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<title>Daily Cartoon: 6 18 21 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Cartoon: 6 18 21

Bill Sniffin

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

ARLINGTON, Texas – There are not many Sunday afternoons when Wyoming feels like the center of the baseball universe.

Being down here in the big, air-conditioned comfort of the Texas Rangers’ ballpark on Sunday, it sure did.

I am writing after attending a big-league baseball game in Arlington, between Dallas and Fort Worth.

And if you are from Cheyenne, or anywhere in Wyoming for that matter, you would have been proud. It was fun wearing my gold Wyoming Cowboy hat to help celebrate our home-grown hero.

The Rangers celebrated their right fielder with a full-blown promotion with bobblehead dolls, a pregame ceremony, and a nod to a past that feels about as Wyoming as it gets.

The bobbleheads showed Nimmo not just as a ballplayer, but as a bull rider. That’s right. Before he was chasing down fly balls in right field, Nimmo perhaps dreamed of riding bulls.

That little detail tells you just about everything you need to know about the kid.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"First, Bull Riding"}]

He grew up in Cheyenne, where rodeo isn’t a hobby, it’s a way of life.

Like a lot of Wyoming boys, Nimmo probably spent his early years thinking about chutes and corrals, dreaming maybe someday he would also make his name at Cheyenne Frontier Days instead of a Major League ballpark.

He has said in prior interviews that his dream as a kid was to be a professional bull rider.

But along the way, baseball won out — and thank goodness for that, especially if you were in the stands here on Sunday.

The Rangers even had a rodeo clown walking around the stadium celebrating Brandon, rodeo, and Wyoming.

The Rangers honored Nimmo in a way that had to tug at his heart.

They brought his 90-year-old grandfather, Darrel Nimmo, out to throw the ceremonial first pitch. It was a moment that felt genuine and grounded, the kind of thing that cuts through all the noise of modern sports.

You could almost see the story in that one toss, from a Wyoming upbringing to the big leagues in Texas.

Nimmo has become, quietly but surely, Wyoming’s most prominent current Major League Baseball player.

That’s no small thing for a state that doesn’t exactly churn out big leaguers.

When one of ours makes it, we tend to follow closely. And when one of ours thrives, we take a little ownership in that success.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Winning Play"}]

On this day, Nimmo gave folks plenty to cheer about.

Batting in the lineup and patrolling right field, he looked right at home.

He smacked a double, the kind of clean, confident swing that shows why the Rangers believe in him.

Out in the field, he made a couple of outstanding defensive plays, tracking balls, covering ground, doing the little things that don’t always make highlights but win ballgames.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"And win they did."}]

The Rangers rolled to a 10-0 victory over Cleveland, and while it was a total team effort, Nimmo was right in the middle of it.

It is not hard to see why the Rangers have embraced him. He plays the game the right way, no flash for the sake of flash. Just solid, dependable baseball.

There is a workmanlike quality to him that feels very Wyoming.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"He Earned It"}]

You get the sense he would be just as comfortable fixing fence or loading hay as he is standing in the batter’s box in front of 34,851 people.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"That background matters."}]

Nimmo’s journey was not the fast track. Although by Wyoming standards he was a standout, he was not a can’t-miss, five-star phenom who had the baseball world at his feet from Day One.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"He had to earn it."}]

From East High School in Cheyenne, then grinding his way through the minor leagues, he built his career the hard way.

 overall by the New York Mets in 2011, which was highest in Cowboy State history. Now 33, he was called up to the big in 2016 and played 10 years with the Mets before joining the Rangers this season.

His parents, Ron and Patti Nimmo of Cheyenne, always believed in Brandon.

They even built a heated and insulated indoor batting cage in their barn for him to practice hitting during those long Wyoming winters.

Those who watched him early remember a kid who competed in everything he did. Baseball or whatever was in front of him, he was all in. That kind of mindset doesn’t go away. It just gets refined.

Now here he is, wearing a Rangers uniform and getting his own bobblehead night.

The scene at the ballpark had a little bit of everything.

It was festive and loud, with kids clutching their Nimmo bobbleheads like treasures. The food was good, the crowd was lively, and there was that sense you get on a perfect baseball day when everything just clicks.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Not everything, of course."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Rangers Crowd Was Excited"}]

At one point, a foul ball found its way into the stands a few rows below us and struck a young fan.

