Also see Specific Destinations, Travel and Location Humor.

Page Toppers

• Autumn in Cheyenne
• Give Me a Home in Wyoming
• Let Me Wake Up in Wyoming
• Like No Place On Earth
• Roamin' to Wyomin'
• Somewhere West of Laramie
• Welcome to Wyoming

Quotes

• Our lifestyle, our wildlife, our land and our water remain critical to our definition of Wyoming and to our economic future. (Dave Freudenthal)
• There's a feeling you get driving down to Casper at night from the north, and not only there, other places where you come through hours of darkness unrelieved by any lights except the crawling wink of some faraway ranch truck. You come down a grade and all at once the shining town lies below you, slung out like all western towns, and with the curved bulk of mountain behind it. (Annie Proulx)
• Vice President Cheney is also on vacation. He's in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. What better place for a guy who has had four heart attacks than a place with thin air, rugged hiking and all-beef dinners? Why don't they get some snow for him to shovel while he's out there, too? (Jay Leno)
• Wyoming is the friendliest state I have ever been in, even friendlier than Texas or Nevada. Almost everybody, one point among many, has a nickname. (John Gunther)

Wyoming Symbols

• Nicknames: The Equality State; The Cowboy State; The Sagebrush State; The Wonderland of America
• Slogan: Like No Place On Earth
• Motto: Equal Rights
• Song: Wyoming (words by Charles E. Winter, music by G. E. Knapp)
• Mammal: Bison
• Bird: Western Meadowlark
• Fish: Cutthroat Trout
• Reptile: Horned Toad
• Tree: Plains Cottonwood
• Flower: Indian Paintbrush
• Fossil: Knightia (herring) and Triceratops
• Dinosaur: Triceratops
• Gemstone: Nephrite Jade

Facts About Wyoming

• Capital: Cheyenne
• Residents: Wyomingites
• State Name Origin: possibly from a Delaware word meaning "mountains and valleys alternating"
• Admitted to Statehood: 10 Jul 1890
• Order of Admission: 44th state
• Length: 360 miles
• Width: 280 miles
• Area: 97,814 square miles
• Size Rank: 10 (but it has the lowest population)
• Number of Counties: 23
• Streams and Rivers: 108,767 miles
• Geographic Center: 58 miles ENE of Lander in Fremont Co.
• Mean Elevation: 6,700 feet
• Highest Point: Gannett Peak, 13,804 feet
• Lowest Point: Belle Fourche River, 3,099 feet
• Agricultural Products: cattle, sheep, wheat, beans
• Commercial Products: oil and petroleum products, coal, natural gas, wool
• Average Annual Rainfall: 13.3 inches
• Average Winter High Temperature: 15 degrees
• Record Low Temperature: -63 degrees (9 Feb 1933 Riverside)
• Average Summer High Temperature: 85 degrees
• Record High Temperature: 114 degrees (8 Aug 1983 Basin)
• Official Language: English
• More information about Wyoming

Items of Interest

• Wyoming is the home of the first national park, Yellowstone National Park (designated in 1872); the first national forest, the Shoshone National Forest (designated in 1891) and the first national monument, Devils Tower (designated in 1906).
• This was the first state to grant women the right to vote, in 1869.
• The largest coal mine in the USA is located near Wright
• The JCPenney stores were started in Kemmerer

Notable Natives

Some of these were born here, others just lived a while in the state.

