Taken from the files
of the Wheatland Times
Aug. 7, 1918
Courtesy of Platte County Historical Society
For Platte County Record Times Publication-August 8, 2018
The Platte County Library has received a request from the American Library Association for more books to be sent to soldiers in France. Those written by Zane Grey, Jack London, Owen Wister, and O’Henry are especially popular. A wonderful gift to send our boys would be a subscription to the Wheatland World or the Guernsey Gazette.
The girls’ canning clubs are planning to compete at the state fair in Douglas for a prize trip to Sioux City, Iowa, to attend the national club meeting. Special attention will be given to the canning of jack rabbit and trout.
A gold medal declamatory contest will be held at the Congregational Church under the auspices of the Muir Women’s Christian Temperance Union. The Mountainview W.C.T.U. will hold an ice cream social and silver medal contest at the Galliger Ranch with proceeds split between the Orphans Home Society and the Red Cross.
Dr. Hay who recently arrived at training camp in Kansas City was obliged to submit to an immediate operation and has been honorably discharged from service to return to his family in Wheatland.
Work will soon commence on a new elevator for Glendo erected at a cost of $3,000 near the Burlington Tracks just opposite the Glendo Mercantile.
Heavy hail, some as big as goose eggs, did considerable damage to crops on the Flats. Windows were broken, shingles were shattered, and hundreds of chickens and turkeys were killed.
Governor Houx issued a stern warning that any gambling or betting on the upcoming horse races in Cheyenne will be considered as a violation of the law. He states, “It is intolerable that there should be held in the superlatively patriotic state of Wyoming a race meeting continuing for almost three weeks and representative only of utterly wasted energy, supplies and financial resources designed only to draw men away from the harvest fields.” Several days later however, he changed his stance and has now agreed to let the race and para-mutuel betting at Frontier Park to proceed. Republicans throughout the state are calling him a “four-flushing grand stander” for backing down.
The city light plant is again out of commission because of a breakdown of equipment which cannot be repaired and will have to be ordered. It may be several weeks before the city can restore electricity throughout Wheatland.
An obsolete and unfair law enforced by the cattlemen of the state which allows a man with cattle to run onto another’s fields and destroy crops with the property owner having no recourse needs to be repealed immediately. The law now states that unless homesteaders and small ranch owners have a “legal” fence—one which very few are able to afford or build — they cannot collect damages for grass and crops which are ruined.
A coal famine is predicted for next winter and some already can find no company to take their orders.
“Dad” Miller, proprietor of the D. Miller & Son Store for many years, has sold his big general store to several local investors. The business is one of the pioneering enterprises in Wheatland.
Autoists are asked to report all hitchhikers, many of whom are simply slackers trying to evade the draft.
