Wyoming
Wyoming History: One Of Casper’s Most Upstanding Citizens Also A Huge Bootlegger
CASPER — When he died in 1948, the front page of one of the Oil City’s newspapers praised him as a pioneer and a man well-known around Casper.
It said nothing about his role as a bootlegger — one of Casper’s largest rum-runners. And there was nothing about the secret ingredient he infused in his version of Western moonshine.
A true renaissance man, Dave Davidson’s curriculum vitae also included sheep rancher, oilman, real estate investor, saloon owner, trophy hunter and baseball team manager. He lived a colorful life as Casper boomed into the Oil City, and later his whisky stills were busted up during Prohibition.
“One of the most colorful figures in the early day history of Casper and the Bates Hole Section, D.E. (Dave) Davidson died at his home Monday after a lingering illness,” the Casper Tribune-Herald reported Feb. 3, 1948. “He was nearly 79.”
Davidson was born in Ohio on May 2, 1869, and at 21 sought his own Manifest Destiny in the West. A favorite story he told was that he dumped the first wheelbarrow of dirt working to build the Presidio in San Francisco. He arrived in Wyoming in 1898 and in Casper and Natrona County in 1899.
The newspaper reported that he went into the sheep business in the Bates Hole section of Natrona County southwest of Casper.
Popular Guy
For a sheep rancher, Davidson became a popular man in the region.
Early newspaper accounts have him in June 1905 on a list of citizens planning to put a float in a “monster” Fourth of July parade in Casper. On Oct. 26 of that same year, the Wyoming Derrick published that he and a John Curran were headed to Cody, Nebraska, for duck hunting.
In 1907, the Thermopolis Record published Feb. 9 that, “Dave Davidson, who keeps a thirst parlor at Shoshoni, has been here for a day or two past.” And that same year on July 19, the Wind River Mountaineer mentioned Davidson’s name in conjunction with a baseball team.
“Ed Boland left on Wednesday morning for Shoshoni where he was to meet Dave Davidson, manager of the Casper baseball team, and arrange for the game of baseball to be pulled off at Shonshoni on the first anniversary of town on the forepart of August,” the newspaper reported. “The teams will play for a purse of $200.”
In 1908, the then 39-year-old Davidson was building a reputation across Wyoming as a standup citizen and businessman. The Sept. 11, 1908, edition of the Cheyenne Daily Tribune had a note that “Dave Davidson of Natrona County” was headed to Jackson Hole to hunt elk and bear — with hounds. A year later in 1909, The Casper Press reported that he sold “his saloon” in Casper.
The Elks Club was apparently part of his memberships because on Sept. 20, 1915, The Casper Daily Press reported the “Loyal Order of the Moose No. 1182 is one of the strongest secret orders in Casper fraternally, numerically, and financially.”
“The display of taxidermy in the club rooms, which is owned by Dave Davidson, is estimated to be worth $3,500 and includes specimens of elk, deer, antelope, mountain sheep, bobcats, and various kinds of birds,” the Daily Press shared.
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Agents stand beside a still, seized in a raid. (Courtesy Churck Morrison Collection at Casper College Western History Center) -
Dave Davidson’s house at 323 S. David St. in Casper. (Natrona County Pioneer Association Collection, Casper College Western History Center)
Oil And Boots
And on Feb. 18, 1920, the Casper Herald reported that Davidson was then an officer in the Briggs Oil Co. and “returned from Newcastle where he spent several days in the interest of the concern which is carrying on extensive development of the Osage and other fields.”
Could Davidson have been pursuing other interests as well?
Prohibition arrived Jan. 17, 1920, and would continue through Dec. 5, 1933. And with it the opportunity for stand-up citizens like Davidson to prosper if they were willing to stay one step ahead of still-busing sheriffs. Or, in the case of Davidson, put them on the payroll.
In an unpublished autobiography found in files at Casper College’s Western History Center, Casper resident, World War I veteran, businessman and historian Bob David wrote that Davidson’s wide range of business enterprises included bootlegging during Prohibition.
And Natrona County was definitely not dry.
“Bootlegging was general, under the full protection of Gilbert Housely, the sheriff, who reaped a fortune,” he wrote. “The principal bootlegger was a gray, heavyset man named Dave Davidson. His stills produced whiskies which were noted for their flavor all the way down to Denver.”
