USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume I > Part 25
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"Section 1. There shall be a great seal of the State of Wyoming, which shall be of the following design, viz .: A circle 21/4 inches in diameter, on the outer rim or edge of which shall be engraven the words, 'Great Seal of the State of Wyoming,' and the design shall conform substantially to the following description :
"A pedestal showing on the front thereof an eagle resting upon a shield. said shield to have engraven thereon a star and the figures '44,' being the num- ber of Wyoming in the order of admission to statehood. Standing upon the pedestal shall be the draped figure of a woman, modeled after the statue of the 'Victory' in the Louvre, from whose wrists shall hang links of a broken chain, and holding in her right hand a staff, from the top of which shall float a banner with the words 'Equal Rights' thereon, all suggesting the political position of woman in this state. On either side of the pedestal, and standing at the base thereof, shall be male figures typifying the live stock and mining industries of Wyoming. Behind the pedestal, and in the background, shall be two pillars. each supporting a lighted lamp, signifying the light of knowledge. Around each pillar shall be a scroll with the following words thereon: On the right of the central figure the words 'Live Stock' and 'Grain,' and on the left the words 'Mines' and 'Oil.' At the base of the pedestal, and in front shall appear the figures '1869-1890,' the former date signifying the organization of the Territory
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of Wyoming, and the latter the date of its admission to statehood. A fac simile of the above described seal is here represented and is made a part of this act.
"Section 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage."
The seal authorized by this act is still in use by the state. Among the other acts passed at the second session was one redistricting the state for judicial purposes : another authorized the completion of the penitentiary at Rawlins; and a memorial to Congress asked that body to pass an act remonetizing silver.
THE SENATORIAL DEADLOCK
When Joseph M. Carey and Francis E. Warren were elected United States senators in 1890, the latter drew the short term and the election of his successor formed part of the duty of the Legislature of 1893. Twenty-five votes were required to elect, and the political complexion of the Legislature was such that no party could count on a clear majority of the votes. Senator Warren was a candidate for reelection, but there was some opposition to him within the lines of his own party. The several populists in the Legislature tried to control the balance of power and force the election of a member of that party to the Senate. The first ballot was taken on January 24, 1893, when sixteen candidates were voted for, Warren (republican) receiving eight votes; Kuykendall (democrat), seven votes; and Tidball (populist), six votes, the other candidates receiving each a smaller number.
On the 26th Warren received thirteen votes, the highest number he received at any time during the session, the balloting continuing from day to day without results. New candidates were introduced from time to time, in the hope that a "dark horse" might win the race. The populist members of the Legislature held a caucus and unanimously nominated Mrs. I. S. Bartlett as their candidate, this being the first time in the history of the United States that a woman was nominated by a legislative caucus for United States senator. Throughout the deadlock the populists gave Mrs. Bartlett their united vote. On February 8th Stephen W. Downey received twenty-one votes, and on the 15th Gen. J. C. Thompson received twenty-four, only one short of the necessary majority. This vote was followed immediately by an adjournment of the joint session, and before the next ballot was taken some sort of a combination was formed to prevent Thompson's election. The Legislature adjourned without electing a senator, and on February 23, 1893. Governor Osborne appointed Asahel C. Beckwith of Uinta County for the term beginning on March 4, 1893, or until the Legislature should elect. The United States Senate refused to recognize the appointment, however, and Wyoming had but one senator in Congress until the next session of the Legislature.
COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION
As already stated, the Legislature of 1891 authorized the appointment of a board of World's Fair managers and appropriated $30,000 for an exhibit of Wyoming's products and resources at Chicago in 1893. Elwood Mead, state engineer, was made a member of the board, ex-officio, and the other members
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appointed by the governor were: John McCormick, of Sheridan; Frank O. Williams, of Saratoga; Louis D. Ricketts, of Cheyenne; and John S. Harper, of Sundance. The national commissioners from Wyoming were A. C. Beckwith and Henry G. Hay, with John McCormick and Asa S. Mercer as alternates.
Mrs. I. S. Bartlett, of Cheyenne, was appointed a member of the board of lady managers by the United States, and the members of the board appointed by the state commissioners were : Mrs. F. H. Harrison, Mrs. Frances E. Hale, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Stone and Mrs. G. M. Huntington.
