It Has Been a While

After more than ten years and over 300 posts, I have gone missing in action on this site since September. I’m not sure if I became bored with it, or just ran out of things to say, I am going with the latter.  At times I had posts with more than one hundred reads. Lately, I was lucky to get half that many. There are a lot of good Wyoming sites that tell the great stories of our state, and I hope they are getting read. No, I’m not giving up and will continue to post when I find something of interest, just not sure how often. I first started this site to post many of the stories I used in class, teaching history for 42 years. I even wrote a short history of Wyoming, to give people a quick look at our state. But it has remained unpublished and buried somewhere in my laptop.

The North Bluff at Guernsey State Park

Meanwhile, I will continue to post four or more times a month on my writing site. That site gives me a chance to talk about my most recent writing projects and Wyoming too.

Civilian Conservation Corps - Powder House, circa 1935

Photo Posts - I will also continue to post photos and our hiking fun from the park on my Guernsey State Park site. 

Wyoming 

My Books - Thanks, once again to everyone who has purchased my books on Amazon. I am now taking in enough money on sales to make part of a pickup payment once-in-a-while.

More Pronghorn in Wyoming than in all of the rest of North America

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2018 - If you are a long time follower of my history blog, take a look at my other sites and thanks for reading.

We do get out of town on occasion
Here we are, a long way from Wyoming, on a recent historical trip
Vicksburg, Mississippi

Wyoming Wildlife Photography

One of my favorite activities in summer is to watch, and when I can, photograph, Wyoming wildlife.

Sometimes we take for granted what most only see on TV or in the movies.

In Wyoming, our wildlife is part of our everyday life.

Not sure I will ever take it for granted.

On today’s post are a few of the photos I have shot in the past month.

Nothing beats a chance to see nature up close.

On a side note, a big thank you to everyone who is purchasing my books the past few weeks – they are selling well, in fact, better than ever. – if you want to take a look click this link.

Battle Mountain Wyoming

The Tale of Two Mountains Named Battle

Wyoming boasts, not one but two Battle Mountains. One of the  Battle Mountain’s and the more famous of the two is in the Medicine Bow Range on Wyoming’s southern border and sits near the tiny hamlet of Savery, peaking at a bit over 9,100 feet, about 3,000 feet more than the surrounding area. The second is in Sublette County south and east of Jackson and is described more often as a hill than a mountain with an elevation of 7,100 feet.

As readers might guess, each was named after a famous battle. Or in the case of the Sublette Mountain a bit of a disturbance. In reality, the battle was but a misunderstanding of hunting rights in the area. In 1895 a posse from Jackson was sent to arrest a small party of Bannocks for game law violations. Seems the area had been a long time hunting ground for the tribe, but now with Wyoming being a state for five years there were rules about hunting. Never mind that the Bannock tribe had hunted the area for generations.

The Battle Mountain in southern Carbon County boasts a much better reason for its name.  It was the setting for an 1841 battle between 35 members of the American Fur Company and what has been described as a large group of Cheyenne and Sioux. Several trappers, including Henry Fraeb (also spelled as Frapp), the group’s leader, were killed. Beloved Wyoming mountain man, Jim Baker at age 21,  became the new leader of the trapper bunch when Fraeb was killed, and barely escaped with his life. The furious battle led to the changing of Bastion Mountain’s name, to Battle Mountain.

Battle Mountain and Battle Lake - Site of the 1841 battle

                   

Note – There is also a nice Wyoming legend of Thomas Edison camping at the foot of Battle Mountain and fishing in Battle Lake when he was struck with the inspiration to create an electric light. Great story if it’s true!

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. 

A Few Wyoming Photos

Nice Buck Looking at Me

I have been on a bit of a writing break, or summer vacation the last couple of weeks. With that time off, I missed my post last week but never fear I am back, be it good or bad.

Here We Are, Spending Time in the Blackhills Last Week

When the weather is nice, I try to spend as much time as possible in the woods, forests, and mountains of Wyoming.

This One About Four Miles From Home

This week, doing some research for a project, I ran across the works of John Hector St. John. Although he never ventured farther west than New York State he had some profound things to say about what he viewed in the west or wilderness of early America. At the time and his writing it was the middle and late 1700s, well before even the first mountain men came west.

Mountain Man Camp at Fort Laramie

Crevecoeur was a Frenchmen who moved to America became a citizen/farmer and later writer. His volume of essays, Letters from an American Farmer, quickly became a best seller in Europe making him one of the first Americans to experience a best seller in Europe. His stories gave Europeans a first look at what one of their own thought of America.

Wonder if St. John Had Views Like This to Write About?

Today I thought I might share a few of my favorite photos from my time in the woods this summer. Not exactly the essays of St. John, but still nice.

Albino Mule Deer Peeking From Behind a Bush

I must tell you, that there is something in the proximity of the woods, which is very singular. It is with men as it is with the plants and animals that grow and live in the forests; they are entirely different from those that live in the plains.

J. Hector St. John Crevecoeur

Elk - I Snapped This Just At The End of Daylight

Enjoy, now it’s time for us to head out to Guernsey State Park and spend some time in the woods. 

Looking Good In Tall Grass

A Retired Life

Today some true Wyoming facts, all presented in photos.

15 miles west of town and the traffic does not appear to be too heavy

Nothing like a drive on a nice spring day. I know it is not spring yet, but it is sure starting to look like it.

Mountain stream running blue and cold

We took a drive out of town toward the Laramie Range yesterday, it was spectacular.

And a little closer to our pickup this little guy

The Pronghorn are in big bunches right now and make for some interesting photo opportunities.

A Raven amidst the Pronghorn

The snow up high always makes the mountains look perfect, with the big spring runoff yet to come.

Looks a bit like a painting

Thought today I would just blog out a few photos that I took on our trip.

Total trip, 72 miles, 36 out, turn around and 36 back. Only a couple of hours but most enjoyable.

The end of our trip, about three feet deep, we turned around and headed home

 

This was our view after we turned around

Pronghorn

Seems like I never get tired of watching the many North American Pronghorn around the state. Doesn't matter if they are standing or running. Few people realize that pronghorn, like the bison, once numbered in the millions in the American west. Also like the bison they were shot to near extinction for meat and skins. Pronghorn are a curious animal and hunters could often shoot dozens or more in a day. At one point in the late 1800s so much meat was for sale that one could purchase an entire carcass for a few pennies.

Not sure how many pronghorn there are today in Wyoming but the number is often reported as more than the number of people here in the cowboy state. Wyoming’s people population is a bit over half a million, so that is a pretty good number of pronghorn, but is likely high by about 200,000 or so. Still a good number and if you are watching, pronghorn can be seen just about anywhere in Wyoming.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department does an outstanding job of managing the population, allowing hunting to keep pronghorn numbers constant.

Thinking about taking a drive-about sometime tomorrow, watch a few North American Pronghorn, or as most westerners call them, antelope.