100 Years Ago
June 17, 1920
A Terrifying Experience
Another example of the poor service received by people of this region at the hands of U.P train officials and of the notorious lack of courtesy and attention on the part of main line trainmen, occurred last Thursday evening, when Miss Regina Jensen, daughter of Mrs. Gustave Jensen of Saratoga, returning on train No. 19 from Laramie, where she had been attending school, was unloaded on the prairie nearly a mile west of Walcott, at which station she wished to leave the train. The trainmen who helped the young lady from the train when it finally came to a stop, told her it would be necessary for her to walk to the station, but gave her no instructions as to which way to go nor how far it might be to a station, and the train steamed on west, leaving her to shift for herself.
Miss Jensen had occupied a seat in the observation car from Laramie, and when told that the train had reached her station, she naturally supposed that the engine had stopped near the depot, hence she started walking in the same direction the train had taken. Carrying a heavy suitcase, her coat and other aritcles, she walked on west in the darkness, hoping to discover the lights of the town, but finally, after following the railroad track for a mile or more, over dangerous bridges and other places where a mis-step in the darkness would have meant death or serious injury, and discovering no signs of civilization, she decided that she was totally lost, as well as almost exhausted from carrying her luggage over such a distance.
With rare presence of mind, Miss Jensen then decided to flag an oncoming train, and waved her coat as a signal, but the train thundered past without stopping, as did also a second one. A third train, a freight traveling west, stopped at her signal, however, and she was taken aboard at a point some two or three miles west of Walcott and transported to Rawlins, where she spent the night, and returned to Walcott on a local passenger train the next morning.It is said by railroad men that trainmen have positive intructions in such cases that they must either back up to the station with passengers or else carry them to the next station without charge. Even the latter course would have been much preferred by Miss Jensen to being sat down in a bleak and lonely part of the country at midnight without knowledge of her whereabouts, and would have saved her a very frightful and harrowing experience.
It would be altogether fitting for the Union Pacific company to see that the conductor of this train is suitably rewarded for his outrageous conduct, and such a flagrant breach of all the rules of courtesy and public service.
75 Years Ago
June 14, 1945
68,000 3-in. Rainbow Planted Last Week
Sixty-eight thousand three-inch Rainbow trout were planted in local streams the latter part of last week, according to Supt. Lloyd T. Pullum of the Fish and Wildlife hatchery here. The plants were made, he said, in order to thin out the stock in the hatchery and avoid crowding of smaller fish being raised for the coming planting season. The distribution was in charge of Deputy Warden Don S. Simpson.
Plants were made as follows: Platte River, near Savage ranch, 34,000, Cedar creek, 17,000; and North Spring creek, 17,000.
Sput. Pullum said a few more plants will be made next week, which will include more Rainbow, and a quality of the “albino” brook trout, of which the hatchery now has a large supply. Some of the albinos will also be taken to the Hanna section, and to areas on the Laramie side of the Snowy Range.
Supt. Pullum said the annual planting season will get underway the latter part of August, and indicated that he will have plenty of fish for distrubution this year.
50 Years Ago
June 11, 1970
Large Oregon Log to Roll into Town June 17
Ten Oregon Jaycees who are taking a giant log to St. Louis, Mo., for exhibit at the 1970 United States Jaycees convention, will be honored at a water skiing party and a picnic Wendesday evening at the Saratoga Lake.
Saratoga will be the only stop in Wyoming the Oregon Jaycees will make on their trip from Oakridge, Ore., to St. Louis. They will be honored at a picnic by the Saratoga Jaycees, Saratoga Lions Club and Edward Hines Lumber Co.
The log is a 400 year old Douglass Fir, 32 feet long, 70 inches in diameter, and 22 feet in circumference. The log scale of this tree is 7,000 feet with a lumber product yield of approximately 8,500 feet. This is an ample supply to build a complete three bedroom home.
When the log arrives in St. Louis, it will be auctioned to a sawmill operator with the proceeds going to the Shriners crippled childrens hospital in that city.
25 Years Agoi
June 7, 1995
Trasher named to Northeastern honor roll
Cody Thrasher, a sophmore at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, CO, was recently named to the President’s Honor Roll for the 1995 sping semester.
He is studying turf managment and is employed this summer as a supervisor for the Riverton Country Club.
Thrasher is the son of Robert and Julie Thrasher of Lander and the grandson of Zilpha Thrasher of Saratoga and Dorothy Cleveland of Laramie/Saratoga.
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