Wyoming Snowstorm and Trivia Too

It’s always fun to see the weather reports get it right. Lots of snow and we did need the moisture, after the wind of the past two weeks.

Not sure how a foot and a half of snow was handled in the old days. Probably a lot like me with this one – stay inside and read a book, or work on a project of some kind.

Pine Tree sagging onto garage

The only time I ventured out yesterday was to clean off our dish so the TV stations would come back. Later we did a bit of shoveling from our back door to the garage. All in all, it was a pretty good day.

My back, Rasberry Patch

I did finish the cover for my new book, the third in the series of kids books written for second, third and fourth graders. Now awaiting the proof copies.

Cover for New Kids Book - Should be available by mid-March

It has been too long since I posted my infamous, Wyoming Trivia. Today, give these five questions a try.

Answers below the next photo.

1.   Who was the leader of the first Geological Survey into Yellowstone?

2.   What Wyoming County sits in the middle of these six counties: Sheridan, Cambell, Converse, Natrona, Washakie and Big Horn?

3.   What is the oldest of the five major dams on the North Platte River? This dam is over 100 years old.

4.   What river disappears into Sinks Canyon?

5.   What man caused a controversy at Fort Laramie by hanging two Sioux with chains, and still went on to be appointed as a Wyoming Territorial Governor?

 

Now let's see how you Turkey's did!

Answers

1.   F. V. Hayden

2.   Johnson County

3.   Pathfinder

4.   Popo Agie

5.   Thomas Moonlight

Flat Nose Currie or Big Nose George Parrott

Famous outlaws with strange noses. At least that is what I thought I might call this post.

Maybe, Flat Nose Currie and Big Nose George Parrott were not the same man would be a better title. The fact is, likely only because of their noses these two men are often mixed up, but they shouldn’t be.

George Sutherland Currie often called Flat-Nose, because of his, well, rather flat and wide nose, was a well known and somewhat written about robber in Wyoming and the old west. He mentored cold-blooded killer Harvey Logan, who took the name Kid Currie out of respect for his friend and teacher. The two robbed banks before joining Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch.

Flat Nose

Big Nose George Parrott, who went by several aliases, never rode with, and never met Butch Cassidy. This is a certainty as Parrott was lynched when Butch Cassidy was still Robert LeRoy Parker, a 14-year-old, growing up in Utah.

Big Nose

Parrott claimed he rode with the famous James brothers, another story that has been mostly debunked. Much of the fame Big Nose George has today, is because after his death he was partially skinned with the skin being made into a medical satchel and a pair of shoes for Dr. John Osborn. Osborn who was involved in a gruesome autopsy where he and a Doctor friend searched Parrott’s brain for evidence of a criminal lobe.

Governor Osborn - Dr. Osborn, a few years later, wore the shoes to the governor's inaugural ball when he was elected Wyoming’s third governor and the first Democrat to hold the office. Osborne declined a chance to run for another two-year term and instead served as Wyoming’s representative in the 55^th Congress of the United States.

So why all the above about the two outlaws?  Recently I ran across a  list of members of the Hole in the Wall Gang from a familiar source, one that many modern day, old west writers use in research. This was one of the listings. “George L. ‘Flat Nose’ Curry, also known as George Parrott, was a veteran bank robber. . . . . .”

And if that was not bad enough, not surprisingly, multiple sources on the web have the two mixed up. I Googled a photo of George “Flat Nose” Curry, and the first few that came up were all photos of Big Nose George.

Nope, not the same guy – fake news, er, a, fake history.

The moral of this post, check the facts, even if most modern day news outlets do not. 

Nothing to do with today's post but a photo I took yesterday

Wyoming Wildlife

Random Thoughts on a Windy Wyoming Day

Today in my little part of Wyoming we are experiencing warm weather, in the mid-fifties, and incredible wind. Weather app says winds are blowing 25-45 with gusts to 60. Good day to stay inside.

Bison - The two main species of Buffalo in the world reside in Africa. In America we have Bison, and lots of them, over a half million by recent count.  For some odd reason, in the past two years sportscasters have started to pronounce Bison when talking about the North Dakota State Bison as if it were – Bye -zzon, instead of the correct Bye-son. Drives me nuts, but since they keep doing it, I guess no one else either notices or cares. Hope I never read a novel with hunters or native tribes are off, hunting bizzon.

Pronghorn - In that same vain people in the west have referred to Pronghorn as Antelope for years. There are 91 species of Antelope but none in the western hemisphere. As for the Pronghorn there is only one, and in Wyoming, we have a varied population that now numbers around 400,000, it was as high as 600,000 plus, as recently as 2005, but drought and bad winters have moved the total lower. I hunted Pronghorn for years and enjoyed it, but now hunt only with my camera and they are a most interesting subject.

American Sagebrush Ecosystem – Looks like sagebrush is on the decline in the west. At first, this may look to not be a problem, but like all ecosystem’s destroying or greatly changing one will gradually change others, much more than at first believed.

Wyoming is also home to 50,000 or so, Mule Deer. We have a terrific population around here, even in town. They can be a menace, especially when they eat the blooms from my strawberries and tops from my tomatoes. They also love to take a bite from green tomatoes, sorry deer it’s not an apple, then spit it out. How many albino mule deer are there in the state? Well, that’s a good question. I have found researchers that say one in 500,000 others that say it could be much lower, one in 20,000. That means we, have two at any one time or one every ten years. Either way, it is exciting to see one.