One More For The Road

A. That is some impressive air they attained. B. What is with that tire???

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"italic"}],"text":"NOTE: No one was injured...."}]

One more for 10 7 24

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>One More For The Road: Monday, October 7, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

One More For The Road: Monday, October 7, 2024

 A. That is some impressive air they attained. B. What is with that tire??? NOTE: No one was injured....

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

Courts

Fourteen months after a man was found in an abandoned red truck in a remote region of the Wind River Indian Reservation with two gunshots in his head, prosecutors have no ongoing, public murder cases in the December 2024 death of Riverton man Rex Lofts.

Lofts, 72, died of what the autopsy report called a homicide with two gunshots in his head around Dec. 2, 2024, but his body 

Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agent Kingston Cole’s investigation affidavit

Cole, DCI Team Leader Brady Patrick, and others investigated the case. The result was a 12-page affidavit by Cole, which Fremont County Chief Deputy Attorney Tim Hancock filed alongside a felony murder charge in Riverton Circuit Court on Oct. 24, 2025 – against Fort Washakie man Jose Gonzalez.

[{"type":"text","text":"Gonzalez wasn’t the only person implicated."}]

Cole’s affidavit, drawing from confidential informant and identified source interviews, alleges that Gonzalez, Luke Evan Engavo Sr. and his son Luke Evan Engavo Jr., Skeeter Engavo, Zackary Witt, and Fabian Tarness were all present and involved when Lofts was shot.

Gonzalez, whose DNA was reportedly found on Lofts’ truck steering wheel and on the dead man’s out-turned pockets, was the only one formally charged – at least as far as the public case file shows – in this case. He was charged with felony murder on that basis: a charge theorizing that he was committing the felony of aggravated burglary, and Lofts died in the process.

[{"type":"text","text":"Hancock dropped that case early last month."}]

“The fact that we have some co-defendants over which we do not have jurisdiction and only one over which we had jurisdiction creates a lot of complications in prosecution,” said Hancock.

[{"type":"text","text":"He declined to go into detail on the jurisdictional challenges."}]

But the way felony-level prosecution on the Wind River Indian Reservation works in general, the federal government through its Wyoming-based U.S. Attorney’s Office would prosecute defendants who are tribal members. And 

Fremont County Attorney’s office would prosecute non-tribal members implicated in crimes on the reservation.

Past court filings for each man list them all as “American Indian,” but call Gonzalez “white.”

As of Monday, Wyoming’s federal court file showed no current charges for any of the suspects.

“The feds are the only ones that have jurisdiction over (Gonzalez’s) codefendants,” said Hancock. “It’s just – it’s a prime example of where jurisdiction gets difficult.”

Hancock added, “They have a different way of doing their prosecutions than we do.”

Fremont County Attorney Micah Wyatt, who shared the phone interview with Hancock on Monday, said the federal U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wyoming “has always been a system where their discretion often outweighs the public’s expectation.”

Wyatt was appointed by the Fremont County Commission when his predecessor left mid-term, but normally the Fremont County Attorney is elected – whereas the top federal prosecutor of each region is appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

DCI had compiled a case and presented it to the Fremont County Attorney’s Office.

The federal U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to say whether DCI did the same for it.

“As you know, I can speak in general terms that cases are brought to us by a variety of law enforcement agencies - federal, tribal, state, and local - for possible prosecutorial consideration following their investigation into a suspected violation of federal law,” said the federal office’s spokeswoman Lori Hogan in a Monday email exchange in which Cowboy State Daily also included U.S. Attorney Darin Smith.

“We consider each case based on the evidence and what can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law,” wrote Hogan. “However, we cannot comment on the existence or lack thereof of any potential investigation or case that is not part of the public court record.”

DCI commander Ryan Cox said he was out sick, and that DCI Director Ronnie Jones, whom Cowboy State Daily also emailed, was out as well.

[{"type":"text","text":"Cox deferred comment to the U.S. Attorney’s Office."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Finding The Truck"}]

Lofts was found dead in the back seat of his red 1998 GMC pickup in a remote area on the Wind River Indian Reservation on April 21, 

– more than four months after his phone reportedly shut off. That was also more than four months after his family wanted to register him as a missing person, and more than three months after authorities agreed to list him as a missing person Jan. 12, 2025, the affidavit says.

