Where we are at any given moment is an instrument of fate, but we give little thought to our physical location, generally, until something happens. The power of place was in the news for the second week of January, with wilderness in 1908, interference in 1933, classrooms in 1958 and a children's home in 1983.

100 years ago

Lost shepherd - A boy was found clinging to life in the Tea Pot country and brought to Casper in the first half of January 1908. George Williams, 13, decided he didn't like tending sheep at one of the Jeff McWilliams camps.

George set out on foot and spent five days wandering the winter landscape before he was rescued by men from the Dry Creek Sheep Co. He was discovered overwrought with starvation and cold.

His rescuers rendered what aid they could but realized the rude accommodations of a shepherd's camp were inadequate for the dying boy. Pete Anda brought George into town and delivered him to the care of Mrs. Allen's hospital.

Natrona County made the minor its ward and took charge of George's medical care. George's left foot was so badly frozen that his toes needed to be amputated, and it was doubtful they could save his foot.

Malcontents - People were still whining about the proposed location of Casper's contracted courthouse, and their lawyer vowed to take the fight to the highest courts necessary to see reason prevail, according to the Jan. 15, 1908, Natrona County Tribune.

Alex T. Butler, attorney representing "(o)ne or two taxpayers," showed up at a meeting of the Natrona County commissioners and presented a petition calling for the courthouse to be built on David Street, not Center Street.

The commissioners heard him out but said, again, that the site had been vetted by a fair process, the decision made, the contracts signed. Listening in the stark terms of a litigator, Butler heard a complete rejection of his plea to reconsider.

Butler warned the commissioners to expect a restraining order from the district court.

Not objective - An outbreak of scarlet fever in Lander tempted the Jan. 15, 1908, Natrona County Tribune to once again editorialize in a news story. The Lander Town Council asked Gov. B.B. Brooks for help with enforcing a quarantine.

The Tribune printed the rumor that while some people in a household were in the throes of scarlet fever, other residents of the same house were free to wander the town.

Couched in a reminiscence of Casper's history with scarlet fever, the Tribune suggested that the quarantine be enforced by armed men.

75 years ago

Prohibition - After agents raided a still in Casper, residents on the east side of town reported better radio reception in the second week of January 1933. W.L. Kates and M.J. Pennie were busted for making hooch at a house in the 1300 block of East First Street.

Officers confiscated a 35-gallon still, all the equipment required for a small distillery and some finished whiskey.

No one knew precisely which apparatus of the still was throwing off electrical interference, but neighborhood residents described a nerve racking process of constantly having to tune the radio frequency before the raid.

Quod faciendum - Three Casper men were being held for peddling blasting powder and Lander authorities said they knew where the explosive came from, and that there was a lot of it, according to a public statement Jan. 14, 1933.

R.H. Richards, alias Roberts, R.W. Sparks and Bill Sparks were caught with 53 25-pound cans, some 1,300 pounds, of blasting powder. Sheriff James Thompson was scheduled to take custody of the trio.

The explosive powder was stolen a month before from a mining company at Hudson.

50 years ago

Recess for some - Certain students at the elementary school in Mills were given a day off so their classrooms could be set back aright after a fire in the evening of Jan. 14, 1958.

Kindergartners through third graders were still expected to attend classes, but fourth, fifth and sixth graders got Jan. 15 as a day to play while their classrooms were cleaned up from the smoke and water left from fighting the fire. They also wanted to make sure the electrical system wasn't affected by the water.

Chief Floyd Wilcox of the Mills Volunteer Fire Department praised his firefighters for their quick response. The fire started in a cupboard in a small kitchen area and was extinguished before it spread into the rafters of the school.

25 years ago

Spinning words - Wyoming's governor perhaps found the coverage a bit aggravating and he had to parse his words more carefully when talking about the children's home in Casper in the second week of January 1983.

Gov. Ed Herschler denied he ever said the home should be shut down, according to the Jan. 14, 1983, Casper Star-Tribune report by Star-Tribune Editor Richard High.

Not only was the editor in Cheyenne but the Star-Tribune also had Joan Barron, Philip White and Greg Bean keeping a vigilant eye on the workings of state government.

"A Look Back in Time" is made possible with the help of Western History Archivist Kevin S. Anderson at the Casper College Western History Center, which is open to the public.