The Secret Recipe
David said Davidson’s secret recipe was uncovered in a raid by federal officers.
“A large pile of worn-out rubber boots was beside the still testifying to the fact that the insides of old rubber boots gives an excellent flavor to whiskey,” he wrote.
Wanting to investigate the bootleg business, David wrote that through a friend, he was able to accompany one of Davidson’s distributors on a run through the city one night. They met in a downtown alley and the man was driving “a big, gray Cole 8 coupe.” In the back were boxes of “bottled booze.”
“We drove up to the south part of town where the bigger and richer houses stood, then went up the alleys. We would stop behind a big garage behind a fine, respectable home,” he wrote. “The garage door would open six inches. The distributor would get out, find a bottle inside the trunk, then take it over and pass it through the crack in the door. A moment later, and a white hand would reach out a bill, the door would close silently, and the ’legger would come back to drive on to another door.”
David wrote that the ride-along gave him good information on which friends “were drinking Dave’s bootleg.”
Fed Up City
By 1926, Casper was fed up with the gambling, drinking, brothels and murders going on just outside the city limits in North Casper, Evansville and Mills.
A banner headline in the Casper Daily Tribune on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 1926, reported that after raids by county, state and federal officers the previous Saturday, bootleg whiskey at 50 cents a drink and gambling tables were back operating early Sunday morning.
A front page editorial demanded action.
“Decent citizens of Casper demand that the riotous debauchery cease and cease at once. They demand that every facility of the county attorney’s office, the sheriff’s office, and the state enforcement department be mobilized to destroy the gambling devices, and the liquor, to abate the buildings in which these offenses are being daily committed, to prosecute the operators and owners of the houses,” the paper editorialized. “The time to act is now.”
But real action would not come until May 1933 when Davidson, Casper Mayor E. W. Rowell, Casper Police Chief Michael Quealy, Sheriff Housely and 32 others were indicted by a federal grand jury on liquor conspiracy charges.
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In 1926, Casper residents were fed up with the bootleg establishments operating just outside the boundaries of the city. (Cowboy State Daily Staff) -
A huge banner headline announced the indictments handed down in a massive Casper bootlegging scandal. After a public trial, everyone was acquitted by a jury. (Cowboy State Daily Staff) -
A huge banner headline announced the indictments handed down in a massive Casper bootlegging scandal. After a public trial, everyone was acquitted by a jury. (Cowboy State Daily Staff)
The Trial
A trial in Cheyenne included testimony of payoffs to officials, an alleged incident where the city’s drunken police chief was carried out of a bootleg establishment, a beer party in the city firehouse and more.
Prosecutors charged that a house rented on Sixth Street was a Davidson property used for aging a liquor. A woman named Gertrude Kamps testified she rented it to a man named Renshaw and found that holes had been cut in the floor and her pipes allowed to freeze and burst. She went to the sheriff and complained.
“He told her she was as good as paid,” the Casper Tribune-Herald reported Wednesday, July 19, 1933. “She said she then left the sheriff’s office, and 15 minutes later Housely called her and said he had the money.”
A man named Ernest Miller, described as an itinerant pipeline worker, testified he had seen Davidson pay $900 for 100 gallons of whiskey taken to Hartville, the paper reported.
On July 24, Davidson took the stand and testified that he was in the liquor business in 1924 and 1925 “when he bought the production of Dave Greenwood, but that he went out of business in 1926 when Greenwood died and his brand of liquor could no longer be obtained,” The Casper Tribune-Herald reported.
Davidson testified he knew liquor with his name on it was sold in 1926, but claimed he “had no connection with its distribution or sold it.”
Denying he was a bootlegger, Davidson testified he was a sheep rancher. While true, stories from the time also recounted that he would put corn down after trucks carrying his illegal booze so his sheep would walk over and eat the grain, at the same time trampling the tracks.
Defense attorneys successfully attacked the federal witnesses and, in the end, the jury found everyone not guilty.
His Old Home Stands
Davidson, who also bought and sold various lots around Casper, built a home at 323 S. David St. The property had been sold before he died, but was mentioned by the Casper Tribune-Herald in the front-page article on his death.
“The home was built 30 years ago and was counted as one of the finest residences in the city at the time,” the newspaper reported Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1948. “The property is currently occupied by a business.”
Davidson sold his sheep ranch in 1938.
