USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume I > Part 20
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For representative purposes the territory was divided into six districts, which, with the number of members apportioned to each, were as follows: First, Lara- mie County, eight members ; Second, Albany County, five members; Third, Car- bon County, four members ; Fourth, Johnson County, one member ; Fifth, Sweet- water County, three members; Sixth, Uinta County, three members.
Other acts of this session were those providing for the better organization of the territorial militia; authorizing the secretary of the territory to procure a suitable block of granite, have it properly inscribed and forward it to Wash- ington to be placed in the Washington Monument as Wyoming's memorial stone; Vol. 1-12
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and amending the act relating to the territorial seal. The joint resolution of the two branches of the Legislature requested the reappointment of Governor Hoyt.
HALE'S ADMINISTRATION
William Hale, the fourth governor of the Territory of Wyoming, succeeded John W. Hoyt on August 3, 1882. He was born in the Town of New London, Henry County, Iowa, November 18, 1837. He received a liberal education, studied law, and was admitted to practice at Oskaloosa, Iowa, soon after he reached his twenty-first birthday anniversary. He began practice at Glenwood, Iowa; was elected to the Legislature of that state in 1863 and served as repre- sentative for four years; was presidential elector on the republican ticket for the Fifth Congressional district in 1868; and on July 18, 1882, was appointed governor of Wyoming by President Arthur. Soon after he took up the reins of government, Montana, through representatives in Congress, sought to obtain jurisdiction over the Yellowstone National Park. Governor Hale, although in failing health and suffering from physical pain, journeyed over two thousand miles to reach the park and establish there the civil and criminal jurisdiction of Wyo- ming Territory. This and other acts demonstrated his loyalty to the territory of which he had been appointed governor and so endeared him to the people of Wyoming that, when his administration was brought to an end by his untimely death on January 13, 1885. The Legislative Assembly appropriated $500 toward defraying his funeral expenses and erecting a monument to his memory, the appropriation being made by an act approved on March 12, 1886.
The territorial officers at the beginning of Hale's administration were: E. S. N. Morgan, secretary ; John C. Perry, chief justice ; J. B. Blair and Samuel C. Parks, associate justices ; J. A. Riner, United States attorney ; Gustave Schnitger, marshal; P. L. Smith, auditor; Francis E. Warren, treasurer; E. C. David, surveyor-general; E. W. Mann and Charles H. Priest, registers of the land office ; W. S. Hurlburt and E. S. Crocker, receivers of public moneys; M. E. Post, delegate in Congress.
EIGHTH LEGISLATURE
Only one session of the Legislative Assembly was held while Hale was gov- ernor, viz., the eighth, which was convened at Cheyenne on Tuesday, January 8, 1884. Among the more important acts of this session was the appointment of W. W. Corlett, Isaac P. Caldwell and Clarence D. Clark commissioners to revise and codify the territorial laws. Other acts were those authorizing county com- missioners to appropriate funds for sinking artesian wells; to encourage the organization of volunteer fire companies in towns and cities ; creating Fremont County ; and to provide for the education and training of juvenile delinquents.
Upon the death of Governor Hale, Secretary Morgan became acting governor and served in that capacity until February 27, 1885, when Francis E. Warren, treasurer of the territory, was appointed governor.
WARREN'S ADMINISTRATION
Francis E. Warren, fifth territorial governor of Wyoming, was born at Hins- dale, Mass., June 20, 1844. His ancestor, Dr. Joseph Warren, was one of the
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first men in the American colonies to advocate independence. At the beginning of the Revolutionary war he was commissioned general and was in command of the colonial forces at the battle of Bunker Hill, where he fell fighting for the liberty of his countrymen. Francis E. Warren was educated in the common schools and at Hinsdale Academy. In 1861 he left school to enlist as a private in Company C, Forty-ninth Massachusetts Infantry. His regiment was sent to the Department of the Gulf and while at New Orleans he was promoted to corporal. At the siege of Port Hudson he won a medal of honor for gallant conduct. In the spring of 1868 he came to Iowa as foreman of a construction gang on the Rock Island Railroad. From Iowa he came to Cheyenne, where he engaged in merchandising. In 1871 he formed a partnership with A. R. Converse, under the firm name of Converse & Warren. In 1878 Mr. Converse retired from the firm and the business was then carried on under the name of F. E. Warren & Com- pany for a few years, when Mr. Warren turned his attention to the live stock business. He was president of the Warren Live Stock Company and erected several buildings in Cheyenne.
