Despite having travelled quite a bit around the United States, I’ve never been to Wyoming. So when the opportunity recently came to go on a magic cartoon journey to the Cowboy State, I took it and decided to bring you along.
All of today’s images are from a 1954 cartoon pamphlet in which Wyoming Joe and his magic horse Desert Dust take an average family on a journey to all the state’s highlights. Click on any image for a larger version.
Wyoming, it turns out, is quite an interesting state. The state motto is “Equal Rights” and Wyoming was the first state to allow women to vote and had the first woman governor.
Wyoming is also home to a number of other firsts, including the first county library system, the first national park (Yellowstone), the first national forest (Shoshone), the first ranger station (Wapiti), and the first national monument (Devils Tower).
The official sport of Wyoming is the rodeo and the state was the home of William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody and his famous western show.
I don’t know how many states have an official state dinosaur, but Wyoming does: it’s the triceratops. And apparently, at least in 1954, Wyoming was famous for its cheese.
Wyoming was home to artist Jackson Pollock, which seems a bit incongruous, and also home to Vice President Dick Cheney, which doesn’t.
Of course we all know that Yellowstone is not only home to Old Faithful, but also to bears, so all of you Stephen Colbert fans be warned. Another animal, the Jackalope, is the official mythological creature of Wyoming.
And where there are forests, there are forest fires, so Wyoming Joe takes the cartoon family to visit a ranger who warns the kids not to play with fire.
As you might imagine, the family has a wonderful magic trip to Wyoming and vows to go back for a proper vacation. And you can bet the next chance I get, I’ll be taking a real visit to Wyoming. I hear the cheese is wonderful.
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This article was last modified on May 17, 2023
This article was first published on October 29, 2010
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