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Crow Indians, Sheridan Stampede, July, 1914. Photo by G. Lumbard.

Rodeos have been a part of the American West since at least 1869 when a Fourth of July contest for the title "Champion Bronco Buster of the Plains" was held in what is now Deer Trail, Colorado. By the end of the 19th Century local festivals featuring parades, rodeos, county fairs had become a distinctively American phenomenon. Just about every small down celebrated some local distinction, often portraying a fictionalized local legend. An example is Lusk's "Legend of Rawhide," providing an explanation (of sorts) as to the naming of Rawhide Buttes. Examples from elsewhere include New Orlean's Mardi Gras, Tampa's Gasperilla and Pasadena's Rose Parade. The writer's wife came from a small town which had its annual "Peanut Exposition." Almost all towns in Wyoming have had its festival or rodeo. The most famous, Cheyenne's Frontier Days, was inspired by Greeley, Colorado's Potato Day. Cheyenne's was not, however, the first in Wyoming. To that honor goes Lander which had its first rodeo in 1896, a year before Cheyenne. Other rodeos, often held in conjunction with the Fourth of July and some of which are gone now, included those of Cody started in 1903, the Lusk Roundup, Jackson Frontier Days, Story Wild West Rodeo, Moorcroft Frontier Days, Pinedale Roundup, the Casper Stampede and rodeos in Dubois, Shoshoni and Encampment.
Where else can one find something so elegant as Rawlins' annual "Outhouse Race," held in July of each year? And in Sheridan fairs, parades, and rodeos with cowboys and Indians have been conducted since at least the 1903 Industrial Fair.

 

Credits from Wyoming Online Tales and Trails.

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The trolly line was started in 1910 with a public subscription.

The fact that the rodeo and the Fourth of July are intertwined and represent the epitome of the American cowboy is best illustrated by the legend of Pecos Bill first written of by Edward O'Reilly in 1923 in the Century Magazine and later popularized by Iowa lawyer Harold W. Felton. It will be recalled that Pecos Bill was reared by coyotes, was able to tame mountain lions and rattlesnakes, and had a horse, "Widow-Maker" which nobody could ride but Bill. The centerpiece of the tale was, however, the Fourth of July Rodeo at which Bill rode a cyclone, not any cyclone, but The Cyclone. The Cyclone had become jealous of the attention given by the townspeople to the Rodeo and Bill and decided to break things up. Bill's response was to rope The Cyclone and ride him -- the most bodacious bronco busting rodeo there ever was.

 

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Sheridan, looking north, 1890's.

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The brick building on Main with the bunting is the Meyer-Barr Building constructed in 1902. The bottom floor has housed at different times a restaurant, a saloon, a music company and a book, stationery store and gallery. Upstairs there have been an Eagles aerie, a Knight of Columbus and and a business school. The four-story building on the right is the City Hall.

C. H. Grinnell was with J. R. Phelan and George T. Beck a founder in 1893 of the Sheridan Fuel Co., the first commercial mining company in the Sheridan area. Beck was a partner with Wm. F. Cody in the founding of Cody, Wyo. Beck was also the Democratic candidate for governor in 1902. Grinnell, on the other hand was in his electorial efforts more successful in the same year, being elected city water commissioner.

The first cabin in the area of Sheridan was constructed in 1878 by Oliver Perry Hanna (1851-1934) at Big Horn to the southwest of present day Sheridan. Hanna established a farm with Jno. Bennefiel on Goose Creek. Only two years before Hanna constructed his cabin, the area of the confluence of Big and Little Goose Creeks was the site of Gen. George Crook's base camp in the so-called "Horse Meat Campaign." Hanna had been a soldier with Gen. Crook's forces.

Sheridan was laid out in 1882 on a 40-acre plot by John D. Loucks, who drew the plat on the back of a sheet of wrapping paper. Based on his drawing, professional surveyors laid out the town, the plat was approved, and a post office established with Loucks as the first contract postmaster. Loucks' compensation on a commission basis for the first three months was $13.45. The City was incorporated two years later in 1884 with Loucks the first mayor. Loucks, a Civil War veteran, named the City after his old commanding officer. In 1888, Sheridan County was formed from Johnson County and the city was designated as the seat in a contest with Big Horn and Dayton.

The railroad arrived in 1892. Coal mining commenced the following year. By 1900 the city had a population of over 1500 and by 1910 a population of approximately 12,000. The city served as the headquarters for John Kendrick's OW ranch which was moved to the area from Old Woman Creek in present day Niobrara County. Nearby, Malcolm and William Moncreiffe, established a ranch i

Many of the streets in the original section of town were named by Loucks for other early settlers. Works Street is named after James Works, an early cattle drover.

The domed building is the County Courthouse constructed in 1905 at a cost of $55,400.55. In October, 2004, the County celebrated the 100th Anniversary of the courthouse.

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Sheridan Elks Lodge No. 520., 45 W. Brundage, approx. 1915.

 

The Lodge is the oldest Elks lodge in the state. The building was constructed at a cost of $65,000.

The Mint Bar, still in business at 151 N. Main St., was established in 1907. The practice of riding horses into saloons was noted, with perhaps some sense of disapprobation, by Theodore Roosevelt in his book Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail. Roosevelt observed that cowboys "when drunk on the villainous whiskey" would "cut mad antics" such as riding their horses into the saloons. Indeed, the custom continues. A website devoted to the Town of Ten Sleep notes, with apparent pride, that photographs have been taken of cowboys and their horses in the town's two saloons. One of Webmaster's son's fraternity brothers allegedly modernized the practice by driving his pickup truck into a saloon

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During prohibition the Mint Bar continued to operate, although quietly. Upon the repeal of prohibition it officially reopened and operated slot machines, roulette and gaming tables in the back. In the late 1940's it was remodeled to the style seen below. The bar's interior decorations include an 8 ft. 4 inch long rattlesnake hide having 37 buttons on its tail, a copy of Russell White Bear's map of the Custer Battle and photos by Charles J. Belden. Its interior has also been featured in a French television commercial.

"Grain Belt" Beer, featured on the sign, has no particular relationship to Sheridan or Wyoming. It was brewed in Minneapolis and later in Omaha. Its history dates back to 1850, when John Orth, a German immigrant commenced brewing in Minneapolis. In 1893, the brand name was adopted. The original brewery closed in 1976. The brand name still continues. Sheridan did, however, have its own brewery, the Sheridan Brewery, maker of "Sheridan Export" and "Sheridan Pale" remained in business from 1885 to 1954.

 

 

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