It looked serious, maybe even a broken arm, as attendants quickly moved in and escorted the child out. It was a sobering reminder that even on a day of celebration, the game can turn in an instant.

But the crowd recovered and the energy returned. This day still belonged to Nimmo.

For fans back in Wyoming, this is the kind of story you hold onto. A kid from Cheyenne who once may have dreamed of riding bulls now making a name for himself in Major League Baseball.

His bobblehead doll bridged two worlds: rodeo and baseball, small-town roots and big-league lights.

And he hasn’t forgotten where he came from.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"That might be the most important part."}]

In an era where athletes can sometimes feel distant, Nimmo still carries Wyoming with him. You can see it in the way he plays, in the way he handles himself, and in moments like today when his family is front and center.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Grandpa Threw Out First Pitch"}]

His grandpa throwing out that first pitch wasn’t just a ceremonial act. It was a symbol of family, of roots, and of the long road from Cheyenne to Arlington.

If you were sitting here on this night, you would have felt it. And if you are reading this back home in Wyoming, you should feel it too.

Because Brandon Nimmo isn’t just playing for the Texas Rangers, he’s playing for all of Wyoming.

Bill Sniffin can be reached at: Bill@CowboyStateDaily.com

Brandon Nimmo Getty Images 2280365562 6 8 26

<title>Texas Rangers Salute Wyoming’s Brandon Nimmo With His Own Bobblehead Night | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wyoming's own Brandon Nimmo was honored by the Texas Rangers on Sunday with his own bobblehead night. Brandon's 90-year-old grandpa threw out the first pitch. "If you're from Wyoming, you would have been proud," writes Bill Sniffin, who attended the game.

Texas Rangers Salute Wyoming’s Brandon Nimmo With His Own Bobblehead Night

Mac Watson

Daily Video News

It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Monday, June 8th.  I’m Mac Watson

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Our most-read story over the weekend is a two-part series from features reporter Jen Kocher on a cold case in Rawlins from 1974. More than 50 years after four young girls vanished in what has become known as the 'Rawlins Rodeo Murders,’ the case remains unsolved. Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that one name kept coming up.

“In 1974 four girls disappeared, and their ages range from 10 to 19. Two girls were local Rawlins girls, and the other two were visiting family and friends. One was visiting from South Dakota, and one was visiting from Red Lodge, Montana. There's no link between the four girls. One of the predominant suspects was a long-haul trucker named Royal Russell Long, and in my conversations with people, his name popped up a lot, and he was considered a suspect, but he wasn't the only suspect, and authorities have not released where the names of those suspects are, where they are currently within the investigation, but it is ongoing.”

Royal Russell Long was actually arrested for kidnapping two teenage girls and taking them home to his house in Evansville, and sexually assaulting them. Long ultimately served time in a Wyoming prison for kidnapping and assault, dying of a heart attack in 1993 at the age of 58. He was never officially named as a suspect in the Rawlins Rodeo Murders. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"–"}]

To clear the way for a Montana logging project, the Trump administration wants to redefine secure grizzly habitat from 2,500 acres to 1 acre. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that opponents say it will get bears killed but a retired Wyoming forester says logging is good for grizzlies.

“Some people really strongly oppose that, and say that that's just not enough protected or undisturbed habitat for bears, and also that putting roads into those areas can make it easier for people who want to illegally shoot bears to do so. But I also talked to a retired forester, and he told me that, that really, in a lot of ways, bears can thrive in areas that have been logged, because it might promote more of a rodent population, it might promote the growth of berry bushes and things that bears like to eat.”

At issue is the proposed Larabee Hat project in Powell County, Montana; between the Continental Divide headwaters of the Little Blackfoot River and Highway 12 near the town of Elliston. Over the next 15 to 20 years, the project would entail building 16.8 miles of new roads and 17,696 acres of logging.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"–  "}]

A woman who has made it her mission to document the last remaining pay phones in Yellowstone has bad news. The last working pay phone in the park appears to be dead. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the phone was still working last summer but when photographer Kim Bird checked it days ago, there was no dial tone.

