Wyoming Winter and Trivia Too

 January 3, 2022

Like all of you, it looks like I have made a successful jump from 2021 to 2022. I’m not much of a New Year’s Resolution person, but I hope to continue with a few things from 2021. First, I intend to stay more active on this site. Second, I will continue my daily walks – they are great exercise and the perfect thinking/contemplating time. Third, and last, we hope to continue our old traveling schedule after being mostly tethered to home the past two-plus years. That means a couple of long trips and several short trips in 2022.

We live in Wyoming’s North Platte River valley; it is relatively mild compared to the rest of the state. Wednesday – two days away – we are supposed to reach an overnight low of -18 degrees. Now that’s cold, but not close to any records. On February 9, 1933, Yellowstone Park reached an all-time Wyoming record of -66 degrees. Now that’s cold.

I have been retired from the classroom now for ten years. I was able to teach Nebraska history, then the history of the Trans-Continental West, and finally Wyoming history (at both the high school and college level) for more than 40 years. I miss teaching all those History classes. One of the things I miss most is the first or last two minutes of class time which I used for Wyoming trivia. To start the new year - here is some good ol’ classroom trivia. Answers at the very end of this post – don’t peak first.

Q1 – What percentage of land in Teton County is privately owned?

Q2 – What are the two historically significant rivers that flow through Platte County.

Q3 – What year did the first vehicle drive through Yellowstone Park?

That’s it – good luck.

 Happy New Year, may it be your best year yet!

“Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.”           Alfred Lord Tennyson

-Answers-

1. Teton and Yellowstone Parks dominate Teton county. Only 3% of the land in Teton County is privately owned. Overall The federal government owns 48.2% of Wyoming, and state lands make up 5.6%.

2. The North Platte and Laramie rivers - Trappers, Travelers, and Tribes make these two most significant in Wyoming history.

3. The first car drove through Yellowstone in1902. Not sure of the make of the vehicle, but it was not a Model T made famous by Henry Ford & Co. the T was not introduced for another six years. 

      All photos were taken yesterday - a beautiful day to be out.