Wyoming
People And Places That Make Wyoming Special
A man is seen along West Lincoln Way on Saturday July 20, 2024 in Cheyenne, WY. Wyoming became a … [+]
Wyoming is famous for its rugged scenic beauty, as I discovered on a recent visit. But the state’s people and places are as interesting as the vistas.
Southeast Wyoming grew quickly following the arrival of the Union Pacific Railroad in Cheyenne in November 1867. Cheyenne was called the “Magic City of the Plains,” growing to 5000 people by 1868. Cheyenne became a hub for railroad maintenance, shipping and the cattle boom. The town became the capital of the Territory and later the state of Wyoming.
Erasmus Nagle, who made his in lumber, cattle and groceries, spent $50,000 building what is now known as The Nagle Warren Mansion in 1888. It was one of the costliest homes west of the Mississippi, but Nagle could afford to live on Millionaire’s Row. At his death just two years later, he was one of the richest men in Cheyenne, worth a half million dollars.
Today the mansion has been restored as the Nagle Warren Mansion Bed and Breakfast. Its furnishings, wallpaper, cherry, mahogany, and oak woodwork and stained-glass windows are right out of the American Old West period.
However, Francis E. Warren, later the state’s first governor and U.S. senator, remarked on the “rough and tumble” atmosphere of early Cheyenne. “Every man slept with from one to a half-dozen revolvers under his pillow, for depradations [sic] of every character could be expected at any hour, day or night.” Such lawlessness no doubt led to the 1872 construction of the Wyoming Territorial Prison in Laramie.
After Nagle’s death, the house was eventually sold to Senator Warren in 1910. General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, Buffalo Bill Cody, Teddy Roosevelt and President William Howard Taft all were guests at the mansion.
A breakfast table is set for guests at the Nagle Warren Mansion, a bed and breakfast in downtown … [+]
I stayed in the Pershing room. It had red wallpaper, a vast king-size bed with a carved wooden frame, a carved wooden fireplace, and portraits and photos of the General looking stern, even with his family. Evening reading was a vintage copy of the Hemingway-edited “Men at War,” with “the 37 best war stories of all time.”
Jas Barbe, proprietor of the Mansion, is a colorful character who has been a hospitality consultant and a Cordon Bleu graduate and Michelin-starred chef. He was the owner of a buffalo herd in Centennial, Wyoming, after returning from Vietnam.
In 2021, it became his mission to restore the elegant residence once known as the “Duchess of Cheyenne.” As he serves the beautiful breakfast he cooks for guests, Barbe will entrance you with backstairs tales of The Nagle Mansion, where the ornate hand carved ceilings and stairs and the restored library and parlor takes one back to the Western version of the Gilded Age.
Cheyenne is also home to the Wild J Trading Hat Bar and Boutique, operated by Jennifer Thompson. Ms. Thompson helps men and women create their own customized cowboy hats, accessorized with hat bands, feathers, threads, stars, playing cards, fabric roses and even spent cartridges. I chose to add a coyote and a cactus, as well as yellow feathers, part of an anti-suicide campaign spurred by the death of a local cowboy.
Owner Jennifter Thompson shows off one of the cowboy hats she has personalized with hat bands, … [+]
In Laramie Country, Las Vegas transplant Chad Brown, created Laramie County’s first licensed distillery in Pine Bluffs. Brown came from Las Vegas to open Pine Bluffs Distilling. The growing distiller is family owned and operated, and all grains are locally grown and malted on site. Variants like 5 grain whiskey, straight rye whiskey, oat whiskey, wheated bourbon, vodka and gin can be tried in the tasting room, straight or as cocktails.
Like the Nagle Warren Mansion in Cheyene, the Laramie Plains Museum at the Historic Iverson Mansion shows what life was like for the wealthy in late 19th Century Wyoming. The mansion has a collection of Victorian fixtures and furnishings, kitchenware and old appliances, and even a one-room schoolhouse.
