Wyoming is usually listed as the 50th of the states in the USA because of its small population. But there it stops for we have been number-one in a great many historical events and issues.
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.
• Former Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen named MVP of National Football League. He had been drafted seventh overall seven years ago.
• The first Mountain Man-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 Pinedale, 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 formerly of Farson.
• The biggest museum in the world devoted to Military Vehicles opened a few years ago in Dubois. Of course, its contents are devoted to way more than just vehicles.
The First LLC
• Scott Meier of Cheyenne reminds Wyoming was the first state to offer a Limited Liability Company; first state to offer a state-backed stable token; and first state to charter a crypto bank (Special Purpose Depository Institution or SPDI.)
• The little ghost town of Van Tassel east of Lusk was home to the first VFW chapter in America, according to Dave Reetz of Powell.
• Author and Casper native Ron Franscell also says that Owen Wister’s western novel “The Virginian” broken literary ground in several ways, but its final gunfight between The Virginian and bad guy Trampas on the street in front of Buffalo’s Occidental Hotel was the first “walk down” in the history of western literature.
• 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 public county library system was established in Laramie County in 1886.
• The world’s first dude ranch was established at Wolf, WY in 1904.
• 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 Franscell.
• The first JC Penney store was started in Kemmerer. The first Taco John’s start was 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. The late Randy Wagner always reminded me that the highest point of the Interstate 80 is in Wyoming and has a statue of Abraham Lincoln there. It was originally built in 1959 and placed at the highest point of Highway 30.
• The tallest dam in the world was built around 1910 west of Cody creating Buffalo Bill Reservoir.
• 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.
• The first and only monument in the USA to honor a prostitute is south of Lusk honoring Mother Featherlegs Shepard. It was built in 1964 says Dave Bell of Pinedale.
The Dinosaur House
• Wyoming is home of the first and only building built of dinosaur fossils located on old Highway 30 near Medicine Bow.
• First polo field west of the Mississippi was built here in Wyoming near Sheridan 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 the first place with in-situ uranium mining in Shirley Basin.
• The first paid rodeo in the world was in Lander with the second being the daddy of them all, Cheyenne Frontier Days.
• 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.
• The late Leslie Blythe of Casper always pointed 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.
• The first woman, Louisa Swain, Laramie, to ever 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 systems.
• 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, Triceratops. First state to have a Code of the West. First County library system was organized in Laramie County in 1886.
And, Finally . . .
• The first and only monument in the USA to honor a prostitute is south of Lusk honoring Mother Featherlegs Shepard. It was built in 1964 says Dave Bell of Pinedale.
Readers with other “firsts” concerning Wyoming please email to bill@cowboystatedaily.com
