Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-09
LAST STOP IS LANDER
Prosperous Wyoming Town at
End of New Railway.
AT FOOT OF SNOW PEAKS
Surrounded by a Land Rich i'll
Scenery and Minerals.
GREAT OUTLOOK FOR OIL WELLS
Plan to Pipe Product Across the
Plains to omaha-Unique Fourth
of July Celebration.
GREAT OUTLOOK FOR OIL WELLS
BY WILLIAM r. CIRTIS
Special Correspondence Of The Star anh the
Chicago Record Herald

| of snow-clad SUBMITS. with Fremont
peak. 1000 feet high, IL the back
ground. The town of Lander, at the end
! of the track, occupies one Of the most
| beautiful sites that nature ever designed
! for city. 1t has been famous as
camping ground since 1892, when Capt.
| Bonneville. the explorer. stopped here to
| spend the winter before trying to cross
the mountains. because the situation of
| fered so many of the attractions as we'll
as the essentials of a military canton
! ment. The Shoshone Indians chose it
/! for their home because of the climate.
the fuel, the water, the grass and the
rich soil, and the War Department To-
Gated Fort Washable here for similar
reasons
| The little city sits in the center of
great amphitheater several miles wide,
and almost entirely inclosed by the Wind
river range of the Rocky mountains. The
citizens have scenery as we'll as good
soil, which are not often found in COM
bination. The mountains are wonder
land full of freaks of nature and
| minerals of all kinds. Hamln Garland
exploring them, says that he found
twenty-five lakes within twenty five
miles of Lander. These lakes and the
melting snow feed nnumera BILE brooks
river pronounced Poposha by the
| natives), deep. swift stream of trans
parent water which rushes off as fast as
1t can go, without stopping to turn the
land. or do one hundredth part of the
useful things it is capable of doing if
it only has chance. No city has bet
ter or more abundant water, either for
drink, power or irrigation.
Lander an Old Town.
Lander is an old town. one of the old
est in Wyoming, and dates back to 1855
when Fort Washable was established
here, but long before that date it's at
fractions were discovered.
| After the Mountain Meadow massacre
| OF an overland train of emigrants. who
were on their way to California, by the
Mormons in 1866 Congress made an APP
| preparation for the construction of a
government road from the Missouri to
| the Pacific, which would enable them
| to reach the coast without passing
| ritory. The work was commenced in the
spring of 1857, and the military escort
| was In command of Col. +. w. Lander,
who wintered in 1913 the Popo Agile
| river, two miles northeast of where the
| town of Lander stands. He
described it as one of the most beauti-
| full sites for winter camp that can be
| imagined, with an abundance of fresh
4
horses and mules, game of all sorts for
| fresh meat and completely protected by
| the range of mountains. This was the
beginning of Lander. and when the ex-
| petition moved south to Rocky Ridge
| the first of June, 1858 B. F. Lowe To-
Gated a town site there and named it
| in honor of the commander. Before leav-
| ing. Col Lander negotiated treaty
with Chief Washable of the Shoshone
tribe for a right of way through their
! country for the new road, and paid
them on the spot in horses. blankets,
arms. ammunition and other articles.
| He made several surveys through the
/ Rocky mountains, and was the only sur
! vivor of one party which was attacked
and overwhelmed by Indians. In 1861
| he returned to the east. was appointed
! a brgadier general and served in the
army of the Union until his death, in
! 1SGo.
Wife Lived in Washington.
! Gen. Lander's wife was Jean Margaret
| Davenport. a famous actress, who was
| the reigning favorite at the outbreak of
| the war. but left the stage and served
as nurse in the hospitals at Washing
ton. until 1865, when she returned to
| her profession Upon retirement in the
seventies she bought residence on
Capitol Hill in Washington, and resided
| there until her death.
| Lander is the county seat OF Fremont
county and it stands very near the geo
/ graphical center of Wyoming Since Oc-.
/ tober. 1906. 1t has been the terminus of
/ the Northwestern railway and added
/ thousand to. its population within a year
| after that date. II now has about LEO
/ people-the boomers claim 25oO-and, be
/ ing county seat. has a courthouse. II
/ has also federal land office, and the
/ United States circuit and district courts
| sit here. Senator Warren has already Sc
cured appropriation. for a one-hun-
Nd f.,itl 1.tItl
! ing with site that will cost $1,000.
/ There is a handsome Carnegie IL
1 brary. model schoolhouse and all
the ether requirements of city.
! with Roman Catholic. Episcopalian,
/ Methodist and Baptist churches. a. club
of representative citizens entertains WIS
! itors with generous hospitality and looks
/ after the interest OF the town In the leg
| islature and in its relation with the world
| at large. The streets are clean and we'll
| kept, the houses are neatly painted and
| surrounded by door yards of lawn and
| flowers, while the main street has a mile
Of wide concrete sidewalks stretching
from the railway station out into the
| prairie
Saloons Closed Sometimes.
| There is handsome hotel several sub
stantial business blocks, and a stranger
would never suspect that he was al the
end of the track" except for the freedom
| enjoyed by the saloons and gambling
/ houses, which are wide open seven days
! and nights each week, and never close
except for three hours. from N to l
, o'clock on Sunday This restriction Is
| difficult 10 appreciate. One gentleman told
| me that it was intended TO give the par
tenders opportunity 10 rest up, to darn
! their stockings and TO brush their clothes.
another said il was to give them an OPP
| portunity to go TO church and Sunday
| school, a third explained that it was 10
| give their customers the benefit of the
| gospel. which otherwise they would be so
unseltSh as to deny themselves out of re-
/ spect TO the saloons il the latter were not
/ shut up during church time.
! But the most reasonable theory of the
| many that were offered is OF a state law
| recently passed requiring all saloons III
Wyoming TO shut w tight during the
hours OF public worship. The late legisla-
ture also prohibited all country wayside
saloons, and it is now unla wful for any
one to sell liquor outside of an incorpo-
| rated town. 1t prohibited the introduc-
/ ton OF liquor. even by individuals, into
mining camps, lumber camps. railway
construction camps, irrigation conStruc-
ton camps, sawmills and all other places
| where gangs of Workmen are engaged in
any form of employment II also fixed
| a minimum of 81 600 for licenses, and linn
tied the number of licenses that should
he issued i'll proportion to the population.
4 Those laws explain the reasons why the
number of saloons in Lander was sud
denly reduced from seventeen to nine. and
| why the latter have to pay 81 900 for
their licenses.