Wyoming
Wyoming History: Calamity Jane’s Turbulent Visits To Her Sister’s Homestead
At the mouth of Sinks Canyon near Lander, Wyoming, the tiny community of Borner’s Garden had thrived in the late 1800s.
It consisted of a schoolhouse, post office, and a few homesteading families. One of these families were John and Lena Borner who were raising their six children in this rural community that had been named after John’s fruit trees and large garden.
Their son Frank Edward remembered as a small boy hiding behind his mother’s skirts. His dad was gone and a woman had ridden up to the porch of their cabin. He later learned that she was his Aunt Calamity Jane.
Jan Cerney wrote about the incident in “Calamity Jane and Her Siblings: The Saga of Lena and Elijah Canary.”
“He recalled that his mother Lena asked her what she was doing there and what she wanted,” Cerney wrote. “Lena told Calamity to leave and never come back. Apparently, at that time, Lena had had it with her sister Martha.”
Martha Jane Canary, more widely known as Calamity Jane, was Lena’s big sister and her uncouth ways were not always welcome in Lena’s quiet home.
Another time, Cerney said that Hannah was the child who mimicked Aunt Calamity’s swear words, distressing John Borner to the point that he again told Calamity to never come back.
Future Brother-in-Law
Bill Wilkinson, a great-nephew of Martha Jane said in an interview to author Ellen Crago Mueller that his Aunt Calamity Jane was at the mining camps on South Pass in Wyoming around 1870-71.
It was while here that she first met freighter John G. Borner, her future brother-in-law.
Borner had been badly hurt and broken his leg according to family accounts. He was taken to the rooming house where Martha Jane Canary was working, and the young woman set his leg.
Jean Mathisen, in a December 1996 True West article, “Calamity’s Sister,” said that Canary asked Borner if she could make the trip to Salt Lake for him to check on her brother and sister, Lena and Elijah, known as “Lige.”
“She supposedly made two trips in the next six weeks and brought Borner’s customary load of goods to South Pass,” Mathisen wrote. “After his leg healed, Borner resumed his trips to Salt Lake and made the acquaintance of Lena and Lige Canary.”
John Borner was born in Saxony, Germany, in 1835 and, after immigrating to America, had been injured in the Civil War. Borner later came and joined the Wyoming gold rush at South Pass in 1869.
In 1872, Borner, Ernest Hornecker and Jake Frey moved to an area known as Chief Washakie’s horse pasture, near the mouth of Sinks Canyon at the base of the Wind River Mountains.
The men squatted on what was then Indian land and took up claims. Chief Washakie knew the men according to Mathisen and had encouraged them to settle in the valley to help provide protection for his Eastern Shoshone band from his enemies, the Sioux and Arapahos.
By the next year Borner was building on his own claim in a rich meadowland near the Popo Agie River.
Building A Home
“It was John Borner that brought Lena, Calamity Jane’s sister, to this country to be a companion of the Indian agent on the reservation,” Jack States of Lander told Cowboy State Daily.
States’ father went to school at Borner’s Garden and had shared with States’ the tall tales that swirled around the family of Calamity Jane. States said that at times it is difficult to separate fact from fiction, but it is well known that Martha Canary spent a lot of time at Borner’s Garden and Lander to be near her sister.
Although Borner had originally brought Lena Canary to the area as a companion at Fort Washakie, romance had blossomed between the by-now eighteen-year-old girl and Borner, who was over twenty years her senior, and the job was short-lived. John Borner and Lena Pauline Canary were married in 1875.
Lander Museum Director Randy Wise said Borner’s Garden where Borner brought his young wife was a beautiful area below the canyon proper.
“According to the historic documents, it was one of the few places in the whole state where you could actually grow apples and plums,” Wise said. “They grew currants and gooseberries and things like that up there.”
The Borners became the parents of seven children over the next nine years: May Rebecca, Tobias (Tobe), Frank Edward, Theresa Theodosa, Hannah, Bertha Pauline and William Frederick.
“At its height, there might have been maybe 40 people living in Borner’s Garden,” Wise said. “It was never a formal town and just one of many little communities that dotted the region.”
Aunt Calamity
Accounts differ as to whether Borner and Lena’s infamous sister got along, although a younger brother of Ernest and Mart’s, Albert Hornecker, remembered that Calamity would travel by in a buggy on her way to visit her sister Lena when she knew Borner would be gone.
Tobe Borner related in the September 1941 Basin Republican Rustler that his father had no use for Calamity and felt she was a poor influence on his growing family. However, Tobe also said that Martha Jane was present at his birth in May of 1877, so she continued to visit despite the misgivings of her brother-in-law.