“The last one that people knew of that was still connected anywhere was at the Norris campground, which has been closed since the pandemic, and somebody went out there recently, said they picked up the phone and didn't hear a dial tone, so that's pretty conclusive evidence that that pay phone is defunct, which makes sense because the Norris Campground itself is defunct, and the park doesn't have any - it's the park hasn't expressed any interest or desire to reopen that campground anytime soon. It's possible it may never reopen, so it makes sense that the only paid phone there would no longer be working as well.”

 in modern society, but they still had an important place in remote areas like Yellowstone. Still, nothing lasts forever.

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Counterfeit $100 bills are passing throughout Wyoming and store clerks say iodine counterfeit detector pens won't detect the fake bills. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that one store manager says “The counterfeit pens are garbage.” 

“It was printed on real money paper, they used a dot, like $1 bill, bleached it out, and then printed a 100 on top of it, and so those normal counterfeiting pins aren't going to detect that, and the way those work, they have iodine in them, and when iodine contacts with wood pulp that you know the common ordinary everyday paper is made out of, it'll fade, it'll kind of turn brown, and so if the ink stays black, it, you know, it's not common everyday wood pulp paper, right.”

According to the Federal Reserve, counterfeit paper currency costs the U.S. public and organizations between $30 million and $200 million in actual circulation at any given time. However, when taking into account the broader counterfeit goods industry (such as fake designer clothes, electronics, and pirated merchandise), the total economic loss to U.S. businesses exceeds $220 billion annually.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"– "}]

I’ll have more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.

Cowboy State Daily News continues now….

A Kemmerer couple is on medical leave taking care of a newborn and their 7-year-old son who has a rare genetic condition that took his eyesight. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingebeck reports that all the little boy wanted to do was go hunting this year, instead he's fighting for his life.

“There's a seven year old from Evanston that his parents noticed that he was having some issues. And they thought they were dealing with ADHD. They send them to school the next day, and they get a call that he was having a problem navigating stairs. So, their pediatrician told him to take him to the EED in our emergency department in Salt Lake City at the Children's Hospital there. They did that, and  testing showed that he had this rare genetic disease that basically, as it takes over the sheath around nerves in his brain, and his brain can't communicate with the rest of the body like it should, and so now he's in the hospital.”

Christopher Culler, 38, and wife Bailey Bowen, 30, are now on a mission that has them on family leave from their jobs at Rocky Mountain Power and praying for a boy who seemed normal and active until a little more than a year ago.

A family in Laramie County was trying to fix their well when they discovered a half-buried cannonball in their yard. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that  after being told it was non-explosive by a bomb squad, the mother decided to give it away, much to the dismay of her son.

“A lot of people think of cannonballs as being just solid objects, solid metal objects, and that's not untrue. But a lot of cannonballs during the Civil War-era did have explosives and black powder in them, and they had complex triggers that were designed to be waterproof, so in theory you could find a cannonball that was triggered to explode, and it still could explode. So, when this Laramie County family found a cannonball as they were trying to fix their well, they did what they needed to do. They contacted the Laramie County Sheriff's Office, who sent their bomb disposal team out there to evaluate it, and they ultimately determined that there was nothing explosive about it. It was just a giant metal ball in the middle of nowhere.”

Whenever there’s a suspicious and possibly explosive item discovered, law enforcement agencies don’t take any chances.  They deploy whatever and whoever’s needed to assess the situation and safely dispose of the object, whether it’s 

an unexpectedly excavated training device

“Outriding the Devil,” is the title of a Wyoming-made film that shows the brutal side of “real” rodeo. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that the new film earned major praise from national outlets like Sports Illustrated. 

“This is the Angela Ganter story. Angela Ganter had a stunning career, and then she ran into a cancer diagnosis, stage-four breast cancer. The doctors told her, "Hey, we're sorry, you know, but we don't think you're going to live, much less ride in the rodeos ever again. But she didn't give up. The reason for the film's name ‘Outride the Devil,’ the kind of chemotherapy they gave her is called the Red Devil, because it's so hard on your body. She fought her way back from death's door to eventually another championship barrel race in Canada, Calgary, so you know it's a great comeback story.”

