Gillette Wyoming Blog

Local author Mary Kelley and Arcadia Publishing present Gillette, the newest addition to the popular Images of America Series. Boasting over 200 vintage images, Gillette showcases the pioneer settlers in this early cow town and chronicles its growth into the Energy Capital of the United States.

The community, originally known as Donkey Town, was a temporary base camp for the survey crews from the Burlington and Missouri Railroad, who were planning to build a line through northeastern Wyoming in the late 1880s. Engineer and surveyor Edward Gillette, a New Haven native, was in charge of surveying the area that would ultimately be named after him.

Mary hopes that the readers of Gillette will enjoy the memories conjured up by the photographs and value the legacy that others left behind.

A portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to the Campbell County Rockpile Museum.

Highlights of Gillette:

• Features the Wyodak Mine, the longest continuously operating surface mine in the nation
• Showcases Gillette’s colorful characters including cowboys named Holdout Johnson, Every Day Johnson, Lame Smithy, Long Shorty, Bum-a-Nickle Garrett and Coyote Bill
• Depicts the arrest of former Mayor Roy Montgomery who was convicted of running a house of ill-repute in the early 1900s

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at www.arcadiapublishing.com or (888)-313-2665. 

Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States.  Our mission is to make history accessible and meaningful through the publication of books on the heritage of America’s people and places.  Have we done a book on your town?  Visit www.arcadiapublishing.com

City of Gillette Mayor, Duane Evenson, supports a Wyoming Wind Energy Tax in his latest blog post.  Due to recent wind energy development projects in Campbell County, he expresses the need for Wyoming to treat all energy producers equally and not support unfair competition in the energy market.

The state Joint Revenue Committee voted against a tax on wind energy in November, and like Mayor Evenson, Governor Freudenthal supports a wind energy excise tax.  What are your thoughts?  Please post a comment and share your view on whether wind energy should be taxed differently than coal-fired plants and other electricity producers.

U.S. Senator Mike Enzi will join a panel discussion on U.S. health care reform at the Campbell County High School South Campus today.  Senator Enzi, Dan Perdue of the Wyoming Hospital Association, Ken Clouston of the Wyoming Physical Therapy Association and Dr. Carol Hungerford of the Wyoming Dental Association will be speaking on health care reform issues, including the bill being introduced by the Finance Committee.  Read More

While Wyoming’s upcoming large-scale wind farm projects have been getting much attention lately, many Wyoming ranchers and farmers are also “looking into the wind” for a solution to their rising electric costs.  Advanced Energy Technology, of Cody, Wyoming, was able to help Carbon County resident Michael Kananen, who had seen a nearly 50% increase in his Beartooth Electric Co-Op rates, by installing a vertical axis wind turbine on his ranch.  Read the Full Story.

The U.S. Census Bureau has released the 2008 state and county population estimates by age and sex and race and Hispanic origin. Data tables are available on the Economic Analysis Division’s (EAD) website, http://eadiv.state.wy.us and by using the following links. The EAD has also issued a press release that highlights some of the changes in Wyoming’s population for 2008.

Population estimates web page, http://eadiv.state.wy.us/pop/pop.html
News release, http://eadiv.state.wy.us/pop/POP_NEWSRLSE_ASR08.pdf
State age and sex, http://eadiv.state.wy.us/pop/ST_AS08.htm
State race and Hispanic origin, http://eadiv.state.wy.us/pop/ST_RO08.htm
County age and sex, http://eadiv.state.wy.us/pop/CO_AS08.htm
County selected age groups, http://eadiv.state.wy.us/pop/CO_AS08_GP.htm
County race and Hispanic origin, http://eadiv.state.wy.us/pop/CO_RO08.htm

2008 Wyoming state and county demographics PDF

Will 2008 be the last record-breaking year for coal?

Read More @ Gillette News Record