Fourth of July

Centennial Flag Pole, Thermopolis Wyoming.

This is the Centennial Flag Pole in Thermopolis Wyoming.  While not discernable here, the plates at the base depict scenes from Wyoming's history and industry.

Wyoming Capitol Rotunda Statutes: The Casper Star Tribune reports that . . .

allegorical monuments will be going in, in Cheyenne.

The Capitol prior to reconstruction commencing.

They will not, however, be topless.  Not even partially.

The statutes, representing hope, courage, justice and truth, will be created by Delissalde Designs of Denver, after a competition on the same. They will all be female figures.

The announcement that they won was made last week.  Reports have it that they female Truth shall have a peace pipe, female Courage will have a snake wrapped around her leg, female Justice will have copies of the U.S. and Wyoming Constitutions.  I don't know what Hope will have.

Other than clothes.  There was apparently some concern that the figures were a little scantily dressed.  Senator Eli Bebout, for example, made a specific inquiry about this.

This is oddly reminiscent, FWIW, in regards to the selection of the State seal over a century ago. A legislative committee worked on that only to have a sitting Governor substitute a competing design that had a central female figure appear on the seal he liked better who was topless.  Not that this was uncommon at the time.  Nearly every allegorical character used in art has been female and, probably as they were created by male artists looking, at least subconsciously for an excuse, they were very frequently topless.  Even a century ago, however, that made some uneasy, including male legislators, and the original Wyoming seal that was chosen featured a fully clothed figure, only to have a Governor sub it out. When that was discovered, that was pulled, and treasury notes issued commemorating Wyoming for a time had a figure that had been chosen by the U.S. Mints (yes, that is plural and it was referred to that way at the time) rather than something we'd chosen ourselves.  We subsequently got around to the current design.

It's odd to think that we'd repeat that event over a century later, but perhaps its even odder, in the context of the times, to consider that allegorical figures remain principally women and that the artists submitting designs would, by default, figure that allegorical female figures might bear a closer resemblance, both in form and degree of clothing, to Kate Upton than Ruth Bader Ginsberg, but some things simply don't change much, it would seem.

Well, Hope, Justice, Courage and Truth will be on the cupola of the new Capitol rotunda, gazing down at the public.  The public, gazing back up, will have no excuse for exercising prurient interests.

Blue Star Memorial Highway, Cheyenne Wyoming

A Blue Star Memorial Highway Memorial marker outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Pathfinder Dam, Wyoming

I've posted on Pathfinder Dam elsewhere, so I didn't take an entire series of photos here.   But this is the first time I've posted these markers for this early 20th Century engineering achievement.

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Rouge Bouquet- A poem by Joyce Kilmer set to music (about the March 7, 1918 event involving the Fighting 69th).

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Veterans Memorial, Ft. Laramie Wyoming

This town park in the small Wyoming town of Ft. Laramie (just outside of the Ft. Laramie National Historic Site) serves as an all wars memorial for residents from the area.

The memorial includes the names of all of the people from Ft. Laramie who have served in the military, as well as those who are residents of the small town.

This bell is the bell from the old schoolhouse in Ft. Laramie, and was placed here as a memorial to it.

The memorial includes a World War Two era 81mm mortar.

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Ira W. Brannan Memorial Pool, Casper Wyoming.

Not every memorial featured here is attractive. That's not the point of the blog.  Here's one such example.  The Ira W. Brannan Memorial Pool.

Most residents of Casper Wyoming just refer to this as the Washington Park swimming pool.  It's an outdoor pool, not visible in this photograph, that has long served Casper.  Indeed it is no doubt the oldest outdoor swimming pool in the city but is still in use as it gets heavy use.

So who was he? 

I have no idea and wasn't able to learn who he was.

He was likely a veteran of World War One, given the age of this pool. Washington Park used to feature a variety of caissons right next to the pool that were probably associated with the dedication, but which have since been moved to Ft. Caspar.  Mr. Brannan's name remains on the pool, but as to  he was, well at least to me that's a bit of a mystery.

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The Sundance, Wyoming Rest Stop Memorials.

 Memorials at the Sundance Wyoming Rest Stop.

I usually don't put a bunch of memorials, even at one single spot, in one single post.  Each, I generally feel, deserves its own post as each is its own topic, in terms of what it commemorates.

 Black Hills Sign at the Sundance Wyoming Rest Stop.

I'm making an exception here, however, as these are grouped so nicely, they seem to require a singular treatment. 

The first item we address is the Black Hills sign. This sign discusses the Black Hills, which straddle the Wyoming/South Dakota border.

 Crook County sign.

The second sign discusses Crook County, named after Gen. George Crook, and in which Sundance is situated.

The sign oddly doesn't really go into Crook himself, but then its a memorial for the county, not the general.  Still a controversial general, Crook came into this region in the summer campaign of 1876 which saw him go as far north as southern Montana before meeting the Sioux and Cheyenne at Rosebud several days prior to Custer encountering them at Little Big Horn.  Crook engaged the native forces and then withdrew in a move that's still both praised and condemned.  At the time of the formation of Crook County in 1888 he was sufficiently admired that the county was named after him, at a time at which he was still living.

 Custer Expedition Memorial.

Finally, the Rest Stop is the location of an old monument noting the passage of Custer's 1874 expedition into the Black Hills, which is generally regarded as the precursor of the European American invasion of the Black Hills and the Powder River Expedition of 1876.  Obviously, it's more complicated than that, but its safe to say that the discovery of gold in 1874 gave way to a gold rush which, in turn, made conflict with the Sioux, who had taken over the Black Hills (by force) from the Crow, inevitable.

This memorial is interesting in the super heated atmosphere of today given that the historical view has really changed since 1940, when this roadside monument was dedicated (surprisingly late, I'd note, compared to similar Wyoming monuments). In 1940 Custer was still regarded as a hero.  By the 1970s, however, he was regarded in the opposite fashion, by and large, at least in terms of his popular portrays are concerned.  The 1874 expedition into the Black Hills is not favorably recalled in history now at all.

I have to wonder, however, in terms of the history if this expedition changed history the way it is recalled.  The Black Hills always seem to be an attractant.  They attracted the Sioux who took them (in living memory in 1874) from the Crows and it seems highly likely that they would would have attracted European Americans as well.  Certainly they continued to even after the hopes of gold seekers were dashed.

Regional History, Buffalo South Dakota

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American Legion Flagpole, Belfield North Dakota

An American Legion flagpole in the St. John's Ukrainian Catholic Church Cemetery outside of Belfield, North Dakota.

The Powder River Country, Braodus Montana

A lot of history in this region of Montana, and in the adjoining part of Wyoming.

Memorial to Wyoming Highway Patrolman Chris S. Logsdon, Wheatland Wyoming.

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Cheyenne Fallen Police and Fireman Memorial, Cheyenne Wyoming

United States Air Force Color Guard, Coors Field Colorado. Memorial Day Weekend 2017

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