Wyoming Wanderings

While in Yellowstone we crossed in and out of both Montana and Wyoming.  However, once we departed Yellowstone it was all Wyoming.  Our first stop was Cody, Wyoming. 

We traveled about 15 miles north of Cody, Wy to a place called Heart Mountain Relocation Camp, where in 1942, thousands of Japanese, following the attack on Pearl Harbor,  were held. At that time, there was a serious concern that Japan was preparing for an all out attack on the West coast.  Fear arose that the many ethnic Japanese living on the West coast would sympathize with Japan due simply to their ethnicity.  Some credence was lent  to this feeling by the Nihau Incident, which immediately followed the attack on Pearl Harbor.  The incident involved a civilian Japanese national and two Hawaiian-born Japanese on the island of Nihau violently freeing a downed, captured Japanese naval aviator.  President Roosevelt, pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act, issued Presidential Proclamations 2525, 2526, 2527 designating Japanese, German and Italian nationals as enemy aliens.  Information was used to locate and incarcerate those designated foreign nationals for the duration of the war. While the Alien Enemies Act and the subsequent Presidential Proclamations were completely Constitutional, what happened next is a dark and disgraceful page in our national history, one not many of us learned about in school. On February 19, 1942 FDR issued Executive Order 9066, which authorized military commanders to designate "military areas" at their discretion, "from which any or all persons may be excluded", whether citizen or non-citizen.  The West coast commander, Lt Gen DeWitt, issued Civilian Exclusion Order No. 34, ordering ALL people of Japanese ancestry, whether citizens or not, living in designated zones to report to assembly areas for movement to "relocation centers."  Military edicts, like this one, included persons of at least one-sixteenth Japanese ancestry.  Of all those relocated to "camps" such as the one at Heart Mountain, Wy, 62 percent were US citizens.  The next two pictures are of some of the original buildings of the Heart Mountain Relocation Camp.  The museum had a nice interpretive building showcasing what life was like for those caught up in the relocation movement.

The girls pose in front of the Homesteader Museum in Powell, Wyoming. You can read more about the museum at this link: Powell, Wyoming Homesteader Museum 

Bever Homestead is an original 1911 homestead house owned by homesteaders O.E. and Ruby Bever. This newly renovated home was donated to the museum in 2006. 

A picture of the homestead as it looked in 1913.

Hailey inside the homestead kitchen,  one of two the only two rooms.  

A picture of early Powell homesteaders arriving by horse drawn wagon.  You can see the Heart Mountain in the background. Hearty folk out here!

Hailey really got a kick out of the horse drawn farm equipment.  She seems to really enjoy the farming idea! 

Hailey is at it again!  She models a circa 1930's farm tractor.  

An interesting fact about this area I did not know.  I suppose you could not get more remote and have all the food, water and shelter required than out here in Powell, Wyoming! 

Who would've guessed that Heidi would turn 13 in Cody, Wyoming!  

In the streets of Cody, Wyoming; Hailey calls for "More Cow Bell!" 

Hailey spotted this creature in a store in Cody and asked me; "Dad, what kinda animal is that?!"  I said ; "A jackalope of course!" 

You'd think she's been deprived!  Don't believe it! 

Sushi in Wyoming?? Well, given our new found learning about Wyoming's connection with Japanese....why not?!  Heidi requested sushi for her birthday dinner! 

 Cowgirls, up!  A first for the girls of Team Breitmann!  I had attended this very same nightly summer rodeo when I was a kid.  The girls also got to partake in the nightly kids "calf scramble"  when all the kids get a chance to try to capture a red ribbon of the tail of two calves turned loose in the arena!  What a hoot!  I did this with my brother many years ago!  

We spent an overnight in Buffalo, Wyoming and to our surprise we were greeted with wild turkeys right outside our motor home door.  Hailey tries to catch one!  No luck.  Too bad.  They looked delicious! 

Is that an early Airstream camper?!  We are glad we travel in something quite a bit nicer than this!  Well, it's time to saddle up and head on out for South Dakota!