I wore my new hat to Torrington, a Wyoming agricultural town where one can see a livestock sale in real time. Improbably, Torrington is home to the Bread Doctor, a bakery that draws regular customers from as far away as Montana.
The origins of the popular bakery are simple. Owner Edzan Fluckinger is a doctor who came to Torrington more than 20 years ago to provide medical services. He and his wife have a daughter with Down’s Syndrome. Fluckinger learned to bake and eventually created the bakery, with the thought of having a place where his daughter could work.
The bakery employs many of Torrington’s young people, including his daughter. And its breads, pastries and carefully decorated cakes are delicious.
The Bread Doctor at work: Dr. Edzan Fluckinger, a medical doctor, is also the baker and owner of the … [+]
The city of Laramie is home to “U Dub,” or the University of Wyoming. In 1998, Matthew Shepherd, a gay student, was beaten to death near Laramie. One of the murals that are part of the Laramie Mural Project commemorates the “angels” who held sheets up like wings at the courthouse, to protect Shepherd’s family from homophobic demonstrators.
Today the city has a bohemian vibe. It has brewery and mural tours, as well as many shops and restaurants travelers will enjoy. Even the most confirmed carnivore will find something at Melissa Murphy’s 25-year-old vegetarian restaurant, Sweet Melissa, which also includes a full bar.
“What did you do for financing?” I asked Ms. Murphy. “I borrowed $2,000 from my mother 25 years ago.” She says tourists fanatically look for vegetarian restaurants, and that the students and faculty of the University have also been key customers.
Another Laramie success story is The Range Leather Company, which crafts wallets, journals, pocketbooks, business card holders and bands for Apple Watches. Range also does custom work imprinting a city name or company brand on its leather goods. Owner Kyle Koster started leather work at his kitchen table in 2014 as a hobby. Range now employs over 25 people. Its three key tenets are on its web page; Full Grain Leather, Made In The USA, and a Forever Guarantee.
Jim Osborn (middle) is the central figure of a mural in downtown Laramie alongside fellow angles … [+]
Ruth Williams, owner of Sugar Mouse Cupcake House (“a little piece of England in downtown Laramie”) also has an interesting story. The tall, elegant Williams is originally from Essex, where she met her husband, who was on a Mormon mission. They married and she followed him to Laramie. She raised their six children and worked providing childcare.
But Williams had a cause; she became passionately involved with helping girls and young women ensnared in Cambodia’s sex trade. She started selling cupcakes at the Farmer’s Market to generate revenue, using recipes she had learned in England using rich cream and real sugar. After a rainstorm ruined hundreds of cupcakes, she knew she needed a storefront.
Sugar Mouse is now a frilly pink tea house for afternoon tea, with scones, crumpets, soup of the day, English stew and, of course, cupcakes. A children’s tea house in the basement is under way.
I ended my tour of Southeast Wyoming with lunch at The Malt in Saratoga, (“Burgers, BBQ, and Whiskey”) drinking a “boozy malted” Irish coffee. Then it was off to soak in a teepee at the mineral springs at the Saratoga Hot Springs Resort and enjoy a steak at 130-year-old Hotel Wolf (“Discover the Wild West”) before sadly returning to Los Angeles.
Ruth Williams, owner of Sugar Mouse Cupcake House in Laramie, Wyoming. She is pictured here in the … [+]
Katie Chandler, who works as a bartender at Kate’s Bar in Evanston, can spot Utah residents right away. They’re the adults looking self-consciouslyover their shoulders before ordering a beer and a shot, like middle schoolers breaking the rules.
Chandler gives them a sweet smile when she serves them their drinks, along with a piece of friendly, free advice.
“I always warn the people from Utah to be careful,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “Because we are at a much higher elevation, and you do get drunker quicker.”