At the exposition the state made its greatest effort in the department of mining, showing samples of gold and silver ore, lead, oil, asphalt, iron, coal and mica. In the exhibit was a solid block of asphalt as large as an ordinary freight car. An interesting feature of the Wyoming exhibit was an illustration of the method of placer mining, using gold-bearing gravel taken from the placers of the state. A fine collection of the fossil remains of the state-fossils of birds, reptiles, etc .- was also shown, as well as petrifactions from the submerged forest near Rawlins.
Thirty-two prizes were awarded the state on its mineral display, and in the agricultural exhibit highest mention was given to wheat and potatoes, besides the twenty-two medals awarded on wheat, barley, buckwheat, flax, native grasses, etc. In his message to the Legislature of 1897, Governor Richards said :
"The display of mineral and agricultural products made by Wyoming at the World's Columbian Exposition was in every way creditable to the state. The handsome photographs of scenery have been distributed in the various offices of the state capitol, while a large portion of the mineral exhibit has been stored away in the basement of the statehouse. The principal part of the agricultural exhibit was turned over to the authorities of the State University, with the agreement that it should be carefully preserved until such time as the Legislature should make arrangements for its final disposition."
Considering that Wyoming was a state only three years old, with its natural resources practically untouched, the exhibit was one that attracted wide attention and it served a good purpose in rendering the rest of the world acquainted with the vast mineral and agricultural possibilities of a region that only a few years before had been marked on the maps of the United States as the "Great American Desert."
ELECTION OF 1894
The political campaign of 1894 was opened by the republican party, which held its state convention at Casper on the first day of August. William A. Richards, of Red Bank, was nominated for governor: Charles W. Burdick, of Saratoga, secretary of state; William O. Owen, of Laramie, auditor of state; Henry G. Hay, of Cheyenne, treasurer of state : Charles N. Potter, of Cheyenne, justice of the Supreme Court ; Estelle Reel, of Cheyenne, superintendent of public instruction : Frank W. Mondell, of Newcastle, representative in Congress.
The platform indorsed the McKinley tariff bill ; declared allegiance to the cardi- nal principles of the party; favored liberal pensions to veterans of the Civil war, and the establishment of compulsory courts of arbitration : urged the free coinage of both gold and silver at the ratio of sixteen to one ; and declared
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that "the history of the last nineteen months has again demonstrated the unfitness of the democratic party to administer the affairs of the nation," etc.
On August 8, 1894. the democratic state convention met at Cheyenne and nominated the following ticket: W. H. Holiday, of Laramie, governor; Daniel W. Gill, of Cheyenne, secretary of state ; James M. Fenwick, of Albany County, auditor of state; John Stone, of Evanston, treasurer of state; Samuel T. Corn, justice of the Supreme Court ; A. J. Matthews, of Rock Springs, superintendent of public instruction; and H. A. Coffeen was nominated for representative in Congress.
The democratic platform adopted by the convention indorsed the national platform of 1892; expressed confidence in President Cleveland and indorsed his administration; declared in favor of a further reduction in duties upon im- ports ; recommended legislation authorizing the election of United States senators by popular vote ; commended the administration of Governor Osborne; favored a "thorough overhauling of the assessment and revenue system and the equaliza- tion of taxes;" and declared in favor of the remonetization of silver on the old ratio of sixteen to one.
This year the populists and democrats failed to unite on a fusion ticket. A populist convention assembled at Casper on August 9. 1894, and nominated L. C. Tidball, of Sheridan, for governor : D. W. Elliott, of Laramie County, secre- tary of state; J. F. Pierce, of Sweetwater County, auditor of state; W. F. Wil- liams, of Johnson County, treasurer of state; W. T. O'Connor, of Laramie County, justice of the Supreme Court; Mrs. J. R. Rollman, of Carbon County, superintendent of public instruction ; S. E. Seeley, of Albany County, representa- tive in Congress.
The principal planks in the populist platform were those declaring in favor of the free coinage of both gold and silver at the ratio of sixteen to one, and the denunciation of the use of Federal troops in the strike of the American Railway Union in the summer of 1894.
The election was held on November 6, 1894, and resulted in the election of the entire republican ticket. Miss Reel's plurality for superintendent of public in- struction was 4,458, the largest received by any candidate. Governor Richards plurality was 3,184, and the Legislature contained forty-eight republicans, six democrats and one populist. Governor Richards was inaugurated on January 7, 1895, and the administration of Governor Osborne came to an end.
