Jeffrey City, Wyoming

Jeffrey City is a census-designated place (CDP) and former uranium mining boomtown located in Fremont County, in the central part of the U.S. state of Wyoming. The town is famous in Wyoming and the American West as symbol of a boomtown that went “bust” very quickly, as the mine was shut down in 1982 and over 95% of the inhabitants left the town within 3 years. The population was 58 at the 2010 census, far lower than its onetime population of several thousand people.

History

Jeffrey City began in 1931 as "Home On the Range, Wyoming," the 640-acre (2.6 km²) homestead of a Nebraska couple named the Petersons, who relocated because Mr. Peterson was sick after having been gassed in World War I. Mrs. Peterson opened two gas pumps when the highway came through, and began cooking for those who stopped. The Post Office at Split Rock, 14 miles (23 km) away, closed in 1943, and Mrs. Peterson took up the task of handling the ranchers' mail. She canceled the letters with "Home on the Range." She retired her post office cancellation stamp in 1957 when Home on the Range became Jeffrey City. Her family members are currently restoring the old Home on the Range post office site.

Wyoming

Wyoming ⁱ/waɪˈoʊmɪŋ/ is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The state is the 10th largest by area, but the least populous and the second least densely populated of the 50 United States. The western two-thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High Plains. Cheyenne is the capital and the most populous city in Wyoming, with a population estimate of 62,448 in 2013.

Geography

Location and size

As specified in the designating legislation for the Territory of Wyoming, Wyoming's borders are lines of latitude, 41°N and 45°N, and longitude, 104°3'W and 111°3'W (27° W and 34° W of the Washington Meridian), making the shape of the state a latitude-longitude quadrangle. Wyoming is one of only three states (along with Colorado and Utah) to have borders along only straight latitudinal and longitudinal lines, rather than being defined by natural landmarks. Due to surveying inaccuracies during the 19th century, Wyoming's legal border deviates from the true latitude and longitude lines by up to half of a mile (0.8 km) in some spots, especially in the mountainous region along the 45th parallel. Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. It is the tenth largest state in the United States in total area, containing 97,814 square miles (253,340 km²) and is made up of 23 counties. From the north border to the south border it is 276 miles (444 km); and from the east to the west border is 365 miles (587 km) at its south end and 342 miles (550 km) at the north end.

Wyoming (schooner)

Wyoming was a wooden six-masted schooner, the largest wooden schooner ever built. It was built and completed in 1909 by the firm of Percy & Small in Bath, Maine.Wyoming was also one of the largest wooden ships ever built, 450 ft (140 m) from jib-boom tip to spanker boom tip, and the last six-masted schooner built on the east coast of the US.

Because of its extreme length and wood construction, Wyoming tended to flex in heavy seas, which would cause the long planks to twist and buckle, thereby allowing sea water to intrude into the hold (see hogging and sagging). Wyoming had to use pumps to keep its hold relatively free of water. In March 1924, it foundered in heavy seas and sank with the loss of all hands.

Description

Wyoming was 329.5 feet (100.4 m) long and 50 ft 1 in (15.27 m) wide, with a draft of 30 ft 5 in (9.27 m). It had a volume of 373,054 cubic feet (10,563.7 m³), that is, a gross register tonnage (GRT) of 3730.54. After subtracting the volume consumed by the helm and crew quarters and other areas not suitable for cargo, she had a cargo capacity of 303,621 cubic feet (8,597.6 m³), or a net register tonnage of 3036.21. Its deadweight was 6,004 long tons, that is, the weight of the ship fully loaded, including the crew, cargo (6,000 tons), fuel, water and stores, less the weight of the ship when totally empty (4,000 tons), was 6,004 long tons. It could carry 6,000 long tons of coal. Wyoming was built of yellow pine with 6" planking and there were 90 diagonal iron cross-bracings on each side.

Wyoming (1928 film)

Wyoming is a 1928 American Western silent film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and written by Ruth Cummings, Madeleine Ruthven and Ross B. Wills. The film stars Tim McCoy, Dorothy Sebastian, Charles Bell, William Fairbanks and Chief John Big Tree. The film was released on March 24, 1928, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Cast

References

External links