According to the Wyoming Historical Society, on January 1, 1889, a total solar eclipse crossed the far northwest corner of Yellowstone National Park for two minutes and 17 seconds. On January 2, 1897, it was reported that an irate woman horsewhipped an Evanston newspaper editor. We don’t know what she was so angry about. On January 2, 1949, the Great Blizzard began. It lasted for seven straight weeks. On January 5, 1890, a man was arrested after terrorizing Laramie residents with a “huge cheese knife.” On January 5, 1925, Wyoming Governor Nellie Tayloe Ross took office as the first woman governor in the nation.

According to the University of Wyoming American Heritage Center, on January 2, 1899, UW Senior Flora Lee contributed a letter to the student newspaper recalling the university’s early cheer (and I’m guessing at the beat here): “Rah, Rah, Rah! Zip, Boom, Zee! Let’er Go, Let’er Go, Varsity! Wy-Wy-Wy-Wy-o-ming!”