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Most everyone in Wyoming and across the nation knows about
the two biggest “firsts” that occurred here – Yellowstone National Park being
the first national park in the world in 1872 and the granting of women the
right to vote in 1869 in Wyoming territory.
But did you
know that our state is also home to a myriad of other firsts? I had a lot of
help from folks from around the state in compiling this list, such as:
• The first
national forest was the Shoshone and the first national monument was Devils
Tower. Just about every Wyomingite knows this too.
• The first
Mountainman-Indian trade fair occurred here. Rocky Mountain Fur trade
Rendezvous was held in 1825 on the banks of the Henrys Fork of the Green River
near present-day McKinnon. It continued
annually through 1840 in that location and at other locations around Wyoming
including Lander and Riverton.
• The first
meeting of Pony Express riders going east and going west occurred near
Farson. Farson is also known as the site
where the infamous Donner Party was formed at the Big Sandy crossing, according
to Dave Hanks of Farson.
• Cheyenne was
the first city to have electric lights west of the Mississippi River. Buffalo
was the first town and it was powered by hydroelectric power.
• The first
all-woman jury that determined the result of a trial occurred in Laramie in
1870. The trial was held in the
legendary Belle of the West saloon, according to author Ron Franscell.
• The first JC
Penney store was started in Kemmerer.
The first Taco John’s start in that chain’s hometown of Cheyenne, says
Pat Schmidt. Perhaps the first bentonite
mine ever was on the Taylor ranch near Rock River in 1888.
• First woman
justice of the peace in the world was Esther Hobart Morris of South Pass City.
She got the job because the previous office-holder, a man, quit in protest of
the legislature passing women’s suffrage.
• Interstate
25 starts at Buffalo, Wyoming, reminds Schmidt. Randy Wagner reminds that the
highest point of the Interstate 80 is in Wyoming and has a statue of Lincoln
there. It was originally built in 1959 and placed at the highest point of
Highway 30.
• Matt
Henderson of Sheridan says Wyoming was the state that had a national
championship basketball team that featured the world’s first jump shot by Kenny
Sailors of the University of Wyoming.
• First polo
field west of the Mississippi says Jim Hicks of Buffalo. Fort Fetterman was
first U. S. outpost abandoned because of pressure by hostile forces.
• Dave Miller,
Riverton, points out the Branson field camp in Sinks Canyon outside of Lander
is the oldest, longest continually running geology field camp in the
country. Wyoming was first place with
in-situ uranium mining in Shirley Basin.
• Phil Roberts
has a bunch of firsts. First licensed engineer in America was Charles Bellamy
who named Lake Marie for his wife, who was the first woman elected to the
Wyoming legislature. First shot fired by
an American in WWI was by Michel Chockie of Rock Springs. First hotel in world
with electric lights in each room was InterOcean Hotel in Cheyenne. First health
care cooperative was Fetterman Hospital Assn. in Converse County in 1885.
• Leslie Blythe of Casper points to
Nellie Tayloe Ross first woman governor in the country and also first woman
director of the U. S. Mint. John Colter
was first white man to visit Wyoming through Yellowstone. First wilderness
areas in USA were conceived in a cabin in Jackson Hole, by pioneer conservationist
Mardie Murie. Also the first wind project built on a reclaimed coal mine,
producing energy both above and below the ground was east of Casper.
• First woman, Louisa Swain,
Laramie, to vote in an election in the country, reminds Ray Hunkins.
• Buffalo Bill of Cody was most
famous person in the world at the end of the 19th century.
• W. Edward Deming who was born in
Powell and graduated from University of Wyoming, invented a system of quality
control in manufacturing that turned the Japanese economy around after WWII and
has been honored the world over for his discoveries.
• First town, Jackson, governed
entirely by women from 1920 to 1921.
• Fort William was first business west
of the Mississippi River in 1834 at the confluence of the Laramie and North
Platte Rivers.
• First state to have a state dinosaur.
First state to have a Code of the West. First County library system was
organized in Laramie County in 1886.
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