According to the Wyoming Historical Society, on August 26, 1896, the first ever newspaper in Big Horn County was published. It was called “The Basin City Herald.” On August 26, 1920, 12 motorists began driving from Rocky Mountain National Park to Yellowstone to inaugurate the National Park-to-Park Highway. On August 29, 1886, the first passenger train arrived in Douglas on the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad. On August 29, 1912, the U.S. government executed the first lease of federal coal to the Owl Creek Coal Company of Gebo, near present-day Thermopolis. On August 29, 1985, rock star Neil Young performed at a fundraising concert for Cheyenne flood victims.
The Gillette News Record reported on August 26, 1976, that two men were caught trying to steal a Campbell County Sheriff’s Office patrol car. While officers were inside JB Blue’s making a routine bar check, Sammy Dee Pierce and Richard Lee Ward hooked the patrol car to a wrecker and were taking it onto the highway when deputies came out. Another patrol car was standing watch. It’s unclear how the men managed to get so far with their heist while under surveillance.