From the time he became a resident of Cheyenne Governor Warren took a . commendable interest in public affairs. In 1872 he was one of the trustees of Cheyenne and the same year was elected a member of the Territorial Legislature. He served as president of the council in the Legislative Assembly and was treasurer of the territory for about six years. In 1885 he was elected mayor of Cheyenne and in February of that year was appointed governor of the territory by President Arthur. He was removed by President Cleveland in the fall of 1886, but was again appointed governor by President Harrison in March, 1889. When Wyoming was admitted as a state in 1890 Governor Warren was elected the first governor of the new state, but served as such only two weeks, when he was elected one of the first United States senators from Wyoming. His term expired in 1893 and the Legislature of that year failed to elect a senator, so that the state liad but one senator in Congress. In 1895 Mr. Warren was again elected and has served in the United States senate continuously since that time. His present term expires on March 4, 1919.
RIOT AT ROCK SPRINGS
In August, 1885, about six months after Governor Warren entered upon the duties of the office, the Union Pacific Railroad Company brought several hundred Chinese laborers into the territory, to work in the coal mines at Evanston, Rock Springs, Carbon and other places along the railroad. The white laborers claimed that the Chinese coolies had usurped their places in the mines by working for lower wages than the white miners would accept. On September 2, 1885, about two hundred armed men assembled at Rock Springs and attacked the Chinese. Several shots were fired and the Chinamen took to the hill, with their assailants in close pursuit. About fifty of the coolies were killed, after which the rioters returned to the coal camp and destroyed the property of the coolies. Fifty houses belonging to the railroad company were also destroyed, and some of the miners wanted to burn the Chinamen with the buildings. Chinese in the other coal camps, when they learned of the affair at Rock Springs, did not wait for further developments, but left the country at once.
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As soon as Governor Warren heard of the trouble at Rock Springs ( having no organized territorial militia that could be depended on) he telegraphed Gen. O. O. Howard, commanding the Department of the Platte, for troops to pre- serve order. General Howard promised to send a force sufficient for military protection, but he was slow in carrying the promise into execution and the gov- ernor appealed to the secretary of war. Troops finally arrived in time to prevent another massacre. Governor Warren was severely criticized at the time for giving protection to the imported laborers, but after the excitement died out it was generally recognized that he did the only thing he could do and be true to his oath of office as governor.
NINTH LEGISLATURE
On January 12, 1886, the ninth legislative session began at Cheyenne. This was the only session of the Legislative Assembly held during Governor Warren's first administration. The territorial officers at this time were: E. S. N. Morgan, secretary ; John W. Lacey, chief justice ; Jacob B. Blair and Samuel T. Corn, associate justices; Anthony C. Campbell, United States attorney; Thomas J. Carr, marshal; Mortimer N. Grant, auditor ; William P. Gannett, treasurer ; Joseph M. Carey, delegate in Congress.
An act defining the boundaries of certain counties was passed at this session ; county commissioners were required by another law to see that veterans of the Civil war were given decent burial; bounties were offered for the destruction of wild animals that preyed upon crops and live stock ; and provision was made for the incorporation of towns having a population of three hundred or more by the commissioners of the counties in which they were located.
CAPITOL BUILDING
On March 4, 1886, Governor Warren approved an act providing that "A capitol building, for the use of the territory, shall be erected in the City of Chey- enne, the capital of the territory, at a cost not exceeding the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars."
By the provisions of the act the governor was to appoint a building con- mission of five members, which should acquire a site by donation or otherwise, approve plans and award the contract for the construction of the building. Six per cent bonds to the amount of $150,000 were authorized (not more than $25,000 of which should be issued at any one time), payable twenty-five years after date, though the territory was given the option of redeeming one-tenth of said bonds at the expiration of fifteen years and one-tenth annually thereafter until all were paid.
