyoming’s first African-American legislator in its territorial days.

Encyclopedia : March 23, 2011 - 8:21pm

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