The autopsy indicated he was shot twice with what Cole believed was a 

 projectile, and his cause of death was listed as a homicide.

Investigators started visiting with confidential informants that, Cole attested in the affidavit, he’s found to be reliable.

One informant told FBI Special Agent Luke Williamson that Luke Evan Engavo Jr, whom the affidavit calls “E Engavo,” had said Lofts beat up his girlfriend sometime in November 2024.

E Engavo came to give the girlfriend – who was bleeding and bruised – a ride to a reservation parcel cluster that law enforcement and locals known as “The Farm,” says the document.  

One confidential informant described Lofts arriving days later in his red GMC truck at The Farm with Skeeter Engavo in the passenger seat. Skeeter exited the truck and walked downhill, where he met with Zackary Witt, E Engavo and Fabian Tarness, the source account says.

[{"type":"text","text":"Skeeter wanted to “scare” Lofts, the source reportedly said."}]

Witt, E Engavo, Tarness and Skeeter Engavo confronted Lofts after that, says the affidavit.

[{"type":"text","text":"Lofts was still in the driver’s seat of his red pickup."}]

E Engavo opened the driver’s side door and stood between the door and Lofts. Tarness stood behind E Engavo and Skeeter stood behind those two men, the document says.

Lofts pulled what one confidential informant called a “bird gun,” or a low-caliber gun.

Witt drew a gun and emptied the magazine in Lofts’ direction, the affidavit relates from the source interview. Tarness, Skeeter and E Engavo were also downrange when Witt opened fire, the document alleges.

The informant reportedly described Skeeter running for the river, then Witt, Tarness and E Engavo moving Lofts, “who had been shot down while in the front driver’s seat,” to a different location in the truck.

The men took about $90, some jewelry, the bird gun and about three grams of meth from Lofts, the informant reportedly said.

Tarness got into the driver’s seat, while Witt and Engavo got into Witt’s vehicle

The affidavit says Witt and Engavo followed Tarness across the river to the location where Lofts and his red truck were found nearly five months later.

Luke Engavo Sr. was also involved in this scene, according to the account of Lofts’ girlfriend, as rendered in the affidavit. But the elder Engavo reportedly told her that Jose Gonzalez and Skeeter Engavo are the ones that “caused this shit, you know.”

The elder Engavo reportedly said it’s odd that Jose and Skeeter convinced Lofts “into coming up to the house when they knew (E Engavo) was going to beat his ass.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"DNA Swabs"}]

Investigators took DNA swabs from the scene where they found Lofts, and from suspects, says the affidavit.

[{"type":"text","text":"During the DNA investigation Patrick reportedly interviewed Gonzalez."}]

Gonzalez said he’d been in the passenger seat of Lofts’ truck when Lofts arrived at The Farm looking for his girlfriend, the affidavit says.

“I don’t know if Rex was able to pull his gun or not, uh, I know he had one,” Gonzalez reportedly told Patrick. “But all of a sudden the shooting just started and I … rolled out of the truck.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Gonzalez said the elder Engavo blocked him and Lofts into the property."}]

The other men “come flying in and they all jumped out of the vehicles,” Gonzalez said, according to the affidavit. Then Witt “pulled out his gun and tapped it on the window, and then fired a shot to the ground and uhm, and then (Lofts) had his gun down besides him. So I don’t know who shot first or if (Lofts) even got a shot or what.”

Gonzalez said the elder Engavo was there along with E Engavo, Skeeter Engavo, Tarness and Witt, reportedly.

In a separate interview between Patrick and E Engavo, Patrick asked if the men wanted to rob Lofts.

[{"type":"text","text":"No, came E Engavo’s answer, allegedly. They had wanted to scare him.  "}]

“Why’d you wanna scare him?” asked Patrick. “Or why did, why did everybody wanna scare him?”

E Engavo answered, “because he kept putting his hand on my auntie,” the affidavit says. The affidavit had identified E Engavo as Lofts’ girlfriend’s nephew.

