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Records regarding establishment of Ten Sleep located
TEN SLEEP – Back in 1931, the people of Ten Sleep constructed a city water system, and in an effort to secure bonds to pay for the project, solicited the Washakie County Board of Commissioners to formally establish the Town of Ten Sleep. Upon the recommendation of the commission, the town held a special vote in 1932 and the residents agreed to incorporate.
After a recent request by the United States Department of Agriculture to verify incorporation in order to secure a loan for a sewer project, Town Clerk Lori Hughes has been working to put the pieces together, soliciting the local museum, county clerk, and state archives to locate incorporation documentation.
Although Hughes admits that records have been lost since the original town hall flooded in the 1980s, the office can only produce a handful of primary documents and maps that show the town’s attempt to incorporate in 1931.
In December 1931, as evidenced by minutes from the county commission, Ten Sleep residents Leo D. Rhodes, Walter B. Fiscus and Paul Frison (the first mayor) were appointed as “Inspectors, who shall at once call an election of all qualified electors residing within the territory embraced within the limits of said territory as set forth and described and platted in said petition and the map of filed in said matter.” The commission continued, instructing the three men to “Conduct said election as required by law, and shall report the result of the ballot to this Board, which report shall be filed with the County Clerk of Washakie County.”
Prior to the election, Leo Rhodes hosted the plat map and petition to incorporate for voters to review at the Ten Sleep Mercantile. As noted by Rhode’s “Notice of Intention” dated Nov. 9, 1931, the original plotted town would be incorporated under the name of “Tensleep.”
According to an article published in the Jan. 14, 1932, issue of the Worland Grit, “Washakie County has another incorporated town as a result of an election held at Ten Sleep Monday when the people by a vote of (92-38) decided to incorporate the town of Ten Sleep.”
After the article in the Grit, the trail grows dim for factual recording of Ten Sleep’s incorporation. The Secretary of State’s office has no record of the incorporation or establishment, along with county and town archives and records.
In a letter dated from 2006, from former Ten Sleep Mayor Fred Firnekas to the State Department of Revenue, Property Tax Division, the Town of Ten Sleep states that the town was incorporated on May 1, 1933, although no documentation exists to prove the claim. According to Clerk Lori Hughes, this is the date provided by the Wyoming Association of Municipalities.
Town Attorney Sandra Kitchen of Powell said municipalities need only to file a petition and have an election. She said the Worland Grit article was the record for the election.
“We just needed to know the election was positive and that’s the record,” Kitchen said. “What we needed was proof the election was positive and the town didn’t have any of the records (because of the fire) but we found it in the newspaper.”
She added the USDA wanted the town to show it was legally established as a town. “What they needed was an election, that the people elected to have it established, they don’t incorporate, and the newspaper reported the election was favorable and it was established,” she said.