# So, what's the deal with Wyoming? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 13, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693 "2012-03-13T22:02:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/21 "2012-03-14T13:27:40Z")
> [@Baffle](#): > > For the opposite question, what’s the deal with Alberta? A plains province with two cities of over a million, which should be even colder and less hospitable than Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. Why did these similar Great Plains areas develop so differently? > [@chacoguy](#): > > [Submarines.](http://www.reggie.net/photo.php?albid=1700&ph=1464625) > [@naita](#): > > Oil. Also geography. You had to go through Calgary or Edmonton to reach the west coast, due to the mountain passes that the two Canadian inter-continental railways use (CPR through Calgary, Grand Trunk/Canadian Northern/CN through Edmonton). No compelling reason to go through Wyoming, as far as I know? ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/22 "2012-03-14T13:43:04Z")
I have driven across Wyoming too, and it is dry. I believe that as a territory, Wyoming was subject to the Homestaed Act-yet nobody settled there. It is just too dry for farming, and marginal for ranching. I suspect most of the land was bought up by mining companies, and that was it. Cheyenne was a interesting town-they still had hitching posts outside the bars and cafes. pretty Old West town. ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/23 "2012-03-14T14:30:13Z")
We lived in Gillette, WY when I was around 4 years old. My sister was born there… Everything above is absolutely true - it’s cold, flat, WINDY, and sparce. Hail the size of golf balls and bigger. Coyotes killing jackrabbits in my back yard. My Dad was there to install radio communication towers. He used to bring me rattlesnake rattles and skins. I’m pretty sure we still lived there when Star Wars came out, so I’ve got that going for me! ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/24 "2012-03-14T14:46:32Z")
Here’s a [precipitation map of the U.S.](http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/pcpn/us_precip.gif) Note that Wyoming has significant regions with less than 10" of rain per year; the only regions with significant rainfall are in the northwest of the state, where Yellowstone is. Precipitation-wise, the state as a whole looks more like Arizona or New Mexico than Colorado or Idaho. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/25 "2012-03-14T14:46:49Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > When I was 18, I rode a greyhound bus from Pittsburgh to Sacramento. (long story) > > The bus stopped in Cheyenne right in the middle of Cheyenne Days, some major celebration. Things were totally dead. I walked around town, then scurried back to the station and hopped the next bus. That was my take on Wyoming. > ETA, in Cheyenne’s defense, it _was_ 3 am. When I was a baby I went to Cheyenne (dad was stationed in Sidney, Nebraska and took the family). I don’t remember a thing except imo Cheyenne is a cool name. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/26 "2012-03-14T15:07:02Z")
A lot of Wyoming is cow shit covered wasteland, and too many of the folks that run the place are nutters. For example, a now failed bill for purchasing an aircraft carrier when the USA collapses passed first reading. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/27 "2012-03-14T15:27:37Z")
I kinda liked Wyoming . . . it’s clean. And, besides Yellowstone and the Tetons, it has the spectacular [Shoshone National Forest.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoshone_National_Forest) ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/28 "2012-03-14T15:50:15Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Historically, Denver owes its existence to the Pike’s Peak gold rush of 1858, and Salt Lake City to the Mormon migration. Wyoming never had a comparable gold rush to bring in settlers, or any organized effort at colonization. Yes, but my point is that outside of those big cities, the rest of those states are just as sparse. All of the other explanations given in this thread for why Wyoming is so desolate would equally apply to the parts of Colorado or Utah that _aren’t_ those two big metro areas. And along the same lines… > [@](#): > > For the opposite question, what’s the deal with Alberta? A plains province with two cities of over a million, which should be even colder and less hospitable than Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. Why did these similar Great Plains areas develop so differently? Alberta is HUGE. If Canada had been as gung-ho about making separate provinces as the US was about making separate states, Alberta would probably be at least three provinces. So people would be asking “What’s the deal with Lethbridgia? Why isn’t is as developed as Calgaria or Edmontonland?” The answer would be the same-- the hinterlands aren’t all that different, it’s just that the arbitrary state/province lines ended up with the cities being included in one place and not the other. ---
**Author:** ![florez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9e5f3/32.png) [@florez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/florez)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/29 "2012-03-14T16:12:38Z")
And what I always wanted to know about Wyoming- is what made them name their second largest city after a friendly ghost. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/30 "2012-03-14T16:12:44Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > I-25 through Wyoming gets closed due to weather often enough that the entrance ramps are equipped with gates. Which, to be fair, isn’t all that often. I doubt they were even closed once this past winter. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/31 "2012-03-14T16:14:04Z")