Chandler, an Idaho transplant who has lived in Evanston for five years, experienced this while barhopping the first time in Evanston. She was drinking about one 5% seltzer an hour, which normally wouldn’t be a problem for her.
But after the second one in as many hours, it felt as if she’d downed twice as many drinks in half as much time.
“I was like, ‘Babe, we gotta walk home,’” she said. “So, I always warn people now: drink some water and stay hydrated.”
Just across the state line, Evanston is the first place people from Utah hit when leaving their state to dabble in vice. That state’s stiff liquor laws push some to make a run for the border to get stronger drinks and buy booze, along with placing bets and buying fireworks.
A new Utah law that went into effect Jan. 1 bans people convicted of DUIs with blood alcohol content measurements of 0.160% or greater from buying booze. That makes Evanston’s bars and liquor stores enticing for those who can’t buy alcohol close to home.
This One Time A Utahn Walked Into An Evanston Bar …
Kate’s Bar isn’t the only place in Evanston where the bartenders have stories about Utahns and their liquor.
They’ve become the punchline in many off-hand jokes, and people love to tell their own “this one time, a Utahn walked into a bar in Evanston” jokes to whoever will listen.
Rhonda Berlener, the general manager at Suds Bros. Brewery in downtown Evanston, has dozens of them.
She, too, can spot the Utah “newbies” as soon as they sit down.
They’ll order a beer, finish it, then carefully ask if they can have a shot now. It’s like they’re waiting for someone to swoop in and tell them it’s against the rules.
“‘OK, so we’ll take a beer, and then as soon as we’re done, we’ll take a shot,’” she recalled one Utah couple saying. “And we’re like, ‘Well, we can just bring you that shot.’ And they’re like, ‘What?’ And we’re like, ‘You’re not in Utah anymore. We can line them up. How many do you want?’”
Some get so tickled at the idea they can have more than one drink in front of them at once that they go a little overboard, ordering a whole line of shots across the bar, just because they can.
The situation has led to signs at some establishments poking fun at Evanston’s Utah neighbors — like the tavern which posted a sign making it crystal clear that the place really is a bar, just in case anyone from Utah was feeling the least bit confused.
The Joke Goes Both Ways
The funny stories run both ways, entertainer A.J. Lamb told Cowboy State Daily.
He still laughs about the time he and a buddy discovered Utah’s famously weak beer at a party fresh out of college. At that time, Utah beer had a legal maximum of 3.2% alcohol content by volume. It was like drinking water to Lamb and his friend.
It soon dawned on them that no one at the party was keeping up with them. They made a game of that, challenging anyone to outrank them. They still barely felt a buzz, even after guzzling a heroic amount of beer.
A couple of weeks later, some of the Utahns from the party called Lamb up and said they were coming to Evanston for a rematch. They were “trained up and ready,” Lamb recalled with a chuckle.
What they didn’t count on was full-strength Wyoming beer at elevation.
After just a handful of beers over a couple of hours, the Utah drinkers were wrecked.
One managed to make it to his hotel room, though perhaps not the bed. The other fell asleep somewhere outside the hotel. The third landed in the Uinta County jail.
The takeaway line, which Lamb still uses when he’s talking to Utah friends, is “don’t drink with people from Wyoming.”
Here’s a funny, forgotten fact about that 3.2% beer, which was still in use up until 2019. When the law finally died, Budweiser brought its Clydesdales to Salt Lake City for a little parade — actually a funeral procession.
Pallbearers carried a coffin that said “RIP 3.2% Beer.” Others held up signs that read, “Bud Heavy is coming Nov. 1!”
If Utah residents are the punchline in Evanston drinking jokes, it’s usually a gentle kind of ribbing, Lamb said, the kind where people don’t feel bad about laughing at themselves with you.
t’s all in good fun, and usually includes a dose of empathy for folks who live in a state where ordering a nightcap has become a bit like taking the Uniform Bar Exam.
“People from Utah, they come up here and they’re just blown away,” Lamb said. “It’s like they’re on another planet when they see how we do things.”
