# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/81 "2012-03-15T19:28:38Z")
There are at least 14 US states with a town named Wyoming, plus one in Ontario, Canada and New South Wales, Australia ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/82 "2012-03-16T09:39:22Z")
Yes, but why name the state after a valley in Pennsylvania? And all those towns too? It turns out there was a popular poem in the early 1800s, [Gertrude of Wyoming](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_of_Wyoming) about a massacre that happened there during the American Revolution. That popularized the name and lead to its widespread adoption by various towns as well as Congress sticking it on a territory. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/83 "2012-03-16T10:32:44Z")
Nm ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/84 "2012-03-16T11:14:53Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > Nm Pardon me for asking but what does “nm” mean? ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/85 "2012-03-16T11:37:16Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > Pardon me for asking but what does “nm” mean? Nanometers. It’s a very short post. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/86 "2012-03-16T12:04:03Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > Pardon me for asking but what does “nm” mean? It means “never mind.” ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/87 "2012-03-16T12:06:15Z")
New Mexico, or in this case “never mind”. The n was capitalized because my iPhone does that. You can’t delete a post, but you can edit during a short time window. In this cas I had responded to post before reading the mod note that it was inappropriate for this forum. Treading carefully: A rather infamous hate crime happened a few years ago near Laramie, WY. You may have heard about it: the victim’s name was Matthew Shepard. There was some outrage on the community where it happened, but it was less than unanimous. Possibly far less, though hard to say from my distance. The perpetrators struck me as redneck peckerwoods with the drawl scraped off. While I know some very nice people in and from WY, like anywhere else there are evedidently some that lack an appreciation for human diversity. Unlike many places, it is far harder to catch and prosecute such people when they act on thier beliefs. Witnesses and law enforcement are spread very thin. ---
**Author:** ![Dufus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c77e96/32.png) [@Dufus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dufus)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2012, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/88 "2012-03-16T13:13:01Z")
Wyoming has one of the largest indian reservations in the U.S., holding the remnants of the race of people who barely escaped total genocide. But it is most notable because somebody in that state killed a gay kid. ---
**Author:** ![whc.03grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@whc.03grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whc.03grady)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/89 "2012-03-25T05:59:57Z")
I have to come to Wyoming’s defense on at least one count, because I grew up in Nebraska which suffers under a similar misconception. Wyoming is not flat. ([my experience](http://www.google.com/maps/ms?msid=208075790844763513407.0004bc0ab1ef6a3a67b52&msa=0&ll=42.940339,-107.41333&spn=4.568084,9.821777)) If all you’ve ever done is drive through The Equality State on I-80 or I-25, then yes, you weren’t exposed to the most topographically challenging sections of our country, but it’s hardly the pool table that Indiana or (for god’s sake) Florida is. They _did_ generally build interstates along the paths of least effort, after all. (All the above goes for Nebraska too.) Wyoming has the [12th biggest span](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_elevation) between its lowest and highest points (10,709 feet) of any state in the nation. That’s not flat. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/90 "2012-03-25T16:34:20Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > It means “never mind.” And it exists because you can’t entirely blank a post. It must have at least two non-quoted letters. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/91 "2012-03-25T17:20:09Z")
> [@Mr.Duality](#): > > Full disclosure: the state legislators spend most of the time picking their noses. That sounds like an improvement on most states to me … ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/92 "2012-03-27T01:04:31Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > Treading carefully: A rather infamous hate crime happened a few years ago near Laramie, WY. You may have heard about it: the victim’s name was Matthew Shepard. There was some outrage on the community where it happened, but it was less than unanimous. Possibly far less, though hard to say from my distance. The perpetrators struck me as redneck peckerwoods with the drawl scraped off. While I know some very nice people in and from WY, like anywhere else there are evedidently some that lack an appreciation for human diversity. Unlike many places, it is far harder to catch and prosecute such people when they act on thier beliefs. Witnesses and law enforcement are spread very thin. In Wyoming, that ‘lack of appreciation’ appears to be the majority view: the Legislature voted down a bill to outlaw hate crimes against gay people, even just after Matthew Shepard was murdered there. So that is the deal with Wyoming, and it’s residents. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/93 "2012-03-27T02:02:39Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Ehh, Chicago is cold, flat and WINDY. That can’t be it. Chicago grew where it did because it’s one of the shortest and easiest portages between the Mississippi and Great Lakes watersheds. That made it an important trading post for furs and for contact between the two major French colonies in North America: Louisiana and Quebec. > [@ralph124c](#): > > Wouldn’t Wyoming be an excellent place for windmill/solar energy farms? Lots of wind, wide open spaces, flat land? > Of course, Wyoming is pretty far away from major cities-so the transmission losses would be high. You could produce a ton of wind power, but as you note, transmission losses would be high, especially considering that the nearest large population centers also have high, windy ridges to cover in windmills. I don’t know if it’s sunny enough to make solar a good bet. Solar power, somewhat paradoxically, can be tricky to maintain in very dry areas because you need water to keep the panels clean. Dirt and dust reduce your efficiency, and Wyoming’s high winds would blow it back onto your panels almost immediately. > [@](#): > > Speaking of resources-doesn’t Wyoming have huge deposits of oil shale? Once the technology of extracting the oil is perfected, Wyoming will probably experience a big boom-like North Dakota. > Should I be buying Wyoming RE in anticipation? This is a better bet. I doubt the mining companies are selling, though. ---
**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 27, 2012, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693/94 "2012-03-27T03:57:54Z")
> [@Dufus](#): > > The government should bus inner city ghetto kids to schools in Wyoming everyday, so diversity can be enjoyed there too. > [@Kevbo](#): > > New Mexico, or in this case “never mind”. The n was capitalized because my iPhone does that. You can’t delete a post, but you can edit during a short time window. In this cas I had responded to post before reading the mod note that it was inappropriate for this forum. > > Treading carefully: A rather infamous hate crime happened a few years ago near Laramie, WY. You may have heard about it: the victim’s name was Matthew Shepard. There was some outrage on the community where it happened, but it was less than unanimous. Possibly far less, though hard to say from my distance. The perpetrators struck me as redneck peckerwoods with the drawl scraped off. While I know some very nice people in and from WY, like anywhere else there are evedidently some that lack an appreciation for human diversity. Unlike many places, it is far harder to catch and prosecute such people when they act on thier beliefs. Witnesses and law enforcement are spread very thin. > [@Dufus](#): > > Wyoming has one of the largest indian reservations in the U.S., holding the remnants of the race of people who barely escaped total genocide. But it is most notable because somebody in that state killed a gay kid. > [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > In Wyoming, that ‘lack of appreciation’ appears to be the majority view: the Legislature voted down a bill to outlaw hate crimes against gay people, even just after Matthew Shepard was murdered there. > > So that is the deal with Wyoming, and it’s residents. **Moderator Note** The subject of this thread is why Wyoming has such a low population. These posts have little if anything to do with this subject. If you wish to criticize the residents of the state or comment on what you believe to be their character, take it to another forum. More commentary if this kind may be liable for a warning. Colibri General Questions Moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-whats-the-deal-with-wyoming/615693.md?page=4)