Today marks the 125th birthday of Wyoming’s statehood, becoming the 44th State in the Nation.
Wyoming is known for its incredible mountains, iconic national parks, cowboys, ranching, skiing and fly-fishing, but do you know these interesting facts?
1. Wyoming’s state dinosaur is the triceratops. There are only six states with an official state dinosaur!
2. The horse on the Wyoming license plate was named “Old Steamboat.” It was named for a bronc that could not be ridden.
3. The State bird is the Western Meadowlark
4. Wyoming is nicknamed “The Equality State” as it was the first state to give women the right to vote in 1869. Louisa Ann Swain was the first woman in the United States to vote in a general election on September 6, 1870 in Laramie, Wyoming.
5. The State gem is jade.
6. The State reptile is the horned toad.
7. Wyoming comes from a contraction of the Native American word “mecheweaming” meaning big plains.
8. Yellowstone was designated the first official National Park in 1872.
9. Devils Tower was designated the first National Monument in 1906.
10. J.C. Penney (James Cash Penney) invested his entire savings of $500 and borrowed $1,500 more to open “Golden Rule department store” in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Penney later expanded the business and changed the store’s name to J.C. Penney as it is known today.
11. The Wind River changes its name in midstream and becomes the Big Horn River at a site at the north end of the Wind River Canyon. The Native Americans hold a ceremony each year depicting the “Wedding of the Waters.”
12. Any person who fails to close a fence in Wyoming is subject to a fine of up to $750.
13. President Teddy Roosevelt established the first national forest in Wyoming in 1902. The Shoshone National Forest was created as the Yellowstone Forest Reserve.
14. Nellie Taylor Ross was the first woman to be elected governor of a U.S. state and to date, has been the only women to serve as governor of Wyoming.
15. Wyoming is home to the pronghorn, the fastest mammal in the Western Hemisphere. |