According to Mathisen, old-timers in Lander, the community that grew up on the site of old Camp Brown, stated that Calamity Jane and her sister Lena ran a laundry together in a small log building that sat on Main Street, between Second and Third, in early-day Lander.
“Calamity spent a fair amount of time in Wyoming and this part of Wyoming in particular,” Wise said. “When Calamity was sober, she would help her sister at the laundry in town.”
John Borner’s dislike to Calamity continued to grow, mostly because of her drinking and swearing. Cerney said that Calamity wasn’t afraid of Borner and visited her sister when John Borner wasn’t around. The Hornecker neighbors saw Calamity pass by in a buggy on her way to the Borner place when John Borner was not home. Tom Bell, a local Lander historian, told Cerney that Calamity often stayed at the Borner School when she came to visit her sister since she was not welcome in the Borner home.
A Ghost Community
Tragedy visited the Borner family in October of 1888. Lena Canary Borner, 31, passed away after suffering ill health for two years from injuries she had sustained from being kicked by a cow.
Her obituary in the October 17, 1888, issue of the Fremont Clipper stated, “She was one of the most industrious women in the valley and one whom all her acquaintances held in the highest respect. Her pride was in her children and her home.”
Heartbroken and tired of fighting with his neighbors and former friends over irrigation pipes, John Borner moved his family to Greybull the following spring. He had built a cabin at what would someday be the site of Greybull, Wyoming, and later added corrals and barns.
In 1888 the Wyoming Territorial Legislature authorized a Poor Farm for the soon-to-be state. The trustees bought Borner’s ranch, and in the spring of 1889, Borner loaded up his wagons along with his children and moved to his new land claim. He had 100 head of cattle, a herd of horses, and a herd of mules he had acquired from the government.
A special June 6, 1974, edition of the Greybull Standard stated that Borner was “a prosperous and very intelligent rancher from the Lander County. He picked Greybull as the site of his new home because of his belief that it was an ideal location. Two rivers flowed into the Big Horn within the space of a mile, the Greybull River and Shell Creek. Between the mouths of these two streams, he felt should be an ideal site for a town.”
He never remarried and his children adored him. Aunt Calamity Jane would occasionally visit but had mostly gone on her way to create myths about her life. She passed away in 1903 when she was 51.
At Borner’s Garden, only memories of Calamity Jane and her sister’s family are left. The schoolhouse that Calamity Jane stayed in was moved to the Lander museum and the old homes have fallen down long ago.
“She had quite a lively career when she left this place,” States said. “We have a number of stories from people who knew her when she was here but that part of the history sort of borders on fantasy.”
Contact Jackie Dorothy at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
CASPER, Wyo. — Gaming in Wyoming saw another year of massive financial growth in 2025, bringing billions of dollars in wagers and millions in revenue to local communities, according to the newly released Wyoming Gaming Commission annual report.
The report’s release comes as the Casper City Council considers pumping the brakes on local gaming expansion. Earlier this week, councilmembers set a June 2 public hearing to evaluate a 180-day moratorium on new historic horse racing establishments. The proposed freeze is designed to give city officials time to evaluate zoning, spacing and buffering rules ahead of July 1, when Senate File 45 goes into effect. Previously handled at the county level, the new law returns control to local municipalities by requiring city approval for such venues.
Historic horse racing remains the heavy hitter in Wyoming gaming. Statewide, bettors wagered $2.49 billion on the electronic machines in 2025, a jump from the $2.11 billion wagered in 2024. That activity has direct benefits for local governments, with nearly $25 million distributed to Wyoming cities and counties.
The City of Casper alone netted roughly $2.3 million from its eight off-track betting locations and 516 active terminals. Meanwhile, Natrona County brought in an additional $2.89 million from the games. Statewide, the commission reported 1,314 active historic horse racing terminals spread across 46 approved locations.
Beyond historic horse racing, online sports wagering and skill-based amusement games also posted big numbers last year. Online sports bettors placed more than $234 million in wagers in 2025 across platforms like DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM, producing more than $27 million in gross gaming revenue.
At the same time, the state’s 4,115 skill-based amusement games generated $133.7 million in revenue. Those skill games, commonly found in local bars and restaurants, provided an additional $2.75 million to Wyoming municipalities.
During the recent Casper City Council meeting, City Attorney Eric Nelson clarified that the proposed moratorium targets historic horse racing businesses rather than skill-based games.
Traditional racing also contributed to the state’s economy, with a total live horse racing handle of $3.5 million over 54 race days. Simulcast and advanced deposit wagering added roughly $10.1 million in combined wagers.