Jose A Gonzalez 7 6 26

<title>No Charges From Feds 14 Months After Man Found Dead On Rez | Cowboy State Daily</title>

No Charges From Feds 14 Months After Man Found Dead On Rez

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Public Safety

Cody resident and photographer Laura Redmond had her camera ready for the 2026 Cody Fireworks show. It didn’t disappoint.

A fast-spreading fire that burned throughout the fireworks show proved just as entertaining.

“I was near “The Scout” statue behind the Buffalo Bill Center of the West,” Redmond said. “As soon as the fireworks started, tiny spots immediately started, then more started, and they all merged together.”

The fire sparked by the first fireworks grew throughout the show. By the end, the rockets’ red glare was replaced by an eerie orange glow on the overhanging clouds of smoke.

Redmond and other locals weren’t concerned. International visitors who came to see the fireworks were deeply concerned, she said.

“We all assured them that it happens every year,” Redmond said. “Everybody settled down and watched the firemen do their work. Some people were there watching the firefighters longer for that than they were for watching the fireworks.”

The entire fire was extinguished that night by the Cody Volunteer Fire Department. 

[{"type":"text","text":"There was only one downside for Redmond."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“The flames blew out all my photos,” she said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"American As Apple Pie"}]

Cody wasn’t the only Wyoming community to set itself on fire with fireworks.

Thermopolis’ show also started a small blaze near the fireworks launch site on top of T-Hill, visible to everyone watching the show in the town and parks below.

The Thermopolis Volunteer Fire Department assured residents they had the situation under control after "a fire started by some of the best fireworks (they'd) ever seen." Cowboy State Daily was unable to reach the department for comment by the time of publication. 

Thermopolis Fire Chief Dale Andreen said that it’s “pretty common to get a fire from fireworks. That’s a big reason fireworks are banned everywhere and are outlawed the rest of the year, too.”

He said the fire that started near the town’s launch site Friday wasn’t much at all.

“Just a small patch, just six or eight juniper trees and some sagebrush,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Monday. “Wouldn’t have been about a 10th of an acre, I would say."

Thermopolis resident Debra Davenport was watching the fireworks show from her driveway. She was getting ready to call it a night when the grand finale sparked the fire around 11 p.m.

“They set off a really big sequence that set off the fire right below where they were launched,” Davenport said. “I know they had a lot more fireworks than they usually do.”

Davenport said the fireworks were more widespread across the top of T-Hill, clearly for a larger-than-average show to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It was a lot more than normal,” she said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Banned Or Burned"}]

Douglas, Gillette, Riverton and other communities took proactive measures to prevent fireworks fires. They banned private fireworks and/or canceled their annual shows due to excessively dry landscapes and extreme fire danger.

Meanwhile, small fires were spotted throughout Wyoming leading up to Independence Day and were still burning when the fireworks started.

A section of Pine Bluffs was set on fire before any fireworks started. Meanwhile, a grassfire quickly engulfed a hillside behind the Studio City Mesa movie theater in Casper, threatening several homes.

“Quite frankly, I was surprised there weren't more bans over this holiday weekend,” Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day said. “For as dry as it’s been since last fall, there was a very high chance that any fireworks were going to set something off.”

However, Day is never surprised to hear about fireworks fires around Independence Day. By this point in the summer, it’s usually dry enough for a small thing to spark a potential inferno.

“Fireworks burn so hot that there's always that concern,” he said. “The last time I wasn’t concerned about the fire risk was in 2023. I know it seems like that never happened, but that was one of the wettest years on record.”

Redmond was expecting some flames from Cody’s fireworks. The Cody Volunteer Fire Department expected the same.

“It happens almost every year,” she said. “I feel like the Cody Fire Department is one of the best out there. They had spotters on both sides of the Shoshone River and plenty of personnel in place to make sure everyone stayed safe. They know what they're doing, and they were very prepared for it.”

Davenport, however, had a different view of the spectacle and the fireworks fire in Thermopolis.

“Everyone was concerned about starting a fire before the show, and after so many people in Colorado and Utah have lost everything because of fires, I felt sad and a little disrespectful.”