CHAPTER XV
FROM RICHARDS TO BROOKS
W. A. RICHARDS' ADMINISTRATION-THIRD LEGISLATURE-VALUE OF PUBLIC BUILD- INGS-REVISING THE STATUTES-STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY-MEMORIALS TO CONGRESS-POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1896-FOURTH LEGISLATURE-TRANS- MISSISSIPPI EXPOSITION-CAMPAIGN OF 1898 DE FOREST RICHARDS' ADMINIS- TRATION-FIFTH LEGISLATURE-OUTLAWRY-ELECTION OF 1900-SIXTH LEGISLATURE-GOVERNOR'S RESIDENCE-PAN-AMERICAN EXPOSITION-ELECTION OF 1002-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE-LOUISIANA PURCHASE EXPOSITION-CH.AT- TERTON'S ADMINISTRATION-CAMPAIGN OF 1901-BROOKS ADMINISTRATION- EIGHTH LEGISLATURE-LEWIS AND CLARK EXPOSITION-ELECTION OF 1906.
WILLIAM A. RICHARDS' ADMINISTRATION
William A. Richards, who was elected governor of Wyoming in 1894. was born at Hazel Green, Wis., March 9, 1849. He was educated in the schools of his native state and at Galena, Ill. In 1889 he was appointed surveyor- general of Wyoming and held the position until 1893. The next year he was nominated for governor by the republican party and was elected on November 6, 1894. His administration began on January 7, 1895, and lasted until January 2. 1899. While he was governor the Spanish-American war occurred and in the summer of 1898 Governor Richards spent some time at San Francisco, Cal., looking after the interest and welfare of the Wyoming troops before their departure for the Philippine Islands. An account of Wyoming's participa- tion in this war is given in another chapter. On March 4. 1899. about two months after the conclusion of his term as governor, Mr. Richards was appointed assistant commissioner of the United States general land office and removed to Washington, D. C.
THIRD LEGISLATURE
The third State Legislature convened at Cheyenne on January 8, 1895, the day following the inauguration of Governor William A. Richards. In his message, the governor reviewed the condition of the state and among other things gave the value of public buildings as follows :
State Capitol, Cheyenne $295.649.59
State University, Laramie 80,753.95
Insane Asylum, Evanston 66,667.66
Poor Farm, Lander
5.053-39
Vol. 1-15
225
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Deaf, Dumb and Blind Asylum, Cheyenne 7,919.30
Penitentiary, Rawlins 56,875.35
Penitentiary, Laramie 2,170.49
Fish Hatchery, Laramie
7,279.90
Miners' Hospital, Rock Springs
24,267.58
Total $546,637.21
Among the recommendations of the governor was one for the establishment of a soldiers' home, and in response an act was passed providing for the appoint- ment of a board of commissioners, authorized to establish and maintain the Wyoming Soldiers' and Sailors' Home, for the support of which 30,000 acres of land were appropriated.
On February 14, 1895, Governor Richards approved the act accepting the conditions imposed by the act of Congress, approved on August 18, 1894, grant- ing large tracts of arid lands to the states, with the stipulation that they be irrigated by the states. The act of Congress is known as the "Carey Act," its author having been Senator Joseph M. Carey, of Wyoming. (See chapter on Irrigation, etc.)
Another act of the third Legislature was the one dividing the counties of the state into four classes. All having an assessment of $5,000,000 or over were designated counties of the first class, those having a valuation of from $2,000,000 to $5,000,000 constituted the second class; the third class were composed of the counties having an assessed valuation of from $1,100,000 to $2,000,000, and all in which the valuation of property was less than $1,100,000 were designated as fourth class counties. In all except the first class the offices of county clerk and clerk of the courts were consolidated, and the county treasurer was also made the county assessor.
An act fixing the fees and salaries of county officers was passed at this session, and also one providing that all state officers should be paid monthly. Other acts of the session provided for the recording of live stock brands; for the organization of the Wyoming National Guard ; to prevent the killing of buffalo within the state limits; authorizing the payment of one dollar bounty on each coyote killed in the state and three dollars for each gray or black wolf, and appropriating $25,000, "or so much thereof as might be necessary" for the pay- ment of said bounties ; enlarging the powers of incorporated towns by authorizing them to grant franchises and make contracts for telephone service, lighting the streets with gas or electricity, and to grant franchises for street railways operated by horse, cable or electric power.
