Remembering the Iron Ride

How did they ride 1,900 miles on iron framed, one-speed bicycles, while carrying 50 pounds of ammunition, 120 pounds of supplies and 10-pound rifles?

Frank Canton, Western Bad Man and Human Being

This man, this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde real life character, led a very human life full of love, hate, grief and fear with only short glimpses of true happiness.

Finding the Forgotten Senator

Some might think that writing a historical book is a boring process of sifting through archives, but in the case of “The Forgotten Senator” this was nothing short of an adventure that led to an unusual format for the book.

Wyoming’s Bony Back Pocket

From territorial times through early statehood, the area was hard to get to and attracted ne’er do wells like the Wild Bunch.

The Lester Hunt Lesson

This 70th anniversary of Senator Lester Callaway Hunt’s death is an historic opportunity for us to remember the lessons of his life and death and a nation divided.

From Juneteenth to the 4th of July—A Time to Get Inspired and Be Involved!

Civic Season encourages everyone to better understand our past and inspires us to shape our future. Each generation has strived to bring our founding ideals of freedom, equality, justice, and opportunity to life. Now, it is our turn!

France and the Wild West

A large part of Wyoming used to be French territory until the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. You can still see the borders while driving through the Red Desert at the Tri-territory historic site and the influence of the French can still be felt in place names around the state.

A Frontier Surveyor

Richards’s diaries vividly describe a time long past, when manual labor and horse and mule power were the only means of accomplishing many tasks. How did William find the time and energy to keep a diary? Modern readers would do well to value his legacy, especially as we use power tools, drive around, correspond by text or email and otherwise benefit from life in the 21st century.

Wyoming Poets Laureate

Barbara Smith of Rock Springs, Wyoming’s current poet laureate, a longtime teacher and writer of poems, essays and stories, has held the laureate position—poet lariat, people sometimes call it in Wyoming—only since last fall.

Wyoming Flyboys in “Masters of the Air”

Wyoming fans of Masters of the Air, a new television series on Apple TV+ about U.S. Army Air Force combat over Europe in World War II, may have been surprised in the first episode to hear Austin Butler’s character, Gale Cleven, introduce himself as being from Casper. He points to Casper on a map. In a later episode, a second Wyoming character shows up, George Niethammer, played by Josh Dylan. Both men in fact were students at the University of Wyoming and college friends before the war.