Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/806

WYOMING. {|align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" rules="cols" style="font-size: smaller"
 * colspan="3"|
 * align="center"|CATTLE
 * align="center"|1900
 * align="center"|1890
 * Dairy cows
 * align="right"|18,272
 * align="right"|11,684
 * Other cattle
 * align="right"|669,012
 * align="right"|674,285
 * Horses
 * align="right"|135,543
 * align="right"|87,403
 * Mules and asses
 * align="right"|1,641
 * align="right"|1,242
 * Sheep
 * align="right"| 3,327,185
 * align="right"| 712,520
 * Swine
 * align="right"|15,471
 * align="right"|6,794
 * colspan="3"|
 * }
 * align="right"|1,242
 * Sheep
 * align="right"| 3,327,185
 * align="right"| 712,520
 * Swine
 * align="right"|15,471
 * align="right"|6,794
 * colspan="3"|
 * }
 * colspan="3"|
 * }
 * }

. Merchantable timber of yellow pine is found in the Big Horn and the Medicine Bow Mountains and in the mountains east and south of the Yellowstone Park. The total wooded area is estimated at 12,500 square miles, or 13 per cent. of the area of the State. However, 3500 square miles of this is in the Yellowstone National Park and 5207 square miles is in United States reserves. The value of the timber cut in 1900 was $831,558.

. The manufactures are almost entirely limited to products which are for local consumption. The rich iron and petroleum resources constitute a good basis for the development of industries, but the lack of transportation facilities tends to restrict them. In 1900 the capital invested in manufactures aggregated $2,411,435, and the value of products for the census year aggregated $4,301,240. There were in that year 2241 persons engaged as wage-earners in the industry.

. There are no navigable streams, and the artificial means of transportation are very inadequate to the needs of the State, and consequently greatly hamper its proper development. The great central and northwestern portions of the State are without railroads. The Union Pacific crosses the southern portion of the State, and the Burlington and Missouri line crosses the northeastern corner. In 1901 there was a total of 1279 miles of line in operation. Only one State, Nevada, has a lower mileage per square mile of area. There are, however, 132 miles to every 10,000 inhabitants. The antiquated system of stage-route transportation is still common in the State.

. The following table, based on the report of the Comptroller of the Currency for 1902, gives the condition of national, State, and private banks in Wyoming for that year:

. The Constitution adopted in 1890, when Wyoming became a State, differed

from other instruments of its kind then in existence because it granted equal political rights to both sexes. Under it also the State assumed control of all waterways. The executive department is administered by a Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, and Superintendent of Public Instruction, all elected for a four-year period. The State Treasurer is ineligible for reëlection. The Legislature is composed of a Senate of twenty-four members and a Lower House of forty-nine members. Each county is entitled to at least one Senator and one Representative. The sessions are held biennially, and are limited to forty days. The Supreme Court is composed of a Chief Justice and two associate justices. The capital is Cheyenne. Wyoming sends one member to the National House of Representatives.

. A bonded debt of $320,000, chiefly to meet expenditures for the Capitol and other public buildings, was incurred when Wyoming entered the Union in 1890. This amount had been reduced on January 1, 1902, to $280,000. The balance in the treasury at the beginning of the fiscal year ending September 30, 1902, was $168,916.37. The receipts for that year were $478,758.12, and the disbursements $294,636.53, leaving a balance at the end of the year of $353,037.96. The chief sources of revenue are taxation, income from public lands, and fees.

. The State had in 1900 a militia-age population of 32,988. The organized militia in 1901 numbered 323 men.

. The population by decades has been as follows: 1870, 9118; 1880, 20,789; 1890, 60,705; 1900, 92,531. Only one State in 1900 had a smaller population or smaller density per square mile. In 1900, 52 per cent. of the population was in the basin of the North Platte River. The industrial life results in an excess of males, who numbered 58,184, as against 34,347 females. The foreign born numbered 17,415. The Indians numbered 1686, negroes 940, Chinese 461, and Japanese 393. Cheyenne had a population, in 1900, of 14,087; Laramie, 8207; and Rock Springs, 4363.

. It is difficult to provide educational advantages for all in a country that is so sparsely settled, but the State has done much to overcome the difficulty by establishing schools wherever there are as many as five pupils. In 1900 the school term was 89 days, and 14,512 children were enrolled out of an estimated 19,744 who were between the ages of five and eighteen. There were in the same year seven high schools in the State. A university is located at Laramie. The Cody Military College has been established at Cody City.

. A State board of charities and reform has oversight of the charitable and correctional interests of the State. As yet there has been no occasion to provide indoor poor relief. The asylum erected at Cheyenne for the deaf, dumb, and blind, for lack of occupants has been converted into a State soldiers' and sailors' home. There is an insane asylum at Evanston, and a hospital at Rock Springs. The penitentiary, which was formerly located at Laramie, has been removed to Rawlins.

. Only 19 per pent. of the population in 1890 were church members. The Catholics and Mormons are the largest denominations.