Wyoming Gaming Commission executive director Nick Larramendy, who briefed the council on the changing regulatory landscape, noted in the annual report that the agency is prioritizing regulatory enforcement and responsible gaming as the industry continues to evolve. As part of the safety initiatives, the commission partnered with idPair in late 2025 to launch a National Voluntary Self-Exclusion Program for Wyoming residents. The agency also reported a 200% increase in live racing compliance over the last two years after enhanced enforcement and rule changes.
The Wyoming Gaming Commission’s full 2025 report is attached below:
Related
Wyoming
Wyoming’s ties to super PAC suspected of helping GOP by spending big on long-shot Dems – WyoFile
What do more than $3 million in political advertisements, a left-wing Texan sex therapist running for Congress and a Wyoming business have in common?
All have ties to a newly formed super PAC making national headlines for appearing to boost long-shot Democratic congressional candidates in midterm primary elections to ease the way for Republican victories in November’s general election.
In the last two weeks, Lead Left PAC has reported spending more than $3 million on political ads in the battleground states of Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Texas, Federal Election Commission records show. It’s not clear who the political action committee’s donors are, but it’s spent big on advertising with a recently created Wyoming company.
Some of the PAC’s ads have backed Maureen Galindo, a congressional candidate in Texas whose party leadership has condemned her for making antisemitic comments. Galindo faces Johnny Garcia in the runoff for the Democratic nomination in the state’s 35th Congressional District, which is located in the San Antonio area. The district was redrawn by Texas Republicans to boost their party’s chances of holding onto the seat in this year’s midterms.
Still, despite redistricting, Democrats believe the seat could remain competitive if their party has a strong year politically, and they’re eager to avoid being saddled with a candidate’s inflammatory rhetoric.
So, who’s backing Lead Left with heaps of money? FEC records don’t say. The PAC was created recently enough that it has not yet had to disclose any of its donors. In the meantime, Democrats are crying foul, accusing Republicans of bankrolling Lead Left to meddle in their primary elections. The New York Times reported evidence of such potential links earlier this month.
The PAC’s website — set against Wyoming’s most famous mountain range — bills itself as “against MAGA extremists who will infect our country with Donald Trump’s agenda.”
One paper trail, however, ties the PAC’s spending directly to Piruzi LLC, a newly registered Wyoming business.
Since May 7, Lead Left has reported 11 independent expenditures with the FEC, totalling more than $3 million in ads. All but two of those reports indicate the PAC paid Piruzi LLC for media production and placements, as well as printing and mailing political advertisements.
Wyoming Secretary of State records indicate that Piruzi filed to become a limited liability company on April 10. Piruzi’s filings list a Cheyenne address and Tammie Cannon as the LLC’s organizer, along with a phone number and email for Paracorp Incorporated, a nationwide registered agent company. Reached by phone Thursday, two representatives for Paracorp told WyoFile it did not employ a Tammie Cannon but offered to forward a message to the owners of Piruzi.
Wyoming’s business regulations provide a high degree of privacy as the law does not require a company to disclose its members or managers, effectively allowing the owner to remain anonymous to the public. The laws have helped produce the “cowboy cocktail,” a sophisticated wealth-protection strategy that combines the privacy of LLC ownership with a Wyoming trust. The state has also become a popular jurisdiction for shell companies, which are inactive legal entities with no significant assets.
Shell companies are sometimes used as vehicles for illicit activity, which is what the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan DC-based nonprofit, argues in a FEC complaint filed May 14 against Lead Left PAC.
“In addition to strategically gaming federal reporting deadlines to avoid disclosing the sources of its election spending, Lead Left also appears to have violated federal campaign finance laws requiring full transparency about the recipients of that spending,” the complaint states. “Specifically, by funneling all of its spending on political ads through two newly formed companies that are almost certainly not the ultimate recipients of those funds, Lead Left appears to have violated federal reporting requirements.” (Emphasis in the complaint.)
The other LLC named by Lead Left in its filings is OTG Media, which was incorporated in Virginia on April 29, according to the state records.
In “using these apparent shell companies as opaque clearinghouses to conceal who is actually being paid to provide it with goods and services, Lead Left PAC has unlawfully denied voters crucial information about how it is spending the money,” the complaint states.
The FEC is unlikely to take swift, material action on the complaint, according to news site NOTUS, because the agency has gone more than a year without the required number of commissioners to formalize investigations or penalize campaign-finance scofflaws.
Meanwhile, shadowy PACs have become more common in contemporary campaigns, including some in the Mountain West. One political action committee in Montana has fueled speculation after it sent out ads on behalf of underdog Democrats, Montana Free Press reported earlier this month.
The Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office did not respond to WyoFile’s request for comment by publishing time.
The email address provided by Lead Left PAC in its FEC filings bounced back an email Thursday when WyoFile reached out for comment.
Reporting contributed by The Associated Press. Mike Catalani reported from New Jersey.
Dire wolves had their first playdate
The three dire wolves created using fossil DNA had their first official hang just months before their first birthday.
An outbreak of a contagious canine disease, particularly fatal for young pups, impacted the gray wolf population in Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park in 2025, with only an estimated “31 to 34” of the 87 documented pups born surviving until the end of the year.
Canine distemper, a contagious measles-like virus, was detected in 64% of animals in northwestern Wyoming, where wolves are classified as “trophy game.” While most adults are able to survive the affliction, the disease can be lethal for pups, with a 37% survival rate at the end of the year.
However, the wolf population in Wyoming “remained above minimum recovery criteria, making 2025 the 24th consecutive year Wyoming has exceeded the numerical, distributional, and temporal recovery criteria established for wolves by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” according to the 2025 annual report from Wyoming Gray Wolf Monitoring and Management.
At least 253 wolves in approximately 37 packs were noted statewide in Wyoming, including the Wolf Trophy Game Management Area, Yellowstone National Park and the Wind River Reservation on Dec. 31, 2025, according to the report. The state does not have management authority in the latter two areas.
Sixty wolves were reported to have died in WTGMA with causes of deaths including hunting (28), conflict control (16), other human causes (4), natural causes (8) and unknown causes (4), the report said. While the number was lower than in 2024, “the wolf population in the WTGMA decreased by 19% as a result of reduced pup production and recruitment,” the report said.
What is distemper?
Distemper is a “contagious viral disease that infects species such as domestic dogs, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, skunks, and wolves,” according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. The virus attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems of dogs and other wild canines including foxes and wolves, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
While the disease can impact canines of all ages, puppies are at a higher risk.
Symptoms include discharge from the eyes and nose, fever, coughing, lethargy, vomiting and diarrhea. As the virus attacks the nervous system, canines may also exhibit neurologic signs such as walking in circles, inability to follow a straight path, lack of coordination, muscle twitches, seizures and even partial or complete paralysis.
Distemper can be spread through airborne exposure to the virus from an infected dog or wild animal through sneezing, coughing, or barking, AVMA said, and can also be transmitted through shared food, water bowls and other items.
Once infected, dogs spread the virus in body fluids like respiratory droplets, saliva or urine, and may be contagious for several months. Infected mother dogs can pass the virus to their unborn puppies.
Increase in wolf population density likely impacted distemper rate
In the report, Wyoming Fish and Wildlife said an increase in wolf population density in the WTGMA in 2023 “appears to have contributed to increasing distemper rates in 2024 and 2025.”
“Disease presence and prevalence in wildlife populations is generally density-dependent, meaning the risk of a particular disease impacting a population increases as population density increases,” the report said, adding “wolves are no exception,” and distemper infections “are highest in wolf populations at high population and wolf pack densities.”
The report also described the virus as a “common, naturally-occurring infection which cycles through areas with carnivore populations and has been documented in Yellowstone at least five times since 1995.”
Gray wolves in Wyoming
Gray wolves were introduced in Yellowstone National Park in 1995, under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Act “with the goal of reestablishing a recovered gray wolf population in thenorthern Rocky Mountains.”
“The wolf population expanded quickly in number and distribution throughout northwest Wyoming,” the report said. “The population met the required recovery criteria by late 2002 and has exceeded the recovery criteria every year since.”
The Northern Rocky Mountains population was delisted in 2011, while Wyoming was delisted in 2017. Remaining wolf populations in the contiguous United States were delisted in 2021 “due to recovery,” FWS said.
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@usatodayco.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
-
Nebraska3 minutes agoNebraska Game and Parks 250-mile challenge offers prizes for getting outdoors
-
Nevada9 minutes agoCourt records: Nevada prison system doesn’t have execution drugs
-
New Hampshire15 minutes agoNew Hampshire police plan to charge
-
New Jersey21 minutes agoTravelers hit the road to the Jersey Shore despite dreary Memorial Day weekend forecast
-
New Mexico27 minutes agoFirst responders exposed to fentanyl in deadly New Mexico incident, officials say
-
North Carolina33 minutes ago
Man dies from I-40 crash in Benson
-
North Dakota39 minutes agoPlain Talk: North Dakota needs ‘hundreds of billions of tons’ of carbon
-
Ohio45 minutes agoOhio drivers paying some of the highest gas prices in the nation ahead of Memorial Day travel rush