Governor Warren appointed as capitol commissioners Erasmus Nagle, Charles N. Potter, Nathaniel R. Davis, Morton E. Post and Nicholas J. O'Brien. This commission erected the central portion of the capitol according to plans fur- nished by D. W. Gibbs & Company, A. Feick & Company being awarded the contract. (See Moonlight's Administration for further history of the capitol building. )
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PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS
By the act of March 9, 1886, an insane asylum was ordered to be built at Evanston, at a cost not exceeding thirty thousand dollars, and bonds to that amount, "or so much thereof as may be necessary," were ordered, with the pro- vision that none of the bonds should be sold for less than their par value.
Two days later an act was approved establishing an institution for the edu- cation of the blind, deaf and dumb. This institution was to be located at Chey- enne, and the act provided that "no institute shall be opened until there are twelve pupils ready who will enter said school, and when the number of pupils shall fall below the number of eight, then said institute shall be closed." An appro- priation of $8,000 was made for the support of the school for the first two years, and the governor was authorized to appoint a board of three trustees, to be confirmed by the legislative council.
The Legislative Assembly of 1886 also authorized the establishment of a territorial university, a history of which is given in the chapter on Educational Development.
BAXTER'S ADMINISTRATION
When President Cleveland removed Governor Warren, he appointed George W. Baxter as his successor. The story of Baxter's administration is soon told. as its duration was but forty-five days. Mr. Baxter was a native of Tennessee, where he was born on January 7, 1855. He was educated at Sewanee, Tenn., and at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he gradu- ated in 1878. The next three years he spent as a lieutenant on the frontier, and in 1881 he became a resident of Wyoming. In 1884 he purchased 50,000 acres of land from the Union Pacific Railroad Company. He afterward sold 20,000 acres and converted the remaining 30,000 into a cattle range. In order to fence his range he had to inclose the alternate sections belonging to the United States. This he did in the spring of 1885, after consulting attorneys as to his right to do so, and in August of that year President Cleveland issued his order prohibiting the fencing of Government land for range purposes. Mr. Baxter took the oath of office as governor on November 6, 1886, and soon afterward it came to the knowledge of the President that he had inclosed land belonging to the public domain. Mr. Baxter then resigned "by request" and retired from the governorship on December 20, 1886. He remained in the territory for some time after his resignation; was a delegate from Laramie County to the consti- tutional convention in 1889, and the next year was the democratic candidate for governor at the first state election. Not long after that he removed to Knoxville, Tenn. Nothing of importance occurred during the brief period that he served as governor.
MOONLIGHT'S ADMINISTRATION
Thomas Moonlight, the seventh territorial governor of Wyoming, was a native of Forfarshire, Scotland, where he was born on November 10, 1833. When about thirteen years of age he ran away from home and came to America
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as a forecastle hand on one of the sailing ships of that day. The vessel landed at Philadelphia and young Moonlight found himself in a strange land, penniless and without friends. His first employment in the United States was in a glass factory in New Jersey. In May. 1853. he enlisted in Company D, Fourth United States Artillery, and served in the Seminole war in Florida and on the frontier until 1859, when he retired from the army. He then purchased a farm in Leavenworth County, Kansas, and lived there until the breaking out of the Civil war. On June 7, 1861, he was mustered into the United States volunteer service as captain of a light battery which he had recruited, and ordered to Missouri. In September, 1862, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Eleventh Kansas Infantry, with which he was engaged in a number of battles in Arkansas and Missouri. In 1867 President Andrew Johnson appointed him collector of internal revenue for Kansas, which position he held until elected secretary of state in August, 1868. Colonel Moonlight then became actively identified with the political affairs of Kansas. He was chairman of the democratic state con- vention in 1880 and was the nominee of that party for governor in 1886, but was defeated. On December 20, 1886. he was appointed governor of Wyoming Territory by President Cleveland and served until after the inauguration of President Harrison in March, 1889. He then returned to Kansas, where he passed the remainder of his life.