More than 55 fireworks shows in Colorado were canceled due to fire danger. Utah governor Spencer Cox issued an executive order temporarily banning fireworks statewide in late June, calling it “a matter of life and death.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Worse Before It Gets Better"}]

Now that bombs aren’t bursting in air, one might think the worst fire danger of the season has come and gone. They’d be wrong.

Day and other meteorologists are monitoring “an interesting paradox” that could make July a dynamic month across the western U.S.

“We're going to have really big heat waves, especially in the eastern and northeastern parts of the state, starting this weekend,” Day said. “We're going to be seeing triple digits in the Bighorn Basin, northeastern plains, and out near the Nebraska border.”

It might seem counterintuitive to think triple-digit temperatures could bring a windfall of rain to Wyoming and many other western states. That’s what seems poised to happen, at least potentially, in the latter half of July, Day said.

“This is the paradox,” he said. “The heat wave that's going to develop may ultimately be the kicker, the thing that tips the scale to finally get some subtropical moisture back into the western United States.”

Day said the heat wave will result from a high-pressure ridge moving into the central U.S. That could increase the chances of precipitation across all of Wyoming and beyond.

According to Day, nothing’s guaranteed, but extremely high temperatures in Wyoming could create the exact conditions needed for more moisture.

“When you build the heat in the plains, you pump subtropical moisture out of Mexico and Central America farther north and into the west,” he said. “We may have to go through four or five days of really hot temperatures and very little rain before the better rain chances come in.”

While the heatwave is coming, it’s too distant to say whether it’ll be enough to pump moisture to Wyoming. Regardless, one will only follow the other.

“It's going to get worse before it gets better, but part of it getting worse is going to help initiate the type of pattern we've been waiting for,” Day said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Simple Sparks"}]

One reason Redmond wasn’t concerned about a serious fireworks fire was the staging area. Cody launches its fireworks on the north bank of the Shoshone River, opposite the Cody Stampede Rodeo grounds, in a spot that naturally stops any spread.

“The river is their break on one side, and a road is the break on the other side,” she said. “They only have to watch it from two sides. It was just a very pleasant evening, and they did a good job putting the fireworks on the fires out.”

July and August are usually the worst of Wyoming’s fire season. The real hazards are everyday occurrences, not a weekend of intense pyrotechnics.

“In these circumstances, simple things start fires,” Day said. “It’s a hot muffler on a four-wheeler off-roading for the weekend. It’s a chainsaw cutting firewood. It’s dragging chains behind a trailer and throwing a cigarette butt out the window. Things get started so easily.”

Day didn’t want to “jinx anything,” but his outlook on wetter weather in the second half of July was “more optimistic than I have been this summer, so far.”

“The pattern shows the potential for more frequent chances of thunderstorms that produce that rain that we want,” he said. “That could really help us in the second half of July into the month of August. We might finally see something go our way for a change.”

Fourth fires composite 7 6 26

<title>Fires Break Out In At Least Two Wyoming Towns During July 4 Firework Shows | Cowboy State Daily</title>

At least two Wyoming cities got bonus shows for July 4 when fireworks started wildfires near launch sites. In both Cody and Thermopolis fires began during the shows but citizens weren't concerned. "It happens every year," Cody resident Laura Redmond said.

Fires Break Out In At Least Two Wyoming Towns During July 4 Firework Shows

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily State Government and Politics reporter, Leo Wolfson.

Leo Wolfson For Cowboy State Daily

Outdoors

Looking up at Colorado's Aspen Snowmass Ski Resort, you'll see large, white tarps covering a mysterious mass two to three stories high. No, the circus isn't in town — it's a matter of snow security.

As unusually warm, long fall seasons become more frequent — like 

 — ski areas across the West and around the world are seeking new ways to guarantee they can open on time. 

One solution is pushing together snow left over from the previous winter, storing it in enormous piles, and reusing it the following season.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Harvesting the Snow"}]

Known as "snow harvesting" or "snow farming," the practice is now catching on at resorts across Idaho, Montana, Utah and Colorado. 

By securing snow piles under thermal mats, blankets, tarps or even hay bales, resorts keep their snow in a giant cooler of sorts, shielded from the heat, sun and rain. 