He left behind his wife, three sons and three daughters and is buried in Casper’s Highland Cemetery.
“Throughout his lifetime, Mr. Davidson was noted for his genial good wit and generosity and had many friends in this section of the county,” the newspaper reported.
And, with a wink and a nod, one of Wyoming’s most successful Prohibition bootleggers.
Contact Dale Killingbeck at dale@cowboystatedaily.com
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
The Platte County Attorney’s Office has nearly doubled the possible penalties for a Wyoming reporter accused of forging exhibits in an environmental case tied to her staunch opposition to a wind farm.
The 10 new counts against April Marie Morganroth, also known as the Wyoming-based reporter Marie Hamilton, allege that she convinced her landlords that she’d been approved for a home loan to buy their property, and grants to upgrade it.
Hamilton was already facing 10 felony charges in a March 9 Wheatland Circuit Court case, as she’s accused of submitting forged documents and lying under oath before the Wyoming Industrial Siting Council.
That’s an environmental permitting panel that granted a permit to a NextEra Resources wind farm, which Hamilton has long opposed. She’s also reported on NextEra’s efforts and the community controversies surrounding those.
Then on Wednesday, Platte County Attorney Douglas Weaver filed 10 more felony charges: five alleging possession of forged writing, and five more alleging forgery.
The former is punishable by up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines; the latter by up to 10 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.
Hamilton faces up to 65 years in prison if convicted of all charges in her March 9 case. The March 25 case would add up to 75 years more to that.
Both cases are ongoing.
Hamilton did not immediately respond to a voicemail request for comment left Thursday afternoon on her cellphone. She bonded out of jail earlier this month. The Platte County Detention Center said Thursday it does “not have her here.”
The Investigative Efforts Of Benjamin Peech
Converse County Sheriff’s Lt. Benjamin Peech investigated both cases at the request of Platte County authorities, court documents say.
When he was investigating evidence that Hamilton submitted forged documents and lied under oath for Industrial Siting Council proceedings, Peech also pursued Hamilton’s claim that she owned property on JJ Road, and that she’d bought it with a U.S. Department of Agriculture loan.
The property, however, is registered under Platte County’s mapping system to a couple surnamed Gillis, says a new affidavit Peech signed March 19, which was filed Wednesday.
Peech spoke with both husband and wife, and they said they had the home on the market to sell it, and Hamilton contacted them in about July of 2025.
Hamilton told the pair that she and her husband wished to buy the property and were pre-qualified for a USDA loan through Neighbor’s Bank, wrote Peech.
But the property didn’t meet the standard of the loan, Hamilton reportedly continued. Still, she’d been approved for a USDA grant to work on the problems with the property and bring it up to the standards to qualify for the loan, she allegedly told the homeowners.
Papers
Hamilton provided the couple and their realtor with letters from USDA showing her loan pre-approval and grant approvals, the affidavit says.
During the lease period that followed, Hamilton was late “often” with rent and didn’t provide the couple with work logs until pressed, Peech wrote.
In early 2026, the lieutenant continued, the homeowners became concerned and asked Hamilton about her progress improving the property.
Hamilton reportedly sent the homeowners two invoices from contractors, showing she’d paid for work to be done. She said the wind had delayed that work, wrote Peech.
The affidavit says the Gillis couple sent Peech the documents Hamilton had reportedly given them, along with supporting emails showing those had come from one of Hamilton’s email addresses.
The Loan approval documents showed the respective logos for USDA Rural Development and Neighbor’s Bank at the top of each page, the lieutenant wrote, adding that the documents assert that Hamilton and her husband had been approved for the loan.
“There was then a list of items that needed to be completed — 14 items — prior to Final Loan Approval,” related Peech in the affidavit.
A signature at the bottom reportedly read, “Sincerely, USDA Rural Development Neighbors Bank Joshua Harris Homebuying Specialist.”
Grant Document
The documents purporting Hamilton had received a grant also showed the USDA Rural Development logo at the top of each page, with the names of Hamilton and her husband, other boilerplate language and a description of a $35,000 home buyer’s grant.
The project was about 65% complete at the time of review, the document adds, according to Peech’s narrative.
Peech describes more documents: a January notice, an invoice bearing the logo and name of “Cowgirl Demolition and Excavation, LLC,” and another invoice bearing the logo and name of “Pete’s Builders Roofing and Restoration.”