The film, directed by Raen LeVell, has enjoyed a multi-week run as the No. 1-ranked Western documentary on IMDb.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"—"}]

When Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak wanted a new design for the newest SUV in the fleet, he asked a local artist to create a “Clint Eastwood High Plains Drifter” look. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that the sheriff says he’s received nothing but compliments on the new wrap. 

“The rap was designed by artist Jordan Dean. He's also the one who painted the wild horses on the city of Cheyenne's water tanks. Kozak really wanted something that was going to draw the eye. This is a recruiting vehicle, so they pulled out all the stops. They've got video games in the backseat for kids to play. They can jump in the cruiser and check out the coolest police car, in Kozak’s words, around town. Something that was really meant to get people to check it out and help recruit officers.”

The cruiser's first major public appearance in Cheyenne was Saturday during a downtown summer event, where families were able to climb inside, check out the lights and meet members of the sheriff's office.

And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on 

 - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our 

 channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app.  Thanks for watching - I’m Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

News image 6 8 26

<title>Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Monday, June 8, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Monday's headlines include:
* The Rawlins Rodeo Murders
* Worry That Logging OK Will Kill Grizzlies
* RIP: The Last Working Pay Phone In Yellowstone

Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Monday, June 8, 2026

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Jackie Dorothy.

Jackie Dorothy

Bessemer Bend, a true Wyoming ghost town, has been claimed back by nature and alfalfa fields. 

Before its demise, Bessemer was where Wyoming’s oldest cabin was built by desperate fur traders with the Pacific Fur Co. 

Decades later, Bessemer became part of the Oregon, California, Mormon, Pony Express, and Overland trails that all crossed at Red Buttes/Bessemer Bend.

Later, the famous Goose Egg was built on the spot. This extravagant stone mansion is said by some say to have inspired scenes in Owen Wister’s “The Virginian.” 

Today, Bessemer Bend is a broad loop of the North Platte River southwest of Casper that shows no signs of the failed city. 

The landscape is dominated by irrigated fields, ranchland, cottonwoods along the river, and the red hills and buttes that explorers and Oregon Trail emigrants knew as Red Buttes. 

The town of Bessemer, now long gone, had gained a reputation as the “Queen City of the Plains.” Her founders believed that their city would one day be the grandest in Wyoming. 

Their hopes were dashed by a rigged election and the railroad. 

Ultimately, Casper “stole” the honor from them when it became the seat of Natrona County instead and, one by one, the residents of Bessemer hauled their homes over to Casper.  

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Fur Traders "}]

Bessemer first appeared in written record in the 1812 diary of fur trader Robert Stuart. 

Stuart had been hired in 1810 by John Jacob Astor to work for the Pacific Fur Co. and was on the company ship, the Tonquin, when he became marooned at Fort Astoria.  

The crew had sailed first to the Falkland Islands and then around Cape Horn and up the western coast of North America, reaching what is now Astoria, Oregon in May 1811. There, they established Fort Astoria.

When the crew sailed farther north, to Vancouver Island, an interaction with Native Americans resulted in many deaths and the destruction of the ship. 

It was left to Stuart and a small group of men to return eastward overland. The party left Astoria on June 29, 1812, bound for St. Louis. With Stuart were Ramsay Crooks, John Day, Benjamin Jones, François LeClerc, Robert McClellan, and André Vallé.

They started up the Columbia River in canoes. Before they were out many days,  John Day became “demented" and was sent back to Astoria in the care of some friendly Indians. 

In a few days, they came across some men who had been separated from another party and gave them provisions. 

A man named Miller joined Stuart in Day's place according to Molker. 

The group headed east, through what is now Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming, traveling on what would later become the Oregon Trail. 

Highlights of their journey that Stuart detailed in his diary included paddling down the Snake River, crossing Teton Pass and seeing Jackson Hole, and discovering the South Pass.

By the time they reached Bessemer, the seven men were starving and weak, desperate to rest. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Refuge"}]

Described as “footsore, hungry, and utterly weary,” fur trader Robert Stuart wrote in his diary that he and his six companions had been following a river (the North Platte) for two days but had to find a place to stop and recuperate. 

The cabin they were soon to build would become the oldest recorded cabin in Wyoming. 

It was November 1812 when Stuart described how they had found a low point of land on a bend in the river and had selected it for their winter camp. 