That means they no longer have to anxiously watch the thermometer for temperatures cold enough to make snow, or wait on natural flakes from the sky.

Antti Lauslahti, CEO of the snow-storage company Snow Secure, believes these efforts will follow the same path as snowmaking equipment did in the 1970s. Most mountains were impressed by the technology at the time, he said, but skeptical that anyone actually needed to make snow.

"Then they started to do it for just the early season, and little by little it just took off," he said.

Lauslahti said Big Sky Resort in Montana — a favorite of many northern Wyoming residents — is running a small-scale test of Snow Secure technology to use on its slopes next season. 

Snow Secure makes white polystyrene thermal mats that fold out like an accordion and can stretch as long as a football field while keeping snow insulated, much like the insulation in a house, at near freezing temperatures.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The New Snowmaking"}]

In recent years, warm weather has repeatedly kept ski areas from meeting their traditional opening dates, sometimes pushing openings past Christmas or forcing seasons to be canceled altogether. 

Early season skiing is one of the industry's most profitable stretches, when public enthusiasm runs highest — especially among casual skiers. The Christmas holidays alone can account for 20% of a mountain's annual revenue, Lauslahti said.

"The beginning of the season is becoming more unpredictable," he said. "A bad start means you lose season-pass sales. If there's at least a minimum amount open in the early season, people accept it better."

Bogus Basin in Idaho and Aspen Snowmass have both recently invested in Snow Secure's mats to guarantee a solid snow base for next season. 

In Aspen, the mats now cover piles on Buttermilk and Snowmass mountains — the equivalent of 3.5 million gallons of water, mostly man-made snow left over from the previous season. 

Beyond saving the snow itself, the practice preserves the money already spent making it and can cut the cost of snowmaking for the season ahead.

Having snow ready to go also gives mountains flexibility to time their snowmaking for the most efficient conditions. 

Snowmaking machines work better the colder it gets, so instead of blowing snow in marginal early-season conditions out of desperation, resorts can draw on their stored supply for a usable base. 

Others are preemptively making a deep base of snow during winter's coldest stretches, either to extend their seasons into May or to save it for the next one.

"It's economically really, really viable," Lauslahti said. "It's really fast, really cost efficient. You need snowmaking, you need groomers, but the point is, you have a new tool."

Lauslahti noted that Levi, a Finnish mountain that traditionally hosts the season's first FIS World Cup race each November, relied entirely on snow stored inside the Snow Secure mats to host the event this past season. 

The mountain itself opened a few years back on Oct. 6 thanks to their snow-storage efforts.

Chris Miller, senior vice president of sustainability at Aspen Snowmass, told the Aspen Times saving snow expands the resort's climate-resilient toolbox for navigating volatile weather.

Snowmass Mountain's relatively low base elevation of 7,870 feet leaves it especially vulnerable to warm, dry early-season spells. 

As host of the Winter X Games, Snowmass produces enormous amounts of snow each fall to build the massive terrain-park features the globally televised event requires. By piling up and covering the leftover snow for the following year, the mountain saves significant money.

Soldier Hollow Nordic Center in Utah has joined the trend too, preserving a 15,000-square-foot mound under the Snow Secure mats. 

At just 5,600 feet of elevation, the venue is slated to host cross-country events for the 2034 Winter Olympics, though that may not happen naturally if Utah sees another winter as poor as this past one.

Luke Bodensteiner, Soldier Hollow's general manager, told NBC News he views the effort as a contingency plan, and hopes that snow farming plus new snowmakers could make Soldier Hollow the first Nordic venue in the country to open this coming fall.

"If we get the results that we think … in the summer of 2033, we'll probably have three to four of these piles going around the venue," he told NBC.

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

Back in Aspen when interviewed last month, Miller said temperatures beneath the Snow Secure blankets were registering at 32.6 degrees. 

Even when outdoor temperatures top 100 degrees, the insulated barriers keep the snow between 35 and 37, Lauslahti said, and can limit melting to about 20% of the original mass over an entire summer.

The mats were put to the test last summer at Bogus Basin, a mid-sized ski area outside Boise, where temperatures outside the piles hit 119 degrees. The snow held up fine, and despite recording its warmest November on record, the resort still managed to open that month.