Real Estate Agent
Peech spoke with the Gillises’ real estate agent, Kay Pope, and she said she’d tried to verify the USDA grant and pre-approval by calling Susan Allman, who was listed in the documents as the Casper-based USDA agent. Pope left several messages without response, the affidavit says.
Pope spoke with Hamilton’s real estate agent, and he said he’d spoken to Allman, and he gave Pope a phone number.
Cowboy State Daily has identified Hamilton’s real estate agent and tried to contact him for further clarification.
Pope called that number and left messages without response, wrote Peech.
Peech then called a USDA Rural Development office and spoke with a Janice Blare, deputy state director, he wrote.
Peech sent the three USDA letters to Blare and gave her “all of Hamilton’s names and aliases,” he added.
The lieutenant wrote that Blare later told him the USDA investigated the letters and determined no evidence existed to show the USDA had issued them.
No records existed either, of Hamilton “using all her alias permutations” or her husband within either the USDA loan program or grant program, wrote Peech.
The USDA didn’t have an office at the address listed in two of the letters. The address pertains, rather, to a dirt lot. The USDA Rural Development office didn’t have a program titled “Rural Communities Home Buyer Program” as listed on two of the letters.
On Nov. 6, 2025, the date of the first letter purporting Hamilton had been approved for the grant program, all U.S. government offices including USDA were on furlough, noted Peech from his discussion with Blare.
A person named Susan Allman didn’t appear in USDA’s employee records, Blare reportedly added.
The Phone Call
Peech called the cellphone number one of the letters listed for Allman, “and this was disconnected,” he wrote.
The number Hamilton’s real estate agent had given was a voice over internet protocol number that Bandwidth LLC operates but is assigned to Google, added Peech.
Meanwhile, Converse County Investigator Amber Peterson spoke with the construction and roofing companies listed in the documents.
Chad Derenzo of Pete’s Roofing confirmed the logo and name listed on the documents were his company’s own — but said his company hadn’t issued the bid listed in those documents, according to the affidavit.
“Their company had never contracted to do work for Hamilton or at the… JJ Road address,” the document says.
The invoice also bore an address in Torrington, Wyoming, and his company doesn’t have a Torrington office, said Derenzo, reportedly.
Jessica Loge of Cowgirl Demolition and Excavation gave similar statements, saying the documents bore her logo, but her company hadn’t issued the bid or contracted with Hamilton.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
Wyoming
Wyoming State Parks announces pause on potential visitor center project at Sinks Canyon State Park
Wyoming
Coyote Flats Fire near containment as critical fire danger hits Black Hills, Wyoming counties
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – The grass is starting to return in the Black Hills, but the damage left behind by last week’s wildfire is still visible beneath the surface. The Coyote Flats Fire is now almost completely contained, but fire officials say the work for crews who battled the flames is far from finished.
“It’s been a long week,” said Gail Schmidt, fire chief for the Rockerville Volunteer Fire Department. Schmidt said firefighters worked the Coyote Flats Fire for multiple days as the blaze forced hundreds of people to leave their homes.
Schmidt also warned the timing is concerning.
“It’s early,” she said. “It’s early — and that’s the more concerning part. We haven’t even hit summer yet.”
Some of the same crews, Schmidt said, have moved from the Black Hills to a second wildfire — the Qury (pronounced “Koo-RAY”) Fire. That fire has burned nearly 9,200 acres and was holding at 70% containment as of Monday.
Between multiple wildfires and routine emergency calls, Schmidt said the pace doesn’t slow down.
“The world does not stop just because there was a fire,” she said. “Life continues. We still have our day jobs that we need to go take care of.”
Another challenge arrives Wednesday, with critical fire danger forecast across the Black Hills and into parts of Wyoming, including Sheridan, Campbell, Crook and Weston counties. Forecast conditions include wind gusts up to 40 mph and humidity as low as 12%.
Schmidt said she believes fire lines are in good shape, but she’s watching the weather closely after recent high-wind events.
“Saturday night, 50 mile an hour winds — that was multiple days ago, and there’s been a lot of work done since,” she said. “I personally am pretty confident that we’re going to be able to hold this fire through today.”
While spring is typically the region’s wetter season — which can help reduce fire behavior — Schmidt urged residents not to become complacent as wildfire season ramps up.
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