Around the 307
News, commentary, and other items of interest from the greater Wyoming landscape.
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Here are Cowboy State items of interest from the week of June 23rd, 2024:
Monday, June 24th, Cowboy State Daily published this interesting story about Grizzly 399 and her cub Spirit (also known by some as Rowdy). The article provides an update on how the bears are doing and speculates that lone cub Rowdy has a better chance of staying alive when compared to some of his past siblings given that Mom 399 isn’t taking him near civilization. You may recall the spectacle of Grizzly 399 and her quadruplets roaming through south Jackson and other neighborhoods a few years ago in search of food. In her 28 years, matriarch Grizzly 399 has had at least 18 cubs, 10 of which have died. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that Rowdy beats the odds and makes a wild go of it once he leaves Mom 399 next spring.
Wednesday, June 26th the Cody Enterprise published this story covering the contest between Park County and Campbell County to become the final location for a proposed $10 million state shooting complex. The Wyoming State Shooting Complex Oversight Task Force is charged with making a recommendation to the governor about where to build the facility. Of the nine localities initially proposed to host the shooting complex, the field has been winnowed to four—Cody, Gillette, Casper and Cheyenne.
Friday, June 28th at noon, miraculously Teton Pass (Wyoming Highway 22) reopened to traffic only three weeks after being devastated by a catastrophic landslide! The interim detour around the Big Fill landslide at milepost 12.8 is roughly 600 feet long, with a grade of 11.2 percent and has a sharper curvature. The speed limit will be reduced to 20mph through the area. Read the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) press release here and also this story in the Jackson Hole News & Guide. WYDOT is now working on next steps for the complete road rebuild.
Lastly—here are a some Wyoming historical events (some well known, others obscure) that occurred during the month of June.
June 17th, 1881—Frontiersman Jim Bridger dies; the words on his headstone summarize his life:
Celebrated as a hunter, trapper, fur trader and guide. Discovered Great Salt Lake 1824. The South Pass 1827. Visited Yellowstone Lake and Geysers 1830. Founded Ft. Bridger 1843. Opened overland route by Bridger’s Pass to Great Salt Lake. Was guide for U.S. exploring expeditions, Albert Sidney Johnston’s army in 1857, and G.M. Dodge in U.P. Surveys and Indian campaigns 1856-66. This monument is erected as a tribute to his pioneer work by Maj. Gen. G.M. Dodge.
A weathered and grizzled Jim Bridger. [Photo courtesy of the Buffalo Bill Center for the West.] June 17th, 1921—a lightning strike near Casper lit Midwest Oil Company tanks on fire. The tanks burned for 60 hours and consumed more than a half million gallons of oil.
[Photo Courtesy Roy Buchanon Collection, Casper College Western History Center.] June 14th, 1988—the first of over 200 wildfires begin burning in Yellowstone National Park and adjacent national forests. More than 9,000 firefighters battled the wildfires as they consumed 793,880 acres or 36 percent of the park. Only the arrival of cool and moist weather in the late autumn finally brought the fires to an end.
That’s all for today ladies and gents! Thanks for reading and have a great week!
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