Contemporary with Governor Moonlight, several changes were made in the territorial offices. Samuel D. Shannon was appointed secretary ; William L. Maginnis, chief justice; M. C. Saufley and Samuel T. Corn, associate justices ; Anthony C. Campbell, United States attorney ; Thomas J. Carr, marshal ; Morti- mer N. Grant, auditor; Luke Voorhees, treasurer : Joseph M. Carey, delegate in Congress-reëlected in 1886.
TENTH LEGISLATURE
The tenth session of the Territorial Legislative Assembly convened at Chey- enne on January 10, 1888, with J. A. Riner president of the council and L. D. Pease speaker of the house. This was the only legislative session held during Moonlight's administration. A general banking law was passed at this session ; county commissioners were given greater power in the matter of sinking artesian wells; and an act for the protection of grazing lands was passed. A controversy between the governor and the Legislature arose over the erection of public build- ings. An act providing for the completion of the capitol building, the university buildings, the insane asylum, and for the establishment of a penitentiary at Rawlins and a poor asylum "at or near Lander" was vetoed by the governor. chiefly on the gorunds that the appropriations therefor were excessive. The act was passed over the governor's veto on March 2, 1888, by the required two- thirds majority of each house.
CAPITOL BUILDING
The appropriation for the completion of the capitol building, amounting to $125,000, seems to have been the principal "bone of contention." the governor claiming that the additions proposed would cost much more than the amount
STATE CAPITOL, CHEYENNE
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appropriated, and that the building in its present condition was sufficient for the needs of the territory until more money could be raised without placing a heavy burden of taxation upon the people. Nevertheless, the Legislature passed the bill over Mr. Moonlight's veto, as already stated. It provided for the appoint- ment of a new capitol commission, and after its passage the governor appointed Lawrence J. Bresnahan, George W. Baxter, Andrew Gilchrist, Arthur Poole and John C. Baird as the new commissioners. The council rejected ex-Governor Baxter and at first refused to confirm the appointment of Mr. Bresnahan. Thomas A. Kent was then appointed in place of Mr. Baxter. The commission organized by electing Mr. Bresnahan chairman and John C. Baird secretary. D. W. Gibbs & Company, who furnished the plans for the central portion, also furnished the plans for the east and west wings, which were built under the auspices of the above named commission, by Moses P. Keefe, contractor. The present east and west wings were not completed until 1917.
Time demonstrated that there was some reason in the governor's objections to the bill. The institutions named were finally completed according to the original designs, but the expense proved a heavy burden for a young state to carry, the bonds issued having been assumed by the State of Wyoming when it was admitted into the Union. A history of all these institutions will be found elsewhere in this volume.
WARREN'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION
Francis E. Warren was reappointed governor by President Benjamin Har- rison on March 27, 1889, to succeed Governor Monnlight, and his second admin- istration proved to be the last under the old territorial regime. The Legislature of 1888 had adopted and sent to Congress a memorial asking that Wyoming be admitted, and it was generally conceded that the prayer of the memorialists was to be granted. An act of Congress, admitting the state, was approved by President Harrison on July 10, 1890, but the territorial government continued in force until the following October.
ELEVENTH LEGISLATURE
The eleventh and last session of the Territorial Legislature began at Cheyenne on January 10, 1890. The territorial officers at that time were as follows: Francis E. Warren, governor : John W. Meldrum, secretary ; Willis Van Devan- ter, chief justice ; M. C. Saufley and Clarence D. Clark, associate justices ; Ben- jamin F. Fowler, United States attorney; Thomas J. Carr, marshal ; Mortimer N. Grant, auditor; Luke Voorhees, treasurer; Joseph M. Carey, delegate in Congress.
The members of the Legislative Assembly at this session seemed to realize that the admission of the state was a certainty. Consequently a number of acts passed were in the nature of "setting the house in order" for the new government. An election for state officers was held in September, 1890, and on the 11th of October the Territory of Wyoming, with its twenty-two years' eventful career, passed into history.
CHAPTER XII
ADMISSION TO THE UNION
DREAMS OF STATEHOOD-MEMORIAL OF 1888-PRESENTED TO CONGRESS-BILLS INTRODUCED-ACTION IN WYOMING-GOVERNOR WARREN'S PROCLAMATION- CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION-LIST OF DELEGATES BY COUNTIES-ACT OF AD- MISSION-CAREY CONGRATULATED-CELEBRATING THE EVENT-FIRST ELECTION FOR STATE OFFICERS.