Snow Secure isn't just for the biggest resorts with the biggest budgets. Lauslahti argues the tarps offer even more value at smaller areas with shorter runs, where every saved inch counts — pointing to a small Wisconsin resort that’s invested in the product. "The first chairlift isn't so long, so you don't need so much material," he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Other Snow-Storage Efforts"}]

Copper Mountain in Colorado stores snow for its summertime private Woodward camps and public hike park. At each season's end, the mountain pushes 

thousands of cubic yards of leftover snow

 from its runs, terrain parks and superpipe into huge piles; months later, it spreads the snow back out into a short run with a roughly 25-foot base, letting the public ski all summer.

Trollhaugen in Wisconsin insulates its snow with 

hay bales and a large tarp weighed down by car tires

 for a terrain-park event it hosts each fall.

Snow farming Ruka 15 Snow Secure 7 5 26

<title>Save It For Later: 'Snow Farming' Is Keeping Ski Seasons Alive Across Rockies | Cowboy State Daily</title>

As temperatures soar in the summer, ski resorts in the Rocky Mountain West are "farming" snow, storing it under giant thermal mats as insurance for the upcoming season. Snow stays close to freezing in the summer even in triple-digit temperatures.

Save It For Later: 'Snow Farming' Is Keeping Ski Seasons Alive Across Rockies

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Jackie Dorothy.

Jackie Dorothy

Around Wyoming

 overnight in the Wyoming Territory with canvas tents, sectional housing and buildings on wheels. It was July 1868 and the town “bred by the devil” was ready for business.

“There are perhaps, three thousand people in and around Benton,” brothers Legh and Fred Freeman wrote in the Aug. 11, 1868, Frontier Index newspaper. “To give an idea of the on-wheels movement we will mention that the office of Wells, Fargo & Co., torn down at Laramie three days before, had its sectioned shingle roof on, and stage business resumed in it that night.”

The Frontier Index, known as the “Press on Wheels,” was also a 

 business that published its paper in these overnight towns.

“Business was so lively that we telegraphed the Laramie editor of our paper, to wheel on at once to Benton,” the Freeman brothers wrote. “We since learn that our new power press is threshing out the work there.”

Benton was an end-of-track town on the construction front of the Union Pacific Railroad, about 12 miles east of present-day Rawlins and just west of present-day Fort Fred Steele.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Baddest Reputation"}]

 the worst of these Hell’s Tent Towns, with claims that 100 men had been murdered there in its short lifetime. Their reputation as a home to “bawdy women and swindlers” was earned when visitors passed through and were shocked by what they saw.

According to historians Mary Lou Pence and Lola M. Homsher, co-authors of “The Ghost Towns of Wyoming,” one 

 that portrayed Benton’s devilishness had been a misunderstanding.

Water for this new town was one of its most valuable commodities. It had to be carted by team and tank from the North Platte River two miles away. The water hauler charged an exorbitant 

Seeing a new way to advertise, a whiskey distiller paid the hauler to paste large billboards on each side of his tank that read "Tanglefoot Whisky."

A Mormon woman soon arrived by train and was waiting for a stagecoach for the next leg of her trip to Brigham's Temple. When she saw the poster-plastered wagon and women rushing from their doors with pails in hands, Pence and Homsher said she became  indignant.

 woman said. “They're buying whisky by the bucketsful!"

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Grant & Buffalo Bill Campaign"}]

To add to Benton’s reputation, even future presidents visited the tent town. Ulyssis S. Grant arrived with Buffalo Bill Cody. The Republican candidate was said to have given a stump speech at Benton to an eclectic group of people, ranging from gentlemen to railroad laborers. 

The Freeman brothers were heavily Democratic and former Confederate soldiers so the story they ran in the Aug.11, 1868, Frontier Index was a satirical attack on Grant and Buffalo Bill.

Of the Wyoming Territory towns that arrived on wheels along the Union Pacific Railroad, none were as tawdry, bawdry and lawless as Benton, which witnessed as many as 100 murders in its three-month lifespan. Benton, it was said, was "bred by the devil."

One More For The Road: Monday, October 7, 2024

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