Today in History

Dec. 21: In 1933, a bill to introduce a state income tax failed.

Dec. 22: In 1942, it was announced that a major butane plant would be built by Continental Oil Company at Lance Creek. Lance Creek saw a huge boom in oil activity during World War II. (The population of the Niobrara County town -- as of the 2010 census --- was 43.)

Dec. 23: In 1889, a monument was erected in Natrona County Wyoming to S. Morris Waln and C.H. Strong, who had been murdered by their guide while hunting and prospecting in the Spring of 1888. Waln was from Philadelphia, and Strong from New York City, and they hired a guide/cook from Denver. The guide was later tried and convicted in Colorado of horse theft but was never tried for the Wyoming murders.

Dec. 25: In 1882, the first recorded turkey dinner in Wyoming took place at Ft. McKinney.

Dec. 26: In 2008, a swarm of over 900 earthquakes occurred in Yellowstone over a wide area. The earthquakes measured up to 3.9 on the Richter Scale.

Dec. 27: In 1899, a shipment of 500 cats from New Jersey, being sent to the Philippines for "rat control," passed through Laramie, Wyoming, on the Union Pacific Railroad.

Information from Wyoming Historical Society via Wyoming News Exchange.