Daniel Sandoval

Everybody wants some form of acknowledgement. Accomplishments, sacrifices, efforts, these things are cheated without proper acknowledgement. Recognition was in the news during the days of transition from June to July.

100 years ago

Impartiality was not a concern in the July 1, 1908, Natrona County Tribune's first article introducing the new officers of the Casper Town Council. The Tribune was named as the Council's "Official Paper."

Going downtown - Bryant Butler Brooks, gentleman rancher and governor of Wyoming, was arrested in Chicago. An irascible police patrolman thought Brooks was violating the speed limit and took him into custody.

Brooks was hauled in front of police sergeant, where the versions of events disagreed about what happened outside of Evanston, Ill.

The governor said he was approaching 20 mph, which he knew was the speed limit. He admitted not checking the speedometer dial but added that he was a good judge of a vehicle's speed without the dial.

The patrolman said the speedometer he used said the car was traveling 35 mph, and that meant it was probably closer to 40 mph.

Brooks used his honed diplomacy to convince the sergeant and patrolman that he was abiding the speed limit, and the joke was on them, said the July 1 Tribune, because they didn't know they were meddling with the governor of Wyoming.

Gov. Brooks was in Chicago in late June 1908 for a Republican convention.

Favorable glimpse - John Clay, of Clay, Robinson and Co., wrote about seeing Casper on a trip from Cheyenne to Lander, and the July 1 Tribune printed an excerpt from his impression:

"Casper is a bustling burg. After the railroad passed it and went further west most people thought it would only be a whistling station. The verdict of the servants is wrong, and today it is busier and better than ever. Improvements show up on every side. There is an era of house building, and good ones at that, while mania for good concrete sidewalks has struck the city."

75 years ago

Anticipation served as the top story of the July 2, 1933, Casper Tribune-Herald as the newspaper declared the upcoming festivities as the "most eventful Fourth of July celebrations ever held in this city."

Health issues - C.H. Bowman resigned as Wyoming's state highway engineer and superintendent, citing ill health. James B. True was named to serve out balance of Bowman's two-year term.

Bowman was only in office a few weeks when he resigned. Edwin A. Burritt was moved to fill in the state engineering position vacated by True. Gov. Leslie Miller announced the changes July 1, 1933.

Epistles of Henry - An advertisement for Ford Motor Company featured a letter "In answer to a lady's letter," in which Henry Ford himself wrote about how an eight-cylinder engine didn't necessarily mean greater fuel consumption.

The letter was dated June 30, 1933, and the letterhead had the same cursive writing as the "Ford" used in the company trademark.

Justice reversed - The federal Prohibition administrator in Cheyenne went on indefinite furlough. E.E. Collins was one of five agents to leave the state Prohibition agency, leaving only three people in the Wyoming field of operations.

Collins said he would return to Billings, Mont., to practice law.

50 years ago

Casper lost one of its adventurers and the July 1, 1958, Casper Morning Star mourned the passing of Walt Bailey on the front page. Bailey, 41, died of pneumonia at a 16,000-foot base camp in the Andes during an attempt to summit Mt. Alpamayo.

Forty-nine stars - The U.S. Senate voted to admit the territory of Alaska into statehood, and all that was needed to make her officially a state was a signature from President Dwight Eisenhower.

Eisenhower made Alaska's statehood one of the goals of his presidency. He was likely thinking of the strategic position. The Cold War put an enemy at the nation's back doorstep, with two miles separating Little Diamede Island (U.S. territory) from Big Diamede (Soviet territory).

After the Senate vote, raucous celebration filled the chamber and calls for Hawaii to be granted statehood echoed throughout the hall. The previous state to be admitted was Arizona in 1912.

25 years ago

The bean counters were playing rough and the July 1, 1983, Casper Star-Tribune carried two stories about state and federal authorities wanting a closer look at account books, one regarding a bank in Lovell and the other concerning mineral royalties.

Desert flood - Natrona County Commissioner Art Volk confessed that the county had no sandbagging provisions in place to battle the rising North Platte River.

The North Platte was the highest it had been in 10 years, and on page A3 of the July 1 Star-Tribune, there is a photo of a National Guard C-130 transport being unloaded - the cargo, sandbags from Salt Lake City.

"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.