There were cottonwoods and willows there for building materials and firewood and the area had plenty of wildlife to sustain them. 

The men had already seen the Grand Canyon and discovered the passage through South Pass. They had their horses stolen by the Crow and were on foot. 

Weakened by their trek, they had started missing shots and were starving when they had finally succeeded on killing an injured bull buffalo. 

Though tempted to eat the meat raw, Stuart had fed the men broth to regain their strength. 

Stuart describes their cabin at Bessemer as eight feet wide and 18 feet long. The walls were six feet high and the whole was covered with buffalo skins. 

The fireplace was in the center and the smoke found its way out through a hole in the roof.

“As the slaughter of so many buffaloes had provided the party with beef for the winter, in case they met with no further supply, they now set to work, heart and hand, to build a comfortable wigwam,” Stuart wrote. “In a little while, the woody promontory rang with the unwonted sound of the axe.”

He said that by the second evening, the cabin was complete. 

They rested and recuperated from the exertion and hunger they had suffered. They had been in their little cabin for five weeks when a small band of Arapahoe Indians visited them for a few days. Although the Arapahos did not harm them, Stuart was concerned that they might return in “another mood.” 

He packed up his men and some provisions and moved on toward the east, leaving behind their home on Bessemer Bend. When Stuart’s party arrived at Saint Louis they had shortened the route of Lewis and Clark, had discovered the Sweetwater and North Platte rivers and had discovered the most important gateway through the Rockies, South Pass.

Mary Lou Pence and Lola Homsher in their book, “The Ghost Towns of Wyoming,” said that some pioneers claimed the cabin stood for many years while others said the Indians immediately swooped down and burned it. 

Whichever the case, the cabin has long been gone when the Oregon Trail followed part of the same route first made by the small party of fur traders. 

The Goose Egg, or the Searight House, was built on Bessemer Bend and by 1888, a town had been planned, adopting the name of Bessemer. 

The founders had high hopes of being a metropolis. A sawmill and brick plant were brought in and homes and businesses sprung up quickly. 

When a brewery and liquor house were brought in by Max Jaensch, the residents of Bessemer saw a bright future.

“For as one citizen put it,” Pence and Homsher wrote. “Here the consumption of distilled waters was far above the average in American communities.”

In 1888 to 1889, the town promoters laid out 49 blocks and reserved land for what they hoped would become Wyoming's future capitol building. Bessemer grew quickly and attracted settlers, ranchers, and businesses. 

As Wyoming was preparing for statehood, Bessemer entered the race to become the county seat of the proposed Natrona County.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"However, it was not to be. "}]

According to Pence and Homsher, just as Bessemerites were sitting back “gloating” over the meager 304 pollings cast in Casper as compared to their 667 count, it was announced that some “skullduggery” had been perpetrated. 

The investigators ruled that Bessemer had cheated and had more votes than residents. Their count was thrown out and Casper became the county seat in 1890. 

Residents of Bessemer were still angry when they spoke to historians Pence and Homsher in the 1950s. 

“They say we cheated and voted every man, woman and kid,” one old-timer told Pence and Homsher. “Well, I know one of their men who voted three times. But they don’t tell about that!” 

The following year, the printing press for the Bessemer Journal was seized and moved to Casper to become the Natrona Tribune. 

The railroad selected Casper as the regional rail terminal and the end of Bessemer was official.

Many of the buildings were moved to Casper until only the Goose Egg and a few others remained. Eventually, even the stone mansion was torn down and Bessemer quietly faded into the past. 

“When they said the Goose Egg was no more, you could hear that awesome hush,” Pence and Homsher wrote. “You could almost see Chalkeye and Fingers and Honey Wiggin and Baldy and Missou wipe away a tear.”

Bessemer is now returned to pasture and agricultural land. However, the memory of the ghost town and the first cabin from 1812 remain. 

“You can rip a house to pieces, ’til it ain’t no more, but you can’t tear up the things that happened there,” an old-timer told Pence and Homsher in remembrance of his beloved Bessemer and the people that once lived there.