> [@florez](#): > > And what I always wanted to know about Wyoming- is what made them name their second largest city after a friendly ghost. Would you rather they name it after an unfriendly ghost? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/32 "2012-03-14T16:30:12Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Also geography. You had to go through Calgary or Edmonton to reach the west coast, due to the mountain passes that the two Canadian inter-continental railways use (CPR through Calgary, Grand Trunk/Canadian Northern/CN through Edmonton). No compelling reason to go through Wyoming, as far as I know? Actually, the biggest gap and easiest passage through the Rocky Mountains goes through the [Great Divide Basin](http://www.yellowmaps.com/maps/img/US/reference/wyoming_ref_2001.jpg) in Wyoming, between the Front Range of Colorado and the Absarokas and Bighorns in Wyoming. The major frontier trails passed through this gap before diverging as the California, Oregon, and Mormon Trails farther west. The route was later followed by the first Transcontinental Railroad and today by US Route 80. But although there is a good reason to go _through_ Wyoming, there is no good reason to stop there.😉 > [@Iggins](#): > > We lived in Gillette, WY when I was around 4 years old. My sister was born there… Everything above is absolutely true - it’s cold, flat, WINDY, and sparce. I worked all over Wyoming in 1981 doing environmental impact studies on mine sites during the oil shale boom. We stayed at a hotel in Gillette that had an interior courtyard with an indoor pool surrounded by artificial palm trees. It was surreal to sit there after work drinking margaritas while gazing out over the desolate windswept prairie that surrounded the hotel.🙂 > [@GreasyJack](#): > > Yes, but my point is that outside of those big cities, the rest of those states are just as sparse. All of the other explanations given in this thread for why Wyoming is so desolate would equally apply to the parts of Colorado or Utah that _aren’t_ those two big metro areas. I wasn’t disputing your point, just mentioning the historical factors that led to large cities being established in Colorado and Utah. Since these factors were absent in Wyoming, no big city got established there. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/33 "2012-03-14T16:43:02Z")
> [@Iggins](#): > > I’m pretty sure we still lived there when Star Wars came out, so I’ve got that going for me! Are you sure you don’t mean “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”? The Devils Tower Monument area in the east is very scenic, IMO. Rolling hills and farms, with enough trees to make it interesting. Out west you have part of Yellowstone Park and Grand Teton National Park and beautiful vistas of the Rockies. Most of the state is pretty boring, however, unless you’re a rancher, but the same applies to parts of Montana and a whole lot (okay, all) of North Dakota. Winters are harsh and summers can be sweltering. I’ve seen most all of Montana and Wyoming, and enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t live there on a bet. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Duality](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.duality/32/4098_2.png) [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/34 "2012-03-14T16:46:31Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > A lot of Wyoming is cow shit covered wasteland, and too many of the folks that run the place are nutters. For example, a now failed bill for purchasing an aircraft carrier when the USA collapses passed first reading. The aircraft carrier thing was actually a sarcastic poison-pill amendment attached to a kinda sensible bill which would have appropriated $16,000 to study preparations for the collapse of the national government. [cite](http://wyofile.com/2012/03/good-sense-prevails-in-cheyenne/) Full disclosure: the state legislators spend most of the time picking their noses. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/35 "2012-03-14T16:58:41Z")
Outside of Salt Lake City, Utah is pretty much devoid of life. If you’ve never been to rural Utah, watch some old cartoons with the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote. The terrain I drove though looked exactly like that. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/36 "2012-03-14T17:11:25Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > If you’ve never been to rural Utah, watch some old cartoons with the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote. The terrain I drove though looked exactly like that. [Which](http://www.discovermoab.com/images/dead_horse_point_sunrise.jpg) [is absolutely](http://www.cornforthimages.com/galleries/Landscape/Utah/Arches/Broken%20Arch%20Firstlight_Arches%20National%20Park,%20Utah.jpg) [breathtaking](http://utahpictures.com/images/Bryce_Canyon/smInspiration_Zoom2.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/37 "2012-03-14T17:58:17Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Outside of Salt Lake City, Utah is pretty much devoid of life. If you’ve never been to rural Utah, watch some old cartoons with the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote. The terrain I drove though looked exactly like that. Not true – there’s plenty of green along the Wasatch front, from Provo up to Logan. And there’s plenty of life up in the mountains. Down south, you’ve got population centers at Cedar City and St. George (where they grew so much cotton it was called “Utah’s Dixie”), and in little places like Heber City (which is now one of the fastest-growing areas in Utah), Moab, and elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/38 "2012-03-14T18:06:57Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Its major tourism city is known as a hole! C’mon. Say the whole joke: it’s the [Butte Hole](http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1072&bih=648&wrapid=tlif133174832598910&q=butte,+mt&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x535a3f36d0ef3cd1:0xb5cd681d4d4f9799,Butte,+Mt&gl=us&ei=6d1gT-f7OOP_sQKcvMiWCA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=2&ved=0CE0Q8gEwAQ). ---
**Author:** ![Dufus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c77e96/32.png) [@Dufus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dufus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/39 "2012-03-14T18:10:47Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > I guess it doesn’t seem like Wyoming is really that cold, based solely on its geographical location. Is it? There’s nothing to block the wind from the North Pole except barbed wire fences. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/40 "2012-03-14T18:10:50Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Historically, Denver owes its existence to the Pike’s Peak gold rush of 1858, and Salt Lake City to the Mormon migration. Wyoming never had a comparable gold rush to bring in settlers, or any organized effort at colonization. [nitpick] Pikes Peak [/nitpick] This is one of the few times that the possessive form does not take an apostrophe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693.md?page=3)