No Sin City
With a population around 12,000, Evanston isn’t really a Sin City. You won’t see flashy signs and supermega hotels.
It’s a friendly small town with tree-lined streets draped in charm and history.
There’s an operating drug store with old-fashioned soda shop seats. Some of the restored buildings date back to the 1880s and house art galleries, restaurants and breweries, bakeries and coffeeshops, as well as the historic Strand Theater.
Despite the “Leave it to Beaver” vibe, Evanston has long had a Sin City relationship withUtah residents. It’s where they have been coming for decades to buy things their faithful neighbors might frown upon — a taboo trifecta of booze, fireworks, and lottery tickets.
These days, Utahns can also add off-track horse betting and full-strength vapes to that shopping list.
People still remember when the Utah Highway Patrol would set up in Evanston parking lots, watching their residents carting home illegal liquor from Wyoming, then confiscating it the minute those motorists crossed the state line.
Today, the law prohibiting out-of-state liquor from crossing the Utah state line has gone away.
People may still feel like it’s hanging over them, but Utah residents legally buy up to 9 liters of liquor for personal consumption and haul it home.
A Tourism Tangent
But there are still a whole host of finicky liquor laws that rankle enough to keep Utahns driving to Evanston for the foreseeable future.
Restaurants in Utah can serve drinks, but only when they’re tied to food. A plate of fries, then, even if you’re not hungry, is required.
Bars and taverns can pour without food, but they’re tightly age-restricted and carefully licensed. That means families with children younger than 21 aren’t allowed.
Restaurant or bar, only one drink at a time is allowed per person at any given table. Double shots in a cocktail aren’t allowed, nor shots to chase your beer.
By contrast, Evanston’s border town offers Utahns a much simpler proposition. Walk in, grab a bar stool and order a drink. No need for a flowchart of what’s on your plate or in your glass.
The relationship between Utah’s strict liquor laws and Evanston’s more relaxed bar scene isn’t just a cultural curiosity anymore. The dynamic has become part of the town’s tourism strategy.
Business owners along Main Street talk about the importance of keeping things open for business on the weekends and maintaining a friendly, welcoming, no-fuss atmosphere.
“Those out-of-state visitors are a huge piece of keeping downtown alive,” Berlener said. “If they feel comfortable here — if they can find a place to eat, have a drink, walk around — they’ll keep coming back.”
And Evanstonians will keep telling those funny drinking Wyoming from Utah stories.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
Wyoming
Wyoming’s Hageman aims to block future ‘roadless areas,’ despite overwhelming support to keep public land pristine
by Mike Koshmrl, WyoFile
Rep. Harriet Hageman wants to stop future administrations from reinstating a 25-year-old policy that prevents roadbuilding on 59 million acres of the national forest, including 3.3 million acres of federal land in Wyoming.
A rescission of the Clinton-era 2001 Roadless Rule is already underway. In June 2025, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced her intention to repeal the “roadless” class of land that’s found on nine national forests in Wyoming.
Subsequently, Rollins solicited public comment on that plan, which, based on the responses, is extraordinarily unpopular. More than 99% of the 200,000-plus people and groups who responded opposed the proposed rescission, according to a Center for Western Priorities analysis.
A Hageman-led bill, House Resolution 7695, would codify the Trump administration’s undoing of the Roadless Rule in law and also prevent it from reappearing. The legislation states that any future secretary of agriculture “may not take any action to propose, finalize, implement, administer, or enforce any rule substantially similar to the rule.”
On Thursday, Wyoming’s lone representative touted the bill at a congressional hearing, saying that it undoes an “environmental catastrophe.”
“The Roadless Rule has been devastating to the Interior West,” Hageman testified to the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources’ Federal Lands Subcommittee. “The Roadless Rule has been devastating to Wyoming.”