Bessemer Bend and inset 6 7 26

<title>Wyoming History: Once A Bustling City On Oregon Trail, Bessemer Now A Ghost Town | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Bessemer Bend, now peaceful ranchland, was once a stop on the Oregon Trail and a bustling city known as the “Queen City of the Plains.” Now it’s a true Wyoming ghost town that disappeared when Casper was picked as the county seat. 

Wyoming History: Once A Bustling City On Oregon Trail, Bessemer Now A Ghost Town

You Still Here

I-75 in Chattanooga just turned into an unscheduled fireworks show! A truck full of fireworks caught fire on the freeway and this guy gives a play-by-play.....

Bonus vid 1 6 8 26 no play

<title>Bonus Video 1: Monday, June 8, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Bonus Video 1: Monday, June 8, 2026

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

After 64 years, Casper’s real-life version of the “Little Engine That Could” will return to its hometown to help put the spotlight on the city’s railroad and refinery legacy.

Fort Caspar Museum has announced that the muscular little 0-4-0 steam locomotive known as “Standard Oil No. 1” that once chugged along the miles of rails at the Standard Oil Refinery starting in 1920 will soon be on display at the museum.

In Colorado, they renamed the machine “Lulu Belle” for a time.

Colorado Railroad Museum Executive Director Paul Hammond said the return of the locomotive comes after the Golden, Colorado, facility re-evaluated its collection and identified items it wanted to get rid of that are not connected to Colorado’s rail past.

“By moving Standard Oil No.1  to the grounds of the Fort Caspar Museum, we will be returning an important piece of Casper’s history and displaying it less than a mile from the center of the refinery where it spent its lengthy career,” he said.

Local historian and Fort Caspar Museum volunteer Con Trumbull has been working with the Colorado Railroad Museum to bring the transfer about, Hammond said.

Trumbull, who has chronicled the state’s rail past and works as a steam locomotive engineer in Nevada, said the acquisition began with a conversation he had with Hammond more than a year ago. 

He said the director was talking about how the locomotive was taking up space that could be better used for Colorado artifacts and needed to “go home” so there could be more Colorado equipment displayed.

As a kid, Trumbull said his grandparents would take him down to the Colorado Railroad Museum when they went down to Denver.

“I’ve always loved trains and loved railroading and that little locomotive hit close to home because it said ‘Casper, Wyoming,’ on it,” he said. “I got to crawl on it as a kid, I got to ring the bell, I got to see it and I always thought that it should come back to Casper.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rail History Void"}]

While many of Wyoming’s towns, including Gillette, Rock Springs, Sheridan, and Douglas have some sort of display featuring a locomotive or caboose paying homage to their railroad past, Casper has never had something to tie to its rail history.

The little 0-4-0 will allow the Fort Caspar Museum to do that, Trumbull said.

Hammond told Cowboy State Daily that when his museum purchased the locomotive in 1962 they used it as a “billboard” to advertise the museum.

“It got dolled up a little bit with paint and was placed on some tracks to attract attention,” he said. “That’s where it picked up a name that it’s had ever since at this museum called the ‘Lulu Belle.’”

After some years, the billboard role became unnecessary and the locomotive was given back its Standard Oil logos and placed as a centerpiece of an area of the museum used for picnicking. 

He said when the museum announced the train was returning to Casper their social media had several comments about people remembering it as a child.

Hammond said with the museum’s reconfiguration and dispersed picnic areas, it meant the timing is right for the engine to find a new home.

The engine was made in 1920 by the American Locomotive Company of Paterson, New Jersey, which was one of the largest manufacturers of steam locomotives at the turn of the past century.

Trumbull said the locomotive was built to last and it worked around the refinery for 42 years before being put up for sale.

“Even though it’s just a small switching engine, it’s still a testament to that engineering prowess and stuff that American railroads were known for,” he said. The Standard Oil Refinery for a time was the largest one in the world and there were a “maze” of tracks throughout the refinery.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hauling Tank Cars"}]

Trumbull said it probably mostly “banged tank cars around” but also would have been used to haul other freight cars bringing in supplies or other materials for the refinery.

More than a century ago, “Standard Oil No. 1” steam locomotive was at work at the company’s Casper oil refinery, but has been gone for 64 years. Now it’s coming back to Casper after decades at a Colorado rail museum.

Daily Cartoon: 6 18 21

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