Wyoming Almanac and History of Wyoming

Creating Counties in 1911:

Why Two of Wyoming’s “Grand Old Men” Have No Counties Named for Them

By Phil Roberts

   The 1911 Wyoming legislature created a flurry of counties—the most in one year in the state’s history. Campbell, Goshen, Hot Springs, Lincoln, Niobrara, Platte and Washakie brought the total number of counties to 21—two more to come in 1921 to bring them to the current total of 23.

   The legislation followed a period of population growth and prosperity with areas of existing counties pursuing local self-governance. Motives often were economic; county seat towns gained levels of stability they lacked while appended to older counties and their tax revenues siphoned to distant existing towns.

   When community leaders proposed new counties, the decision required what was often two divisive choices—which town would have the courthouse and county offices and what should the county be named?[1]  

Nearly half of Wyoming counties are named for people.[2] Only one, Campbell, was named for a governor, John A. Campbell, the first territorial governor, but also for fur trader Robert Campbell.[3]

   One major federally-funded project led to the establishment of Goshen county.  The portion of northeast Laramie county attracted dry-farming and small irrigation projects. Growth was steady, but gradual. Many developers realized that to irrigate tracts far from the banks of small streams and the North Platte River, huge outlays would be necessary—much more than any private company or individual could afford. Local boosters turned to their federal representatives for help.

As good luck would have it, Wyoming’s senior U. S. Senator, Francis E. Warren, chaired key committees in the Congress having control over federal expenditures.

   In December 1910 the long years of trying to get federal funding finally paid off. A local newspaper headlined the project and the construction money: "$4,185,000 for Goshen Park Canal."[4]

The article describes Senator Warren's efforts to get Congress to appropriate the money for the project. The article printed the transcript of a telegram sent by Warren to State Rep. John L. Sawyer, the new Laramie County state senator-elect, in which Warren provided the details of the funding for the project. Warren was quoted: "My work has been to get as much as possible for Wyoming, particularly Goshen Hole."[5]

   The Telegram editor placed a note below that article: "If Senator Warren has his way there will be great things in store for Torrington, Guernsey and Goshen Park in 1911. And he has a habit of making things come his way."[6]

   Local businessmen were ecstatic about what the federal money would mean for the project and praised Senator Warren’s work. During the same time, county residents anticipated huge population growth and significant revenues from construction, agriculture and the business each sector would generate for public buildings. It was high time for the northeast quarter of Laramie county to be split off to create a new county with Torrington as its county seat.

   In the northwest quarter of Laramie county, similar public meetings advocated a new county there, too. Strongest support came from the business community of Wheatland, a town founded in the 1890s as a trading center for ranchers, dry farmers and prospective irrigators locating on the Carey Act lands, many within the boundaries of the Wheatland Irrigation Project. The company, formed with former Sen. Joseph M. Carey as a principal investor, was one of very few to take advantage of the generous terms of the Carey Act, ironically, drafted and co-sponsored by Carey when he served in the U. S. Senate in the first half of the 1890s.[7]

   Carey was defeated for return to the U. S. Senate by manipulations of his former friend, Francis E. Warren who sought to remain the only “Cheyenne senator” of the two in the Wyoming delegation.[8]  In 1910 Carey returned to public office with a resounding win for governor—not running as a Republican, but as a Democrat.

   Even though they were now rivals, Warren and Carey made for a potent political pair. Carey presided over what many describe as the most progressive legislative session in state history while Warren’s seniority in the U. S. Senate gained him increasingly important jobs, culminating in the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations committee.

   Back in Wyoming, before the legislative session opened in January, the Torrington Commercial Club held a special meeting at which the plans for two adjoining new counties were discussed. Members talked about what name should be given to their new county.[9] “Several names had been suggested, but upon vote, the club unanimously decided to give the name of Warren to this county, naming it after Senator F. E. Warren in recognition of the good he has done and is still doing for this section of the state.”[10]

   Members thought the choice was appropriate, given that “[W]e understand that the people of Wheatland have decided to name their county Carey. In case the double divisionists win out—as it seems very probable they will—the two new counties will be named after two mighty good men,” adding “if there is anything in a name, they ought to prosper and progress rapidly."[11]

   A search of contemporary newspapers in Wheatland and elsewhere in Wyoming fails to reveal any reference to naming the new county from northwest Laramie county for Joseph Carey. But the name of “Warren county” appears in the transcript of the bill introduced in mid-January by Senator Sawyer to create the new county.[12]

   A week following the publication of the transcript of the bill, a brief news item on the back page of the newspaper reported: "A telegram received yesterday from Cheyenne says that the bill providing for the forming of a new county in the northeastern part of Laramie County has passed the Senate. The name of the new county was, however, changed from Warren to Goshen by the committee."[13]

   In the end, Senator Warren was not to get a county named for him, but neither did Governor Carey.[14] Instead, that other new county was named for the river—Platte county—and not for the governor.[15]

   As for Goshen county, there can no doubt that the canal project was paramount with respect to what local people viewed as a significant sign of progress. Clearly, the Torrington Commercial Club had great interest in the North Platte canals.

Warren, the consummate politician, made sure that the announcement of any federal funds authorized for the project would come directly from him to the editors of the various papers in that part of Wyoming. He made it appear that, were it not for his action, nothing would have come of the project. He is probably right, given that he was chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee at the time!

   On further analysis, the Torrington Commercial Club slipped up badly by trying to show their gratitude to Warren by naming the county for him.  Despite their unanimous vote, the club’s timing was unfortunate—seeking to apply the name just weeks after Warren’s hand-picked candidate for governor had lost to Carey. The new governor particularly savored his victory because he gained revenge for having been pushed out of the U. S. Senate by Warren in 1894. The two friends who were the most instrumental in gaining statehood for Wyoming were not to be on speaking terms for two decades or more. 

   In the same legislative session where the bill was introduced to create Warren county, Carey had set about ensuring that Warren's power to hand-pick Republican candidates came to an end. He proposed (and the legislature accepted) a change from convention nomination of party candidates to primary elections. Thus, Wyoming became one of the first states to adopt the Progressive measure of party primaries rather than giving conventions the power to select a candidate.

   Further, Carey spoke movingly in favor of passage of the 17th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution (direct election of senators), ensuring that if Warren were to continue in the U. S. Senate, he would have to win a statewide election and not be chosen by the legislature.

   Given these factors, it is hard to imagine that Carey didn't have a hand in getting the name changed by the State Senate committee although there is no direct evidence of that fact. Had Sawyer persisted in having the county named for Warren, can there be any doubt that Platte County would have been double its current size and there would not have been a Goshen County?

This article was researched and written in 2011 and partially used as a presentation at the Homesteader Museum in Torrington commemorating the 100th anniversary of Goshen County. It was revised and expanded for this webpage.