During the first few years of Wyoming's existence as an organized territory, considerable dissatisfaction was manifested over the appointment of non-residents to conduct the territorial government. After a while this dissatisfaction disap- peared, at least so far as open expression was concerned, though there were many of the resident population who cherished the dream of the time to come when they would be able to have a state government of their own. The census of 1880 showed Wyoming's population to be 20,789, and the talk of asking Congress to pass an act admitting Wyoming to statehood began. Nothing definite was done, however, until February 7, 1888, when the following memorial was intro- duced in the Territorial Legislature :
"Resolved by the Council and House of Representatives of the Tenth Legis- lative Assembly of the Territory of Wyoming, to memorialize the Congress of the United States as follows :
MEMORIAL
"The Tenth Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Wyoming, in session assembled, respectfully represents to the Congress of the United States the fol- lowing :
"The organic act of the territory was approved on the twenty-fifth day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight; the organization was completed on the nineteenth day of May, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine; as organized, the terri- tory has existed for nearly nineteen years.
"Its coal fields are numerous and extensive, have been much worked, and are seemingly exhaustless ; its iron, soda and oil fields are extensive and rich and are seemingly exhaustless ; its native grasses are various, abundant and highly nutri- tious ; contrary to former impression, its capacity for vegetable culture is remark- able, aided by irrigation.
"An extensive system of skilled irrigation has been established, is rapidly increasing and admits of large and indefinite expansion.
"In his report to the secretary of the interior for 1885, the then governor (Warren) stated the number of live stock in the territory, consisting of horned
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cattle, sheep, horses and mules, at 3,100,000 head ; and their valuation at $75,- 000,000 ; and in his report to the secretary for 1886, the number as increased, and the value as exceeding seventy-five million dollars; the two years were periods of exceptional market depression in live stock values, the last much more than the first.
"The long, extensive and accurate experience of that governor with the subject, and his sound and practical judgment entitle his statements to especial respect.
"The report to the secretary for 1887, by the present governor (Moonlight) does not state the number or valuation for that year: but it shows improved methods in the raising of horned cattle are in promising progress ; and that horse and sheep cultures have become extensive, are rapidly increasing, are conducted with superior intelligence, and represent large investments and fine breeds. The unmistakable ability and intelligence evinced by the report render it worthy of full confidence.
"It is plain to ordinary observation, that nature intends. Wyoming for a great railway area of the west division of the continent and a great railroad highway for transcontinental traffic. The Union Pacific Railway traverses the southern belt of the territory; another trunk Pacific railway has been completed partially across the territory ; and the construction of a third has nearly reached its eastern boundary.
"The lines finished, lateralization will follow according to the inevitable law of trunk line development. Other important railroads are also operating, and ordinary observation can easily foresee that within the next fourth of a century the territory will be gridironed over hy a complete railway system.
"A free public and compulsory system of education is well advanced here.
"The above data are moderately stated, and prepare the mind to accept the estimate of the present population of the territory, which is stated in the gov- ernor's report for 1887 at 85.000. This assembly confidently accepts the report as correct on the subject.
"It is manifest that the prosperity and welfare of the people of this territory will advance, under state institutions, far beyond what can be realized in a terri- torial condition.
"This Legislature respectfully requests of Congress such legislation as will enable the people of the territory to form a constitution and state government. and for the admission of such state into the Union of the United States of America on an equal footing with the original states thereof; and that such legislation may embrace ample and gratuitous grants to such state government by the Federal Government of the lands of the latter, lying within the territory. for the support of common schools, for the erection at the capital of the state of public buildings for judicial and legislative purposes, or to promote the con- struction of such buildings; and also for the erection of a penitentiary or state prison, the donated lands and the proceeds thereof to be employed as the Legis- lature of such state government may direct, in respect to the support and conduct of the schools and the erection or construction of such judicial, legislative and penitentiary buildings, and that such legislation may further provide that a proper per centum of the proceeds of the sales of all public lands lying within said state. which shall be sold by the United States, subsequent to the admission of said
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