• Joe Alexander - rodeo star
• James Beckwourth - fur trapper and guide
• James Bridger - explorer, trapper, guide
• Joseph M. Carey (1845-1924) - first U.S. senator from WY, governor, mayor of Cheyenne
• Richard "Dick" Cheney (1941- ) - U.S. vice president, White House Chief of Staff, congressman, Secretary of Defence (grew up in Casper)
• Red Cloud - Sioux Chief
• William "Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846-1917) - well-known wild west performer, founder of Cody, WY
• John Colter - trader
• Peggy Simpson Curry - author and artist
• Nancy Curtis - publisher
• Boyd Dowler - football player
• June Etta Downey - educator
• Thomas Fitzpatrick - mountain man, guide
• Curt Gowdy (1919- ) - sportscaster, co-host of ABC's Monday Night Football (Green River)
• Leonard S. Hobbs - developed turbo jet engine (Carbon county)
• Tom Horn - detective
• Henry Jackson - painter and sculptor
• Isabel Jewell - actress
• Velma Linford - writer
• Patricia MacLachlan (1938- ) - children's author (Cheyenne)
• Esther Hobart Morris (1814-1902) - first woman Justice of the Peace in the U.S., crusaded for women being able to vote
• Ted Olson - writer
• John Phillips - frontiersman
• Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) - abstract artist (Cody)
• Nellie Davis Tayloe Ross (1876-1977) - first woman governor in the US, 1925-27; first woman to head the U.S. Mint
• Alan K. Simpson (1931- ) - senator
• Elinore Pruitt Stewart - author
• Jebediah S. Smith (1799-1830) - mountain man, explorer, first American to get to CA from the east
• Alan Swallow - publisher, author
• Washakie - Shoshone leader
• James G. Watt (1938- ) - former secretary of the Interior (Lusk)
• Francis E. Warren (1844-1929) - first state governor

The Wyoming State Flag
The flag is a blue rectangle with a narrow white border and then a wide red border. A white bison is in the center with the state seal on it. The woman represents the state motto "Equal Rights" and the men represent ranchers and miners. The words "Livestock", "Mines", "Grains" and "Oil" represent the main sources of wealth. The eagle and shield show support of the US. The 1869 is when WY territory was organized. The 1890 is when it became a state.

You know you are from Wyoming if...

• "Vacation" means going to Cheyenne for the weekend.
• You have ever uttered the term "Greenie!"
• It's "BIG NEWS" if a non-Wyoming friend saw a celebrity once.
• Down south to you means Colorado.
• All the festivals across the state are named after terrain features or Indian tribes.
• You know what a Jackalope is.
• You know that Devils Tower is in Wyoming and that it is not where the devil lives.
• You know that Yellowstone is in Wyoming, not Montana.
• You know that Wyoming is in the United States, not Canada. (Or a suburb of Denver)
• You drink pop; not soda.
• You never knew there was a taxi service in your town.
• You only paid $5.00 to cut your own Douglas Fir Christmas tree.
• You pawned a snow blower instead of a set of golf clubs.
• The elevation is five times higher than the population on the city welcome sign.
• There are more oil pumping units than trees.
• Antelope outnumber the sheep.
• Wide open spaces mean 120 miles to the next rest stop.
• You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Wyoming.

Songs about Wyoming

• Emperor of Wyoming - Neil Young (1969)
• Give Me a Home in Wyoming - Patsy Montana (1936)
• Hills of Old Wyomin' - Sons of the Pioneers (1936)
• Let Me Wake Up in Wyoming - The Westernaires (1941)
• My Sweet Wyoming Home - Bill Staines (1977)
• Oh Why, Oh Why, Did I Ever Leave Wyoming - Dick Jurgens (1947)
• Roamin' to Wyomin' - Paul Whiteman Orchestra (1923)
• Someday in Wyoming - Gene Autry (1934)
• Why Wyoming - Kellie Coffey (2002)
• Wyoming - Mantovani and His Orchestra (1951)
• Wyoming on My Mind - Sons of the San Joaquin (1995)

Songs about Cheyenne

• Autumn in Cheyenne - Al Caiola (1961)
• I Can Still Make Cheyenne - George Strait (1996)
• Leavin' Cheyenne - Ian Tyson (1983)
• Shy Anne from Old Cheyenne - The Prairie Ramblers (1940)
• Stagecoach to Cheyenne - Wayne Newton (1966)
• Waltz to Cheyenne - Chris Wall (1998)

Songs about Laramie

• I've Got a Gal in Laramie - Dick Thomas (1945)
• Laramie Waltz - Chris Nole (2002)
• Laramie, Wyoming - Richard Fontaine (2007)
• Lights of Laramie - Ian Tyson (1991)
• Man From Laramie, The - Studio 99 (2006)
• Somewhere West of Laramie - Dave Stamey (2007)