WYOMING 



6371 



WYOMING 



Government and History 



Government. The constitution of Wyoming 

 is unique in being the only state constitution 

 which granted suffrage to both sexes from the 

 beginning of statehood. In other states where 

 universal suffrage is enjoyed amendments to 

 the constitution have granted the privilege. 

 Woman suffrage has existed in Wyoming since 

 1869, when it was organized as a territory. 



The executive department consists of 

 the governor, secretary of state, auditor, 



WYOMING STATE FLAG 

 Adopted in 1917. The large rectangular area 

 is blue, as is also the seal. The outer border 

 is red. The parts shown unshaded are white. 



treasurer and superintendent of public instruc- 

 tion, all of whom are elected for four years. 



The legislature consists of a senate of twenty- 

 eight members, elected for four-year terms, and 

 a house of representatives of fifty-six members, 

 elected for two years. 



The judicial department consists of a su- 

 preme court with a chief justice and two asso- 

 ciate judges, and inferior courts (in counties) 

 established by the legislature. Capital punish- 

 ment was abolished in 1915, and in the same 

 year a law was passed providing that judges be 

 nonpartisan. 



Workmen's compensation laws, accident h\\>. 

 child-labor laws and mothers' pension acts have 

 been passed, and in 1915 a public service com- 

 mission, consisting of the governor, state treas- 

 urer and auditor, was created. 



History. Probably the first white man to 

 enter the territory of the present state was 

 Chevalier de la Verendrye, a French fur trader 

 and explorer, who passed through the region in 

 1743. In 1807 John Colter, an American trader, 

 discovered the Yellowstone region ; it became a 

 meeting place of the early trappers, and is de- 

 scribed in Washington Irving's story, Captain 

 Honncvillc, the hero of which is one of the 



traders. No permanent settlement was made 

 until 1834, when Fort Williams, later called 

 Fort Laramie, was established as a trading post. 



That section of the present state lying east of 

 the Rockies was a part of the Louisiana Pur- 

 chase. It was included in the territory of Mis- 

 souri in 1812, and in the "Indian Country," 

 organized in 1834. It was later part of the 

 territories of Nebraska and Dakota. The re- 

 gion west of the mountains was successively 

 included in the Oregon country and the terri- 

 tories of Oregon and Washington. That part 

 of the state south of the forty-second parallel 

 belonged to Spain, then to Mexico, and lastly 

 to the republic of Texas, before it was ceded to 

 the United States. In 1863 the government 

 was again changed, when all of the region now 

 in the state except a small section in the south- 

 west was given to Idaho territory, and the 

 following year was transferred to Dakota. 



The streams of immigration to California and 

 Oregon passed through Wyoming, but few of 

 the pioneers settled in the state. The North- 

 ern Sioux and Cheyenne Indians in possession 

 of much of the region were hostile to v. 

 settlement, ahd continued their outbreaks and 

 attacks until after the close of the Sioux War 

 in 1876. 



The extension of the Union Pacific Railroad 

 through Wyoming, in 1866, brought an influx 

 of settlers, and in 1868, with its present bounda- 

 ries, Wyoming was organized as a territory. 

 In 1890 it entered the Union as a state. That 

 the people are more progressive than in some 

 of the states to the east is shown by recent 

 laws, referred to above. 



Other Items of Interest. Wyoming has two 

 soda lakes, which have a combined area of al- 

 most half a square mile. The soda crystallizes 

 during the summer months in heavy crusts, and 

 is cut like ice into blocks three or four feet 

 thick. Another crust soon takes the place of 

 the one that is cut away. 



This state is often called, by reason of its 

 scenic beauties, the "wonderland of America." 



In 1893 specimens of iron ore from thr 

 Hartville district in Wyoming were exhibited 

 at the World's Columbian Exposition in com- 

 petition with ore from all parts of the world, 

 and were awarded the Grand Prize. 



Cloud Peak, in the Bighorn Mountains, has 

 several small glaciers. 



At Thcrmopolis and Saratoga are to be 

 found springs with temperature* of about 135. 