REVISING THE STATUTES
By an act passed at the third session of the State Legislature the governor was authorized and required to "appoint three persons learned in the law as a committee to revise, simplify, arrange, consolidate and prepare for publication all the statutes of the state." Governor Richards appointed J. A. Van Orsdel, Clarence C. Hamlin and Hugo Donzelmann, who presented their report to the next session, but the Legislature refused to accept it and the justices of the Supreme Court then went over the work and the laws were published by authority of the
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HISTORY OF WYOMING
Legislature of 1899 as the "Revised Statutes of Wyoming," the first revised laws ever published by authority of the state.
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The Legislature of 1895 created the Wyoming State Historical Society and made an annual appropriation of $250 for its support. The governor, secretary of state and the state librarian were constituted an executive board to have charge of the expenditure of the appropriation in the purchase of books, maps, charts, documents, etc., illustrative of the history of the Northwest, and particu- larly of the State of Wyoming. The executive board was also authorized to procure and bind files of Wyoming newspapers and was required to report biennially to the Legislature. Robert C. Morris was chosen as the first secretary of the society and under his direction a volume of historical collections was published in 1897.
MEMORIALS TO CONGRESS
In 1895 a majority of the people of the states west of the Missouri River, irrespective of party affiliations, were in favor of the free coinage of both gold and silver at the ratio of sixteen to one. On February 11, 1895, Governor Richards approved a memorial to Congress protesting against the proposed issue of bonds by the Federal Government "as a movement in the East, on the part of New York bankers to force the country to a gold basis." Copies of the memorial were sent to Senator Joseph M. Carey and to Representative Henry A. Coffeen, with instructions to use their influence in opposition to the bond issue.
Another memorial asked Congress to set apart a region included in a certain number of townships within ranges 113 to 119, as a national park. The district embraced within those boundaries includes the upper waters of the Snake River, the Teton Mountains and Jackson Lake, in what is now the northern part of Lincoln County. Congress failed to grant the request, however, chiefly for the reason that the proposed park would be too close to the Yellowstone National Park al- ready established.
Memorials asking for the acquisition of a tract twenty miles square from the Wind River reservation, to include the Big Horn Hot Springs; for the passage of an act by Congress submitting to the states a constitutional amendment pro- viding for the election of United States senators by popular vote; for the restric- tion of foreign immigration, and to permit the State of Wyoming to sell the lands granted by the act of admission for less than ten dollars per acre, were also adopted by the Legislature, approved by the governor and forwarded to Congress.
The deadlock in the election of United States senator in 1893 left Wyoming with but one senator, and as Joseph M. Carey's term expired on March 4, 1895, the Legislature of that year was called upon to elect two senators. The choice fell upon Francis E. Warren and Clarence D. Clark, who took office upon March 4, 1895.
POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1896
The year 1896 was a "Presidential year," the only state officers to be elected in Wyoming being a justice of the Supreme Court and a representative in Con-
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HISTORY OF WYOMING
gress. Interest in the national campaign centered upon the money question. The republican national convention was held in St. Louis and nominated William McKinley, of Ohio, for President, and Garret A. Hobart, of New Jersey for Vice President. The platform indorsed the act of 1873 demonetizing silver and declared in favor of the gold dollar as the standard unit of value. The democratic national convention met in Chicago. William J. Bryan, of Nebraska, and Arthur Sewall, of Maine, were nominated for President and Vice President, respectively, upon a platform declaring in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold as primary money at the ratio of sixteen to one.
In Wyoming the two state conventions indorsed the action of the national conventions. The republicans nominated H. V. S. Groesbeck, former chief justice, for justice of the Supreme Court and Frank W. Mondell was renominated for Congress. The democratic state convention named Samuel T. Corn for justice of the Supreme Court and ex-Governor John E. Osborne for representa- tive in Congress. The people's party made no nomination for Supreme Court justice but William Brown was the candidate of that party for Congress.