As an attorney a quarter century ago, Hageman was a staunch opponent of the Roadless Rule and litigated against it on behalf of Wyoming.
Hageman pointed out to her fellow members of Congress on Thursday that nine of the 10 “most catastrophic” national forest wildfires have occurred since the rule’s 2001 implementation.
U.S. Forest Service Associate Chief Chris French testified that his agency supports the administration’s proposed rescission, along with Hageman’s legislation and he offered to provide “technical assistance” to help pass the bill.
“The Forest Service is currently in the process of analyzing the more than 220,000 comments we received,” French told the subcommittee, “and anticipates issuing a final rule and draft environmental impact statement for public comment in the coming months.”
Several Democrats who sit on the Subcommittee on Federal Lands expressed concern about Hageman’s bill.
Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Oregon, who in 2025 attempted to codify keeping the Roadless Rule, argued that roadbuilding can lead to more wildfires.
“The Forest Service’s own assessment found that building roads in these areas would actually increase the risk of fire,” Salinas said, “and another analysis shows that 85% of wildfires are human-caused.”
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A newly created logging road cuts into the Black Hills National Forest’s Bearlodge Ranger District in May 2026. (Mike Koshmrl/WyoFile)
Earlier, Hageman called the claim that eliminating the Roadless Rule would create more wildfires “absolutely wrong.”
“The science and the facts and the history demonstrate, without question, that you are absolutely wrong,” Hageman said.
But French, the Forest Service associate chief, acknowledged that it’s a “longstanding fact” that “most” wildfire ignitions are human-caused and “most are going to be associated with where humans go, including roads.”
The equation, however, is not that straightforward, French said. Other research has found that wildfire severity is greater in “untreated” roadless areas, he said.
“You have to look at the whole scenario,” French said. “I think that’s why it’s often polarized. There are different facts you can pull out to support an opinion.”
National hunting and angling groups have strongly opposed the elimination of the Roadless Rule, which has helped ensure that non-wilderness backcountry remains a part of national forests across the country.
The idea of eliminating the rule also hasn’t gone over well with Wyoming conservation groups.
Gabby Yates, public lands program manager at the Wyoming Outdoor Council, pointed out the unpopularity of Hageman’s plan.
“By sidestepping the already scant public process that the administration is using to rescind the rule, H.R. 7695 adds insult to injury and ignores hundreds of thousands of Americans who are currently opposing the rescission,” Yates wrote in a statement.
The rescission, however, has been favored by many Western state Republican political leaders hoping to stimulate withering timber mills and a logging industry that’s been in the doldrums for decades. Many governors and congressional members have gone on record supporting the elimination of the Roadless Rule, including Gov. Mark Gordon and Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis.
Hageman, who in 2022 soundly defeated Liz Cheney with an endorsement from President Donald Trump, is running for a U.S. Senate seat that’s opening up due to Lummis’ retirement.
In the Republican primary, she’ll face Sam Mead, a rancher and whiskey distiller who’s the nephew of former Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead and great-grandson of late Wyoming U.S. Sen. and Gov. Cliff Hansen.
Mead, 36, is a political newcomer running on a pro-public lands platform. He did not respond to WyoFile’s inquiry on Thursday before this story was published.
This article was originally published by WyoFile and is republished here with permission. WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
Related
WYOMING, Mich. — Wyoming Police arrested a suspect in connection with a May 12 shooting at the Ramblewood Apartments that left two people injured, police said in a news release.
Daniel Pellot, 35, was taken into custody without incident Friday, according to Wyoming Police.
He is currently lodged at the Kent County Correctional Facility and has not yet been arraigned.
The shooting occurred around 7 a.m. when authorities discovered a woman with a gunshot wound and transported her to the hospital. She was critically injured but has since stabilized.
Through the investigation, police also determined a male victim suffered minor injuries.
Police have not said what led up to the shooting.
Police identified Pellot as a suspect May 18, when they asked for help from the public in locating him.
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