Daniel Sandoval

Worthwhile endeavors invariably require cooperation between the parties involved. These pacts can be formalized in written contracts or they can be the emotionally nuanced agreements of personal relationships. Commitments were in the news for the first week of November, with marriages in 1906, gravel in 1931, a ground-breaking in 1956 and uranium in 1981.

100 years ago

Autumnal union - Wedding announcements for Northington-Osborne and Swanson-Owens were carried on the front page of the Nov. 7, 1906, Natrona County Tribune. Putting a wedding on the front page was not unusual for newspapers of the time, which often crafted the content to include names of people known to the paper's community.

Squeezed in with the weddings and other news were advertisements hawking items like petroleum products from Salt Creek, a suit for $12 to $35 from the Bloom Shoe and Clothing Co., and cigars from Curran & Anson.

Under an arch with a bell made of flowers, Miss Nona Northington married Robert Osborne in an evening ceremony Oct. 31, 1906, with the Rev. J.L. Craig officiating.

The wedding was held at the home of the bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Hines. Miss Edna Smith was the bridesmaid, and the best man was R.A. Jones. Also in attendance was Effie Cumming, candidate for county superintendent of schools, and when the Nov. 7 paper came out she was still awaiting general election results from outlying polling stations.

News reached Casper that two of its familiar young people got caught up in the romantic tide of an impromptu wedding in the parlor of the Merchant's Hotel of Omaha, Neb., Oct. 17, 1906. Anna Swanson was in Casper when she met J. Walter Owens, son of a prominent stockman.

Miss Swanson was working in Iowa when the two met up in Omaha, and Mr. Owens proposed they get married, immediately. A write-up from the Omaha Bee recounts a description of Miss Swanson as "unusually winsome" and Mr. Owens as "beardless and handsome."

Brokenhearted - Other news that reached the Nov. 7, 1906, Natrona County Tribune was an article that came from the Sheridan paper. Josie Repler committed suicide by poison. Repler was the daughter of Joel Hurt, at one time the owner of the largest sheep operation in Wyoming.

Repler learned that her husband had been unfaithful, wrote a note that said, "I sinned because I loved you," and then she drank from a bottle of chloroform. Her husband found her and in a desperate act of regret, drank the remaining chloroform. He was hospitalized and not expected to recover.

75 years ago

Crushed rock - Some 75 men were working north of Casper during the first week of November 1931, when fair weather allowed a road resurfacing project to progress at a breakneck pace. The holder of the contract was Tobin Construction Co., which rotated two crews and operated an encampment of men and material at its gravel pit.

Improving the 15-mile Wardwell section of road was important for safety and efficiency because traffic was increasing to the oil fields. The resurfacing was also part of a larger plan to improve south-to-north traffic in the state.

With the Wardwell section and a nine-mile stretch from Midwest to Kaycee gravelled, a driver would have a graded surface from Cheyenne to Sheridan. The contract for the Kaycee section had yet to be awarded Nov. 6, 1931, but the low bidder was Western Bridge and Construction Co. at $13,092.

Western Bridge, out of Omaha, also put in a bid of $35,215 to gravel 62.7 miles of road between Casper and Shoshoni.

Golden bells - Mr. and Mrs. Boney Earnest were gearing up for their 50th wedding anniversary at their Alcova home in the first week of November 1931. Boney Earnest was a Wyoming pioneer whose real-life adventures rivaled the exploits of fictional heroes.

His experiences in Wyoming began during the Indian Wars, continued through the phase of establishing early stage lines and included his participation in what is thought to be one of the last buffalo hunts in Natrona County.

50 years ago

Ceremonial shovel - Ground-breaking ceremonies were held in Casper Nov. 5, 1956, for the Casper National Bank Building and Tower. The Nov. 6 Casper Morning Star published a photograph of the ground-breaking attendees, well-dressed and bundled against the morning cold.

The people in the photograph holding the ceremonial shovels were Chuck and James Wadell, 12 and 11 years old, respectively, the sons of Charles W. Wadell, who was the president of Casper National Bank. The bank and office tower was set to be built at the southwest corner of First and Wolcott streets at a projected cost of $2.5 million.

Do not write in - J. Norman Stone was still in deep denial during the first week of November 1956, when his campaign for write-in votes was rendered moot by the ruling of Sheridan County Attorney Edward J. Redie. Redie said that write-in votes of Stone for a judgeship in the Fourth Judicial District would be invalid.

Stone had placed second in the primary election and he had been butting heads with the legal system ever since, including a brush with the Wyoming Supreme Court. Possibly antagonizing him to continue the fight was news that write-in votes would not be valid, but votes would be tallied so pollsters would know how many votes Stone might have received.

25 years ago

Nuclear power - A French firm was in negotiation to buy Pathfinder Mines Corp., a uranium company with three mines and two mills in Wyoming, according to a Nov. 6, 1981, Casper Star-Tribune article by Warren Wilson. Compagnie Generale Des Materes Nucleaires (Cogema) said in a press release that it did not anticipate any major changes to the corporate structure of Pathfinder Mines.

"A Look Back in Time" is made possible with the help of Kevin S. Anderson, archivist for the Special Collections Library at Casper College, which is open to the public.