At the election on November 3. 1896, the democratic presidential electors- John A. Martin. Patrick J. Quealy and Daniel L. Van Meter-carried the state by a plurality of 303; Samuel T. Corn received 10,461 votes for justice of the Supreme Court to 9.985 for Judge Groesbeck ; and John E. Osborne defeated Frank W. Mondell for Congress by a vote of 10.310 to 10,044. William Brown, the populist candidate for Congress, received 628 votes in the state. Although the democrats elected the state officers, the Legislature elected in 1896 was com- posed of thirty-seven republicans and twenty democrats on joint ballot.
FOURTH LEGISLATURE
On January 12, 1897, the fourth State Legislature, and the second under Gov. William A. Richards' administration, assembled at Cheyenne. The senate organized by electing George E. Abbott, of Cheyenne, president, and A. D. Kelley. of Cheyenne, was chosen speaker of the house. In his biennial message Governor Richards announced that the assessment of the property in the state was $30,- 028,694.65. He also called the attention of the Legislature to the deficit of $56,454.70 in the state funds, due to the suspension of T. A. Kent's bank on July 20. 1893. The governor closed that part of his message relating to the financial condition of the state as follows: "The credit of Wyoming is very good, judging from the value of our bonds. In December. 1896, state bonds bearing 6 per cent interest were quoted on the New York market at a figure net- ting the investor 3.75 per cent. But one state west of the Missouri River is rated higher than Wyoming."
On the subject of irrigation of state lands he said: "The most important measure enacted by the third State Legislature was the law providing for the reclamation and settlement of the land granted the state under the Carey Act. As Wyoming was the first state to accept the trust, and is the only state where lands have been segregated and contracts made for their reclamation, it is the only state where the success or failure of state control can be studied."
He announced that during the year 1896 a total of 482 irrigating ditches had been surveyed, and that the average length of these ditches was about one mile.
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or a total of 480 miles, and predicted an era of prosperity for Wyoming when her irrigating systems should be completed.
The Wyoming General Hospital. located at Rock Springs, was seriously damaged by fire on January 4, 1897, and on February 8th Governor Richards approved an act of the Legislature appropriating all the money received as in- demnity from insurance companies (not exceeding fifteen thousand dollars) for rebuilding the institution. An appropriation was also made for completing the penitentiary at Rawlins.
To encourage the production of sugar beets and the manufacture of beet sugar in the state, an act was passed at this session exempting from taxation for a period of ten years all property employed in the production of sugar.
By the act of February 24, 1897, the state accepted the grant of one mile square of land in the northeastern part of the Shoshone Indian reservation, upon which are located the Big Horn Hot Springs, with all the conditions imposed by the act of Congress granting the said land to the State of Wyoming.
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI EXPOSITION
In the latter part of November, 1895, the second Trans-Mississippi Congress met in Omaha, the first having been held in St. Louis in the fall of the preceding year. At the Omaha meeting a committee of five was appointed to prepare resolutions. William J. Bryan, as chairman of that committee reported a resolu- tion, among others, "That the United States Congress be requested to take such steps as may be necessary to hold a Trans-Mississippi Exposition at Omaha during the months of August, September and October, in the year 1898, and that the representatives of such states and territories in Congress be requested to favor an appropriation as is usual in such cases to assist in carrying out this enterprise."
That resolution was the first move toward the exposition that was held in Omaha from June to November. 1898. During the month of February, 1897. the department of promotion sent excursions to the capital cities of several of the Trans-Mississippi states to present the matter of the exposition project to the state officials and such state legislatures as might then be in session. One of these excursions visited various cities in Wyoming and the adjacent states. The Wyoming Legislature of that year adjourned without making any appropriation for an exhibit of the state's products at the fair. An attempt was made to raise a fund of $7,000 by asking each county in the state to appropriate its part in proportion to the assessed valuation of the property of the county. This plan failed and a committee, composed of Elwood Mead, state engineer, Frank P. Graves of the State University, and Governor Richards, was chosen to solicit and receive private donations to a fund for an exhibit at Omaha.
This committee went to Omaha and selected space for an exhibit and the railroad companies operating in Wyoming agreed to transport all the articles of the display free of charge. Several thousand dollars were contributed by the citizens of the state, several of whom also had private exhibits of their products at the exposition. Dr. David T. Day, director of the Government mining exhibit, Prof. W. C. Knight and J. T. Crawford, state land appraiser, arranged the Wyo- ming exhibit, which was in charge of Mr. Crawford, who received nothing for his
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