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Samuel Western

Samuel Western is a Sheridan-based freelance writer focusing on the economic and demographic history of the West, ethical matters and locavore food issues. He will be teaching an online class at the University of Wyoming for Spring 2012 titled The Economic History of Wyoming. His latest book is titled Solace in Numbers: The Biography of Edward Whitney.

The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920: The law that changed Wyoming’s economic destiny

The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 established the modern system by which oil and coal companies may lease federal land. This system has proven enormously beneficial to Wyoming’s state coffers since it was first enacted nearly 100 years ago. How this all came about is a story of early oil producers looking for a way around a presidential order and a highly contentious Supreme Court case, all with lucrative results for the state of Wyoming—and a stabilizing result for the industry.

Essay : April 28, 2012 - 11:18am

The Wyoming Sheep Business

Wyoming’s sheep business never had the fame or cachet of Wyoming’s cattle business, but at the turn of the last century sheep raising was more widespread and probably more lucrative. Cattlemen, however, reacted violently to sheepmen’s entry onto the public range, and for a time deadly raids by cattlemen on flocks, sheepdogs and sheepherders were chronic. A gradual decline in wool and lamb prices since the 1920s has left only about a twentieth as many sheep on Wyoming ranges now as there were in 1909.

Essay : November 2, 2011 - 12:17pm

The Wyoming Cattle Boom, 1868-1886

Grass was free and profits enormous in the cattle business in Wyoming Territory — for a while. The business dates to the 1850s, but the boom came after the Union Pacific Railroad connected Wyoming ranges to eastern markets. For a time it seemed as if every investor got rich. Finally, a weakening market and the overstocked range could not withstand two years of drought followed by a terrible winter. The big boom busted, following an economic pattern repeated many times since in an economy still based heavily on natural resources.

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Essay : August 31, 2011 - 11:06pm