WYOMING

constituent state of the United States of America. It is the ninth largest state, with an area of 97,809 square miles (253,326 square kilometres). It shares boundaries with six other Great Plains and Mountain states: South Dakota and Nebraska on the east, Colorado on the south, Utah on the southwest, Idaho on the west, and Montana on the northwest and north. Cheyenne, the state capital, is located in the state's southeastern corner. Wyoming was admitted to the Union as the 44th state on July 10, 1890. The state's name is derived from a Delaware Indian word meaning land of vast plains, an apt description of its spacious natural environment, which is home to nearly as many pronghorn as people. The state's residents are spread across the land in small ranching and farming towns, in mining settlements, and in communities offering unparalleled outdoor recreational opportunities. Each year millions of people visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. Tens of thousands of pioneers crossed Wyoming along the Oregon, Overland, Mormon, Bozeman, and Bridger trails during the 19th century. The route of the short-lived Pony Express crossed the state along the Oregon Trail in 186061, as did the tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad when they first connected North America's east and west coasts in the late 1860s. county, northeastern Pennsylvania, U.S., consisting of a mountainous region on the Allegheny Plateau that is bisected northwest-southeast by the Susquehanna River. Other principal waterways are Mehoopany, Tunkhannock, Bowman, and Meshoppen creeks, as well as Lakes Carey and Winola. The county was formed in 1842; its name was derived from a Delaware Indian word meaning land of vast plains. The county seat is Tunkhannock. The economy is based on agriculture and forest-related industries. Wyoming county is one of seven completely rural counties in Pennsylvania. Area 397 square miles (1,029 square km). Pop. (1990) 28,076; (1996 est.) 29,362. The northern Mountain region. mountain state of the western United States, bounded on the north and northwest by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, southwest by Utah, and west by Idaho. The capital is Cheyenne. Wyoming was populated chiefly by the Shoshoni and Arapaho Plains Indians in 1743, when white explorers first are known to have entered the area from Canada. The first certain white American explorer strayed from the Lewis and Clark expedition in 180607. The historic Oregon and Overland trails (and others) crossed through Wyoming, most of which came under U.S. control first as part of the Louisiana Purchase (smaller portions were acquired from Mexico and Great Britain). Later the territory was divided among the Dakota, Nebraska, and (a small segment) Washington territories, until the first transcontinental-railroad train reached Cheyenne in 1867 and the Wyoming Territory was created in 1868. Wyoming was admitted as a state in 1890 with Cheyenne as its capital. It enfranchised women in 1869 and enshrined the principle in its 1889 constitution, the first state to do so; in 1925 it elected the first woman governor in the United States. Until 1876, when the Plains Indians were decisively defeated, white settlement was confined to southern Wyoming. Subsequently ranching became the principal industry until it was displaced by mining in the mid-20th century. Eastern Wyoming is the westernmost extension of the Great Plains, with the Black Hills rising in the northeast to dominate the quarter. Northward-trending mountains separated by basins and valleys dominate the western three-fourths of the state and give it the second highest mean elevation in the United States6,700 feet (2,040 m). The most prominent ranges of the Rocky Mountains are the Big Horn, the Tetons, and the Wind River, culminating in Wyoming's highest point, Gannett Peak, 13,804 feet (4,207 m) in the Wind River Range. The Continental Divide follows the Sierra Madre Range, splits around the Great Divide Basin, then passes over the Wind River Range northward over the Washakie Mountains and Yellowstone National Park into Montana. About three-fourths of Wyoming's rivers drain eastward into the MissouriMississippi system, while the rest drain westward into the SnakeColumbia system or southward into the GreenColorado system. Several of the rivers have been dammed for hydroelectric power. The largest lake is Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park. Wyoming has a continental semiarid climate, with substantial temperature and precipitation variation. January mean temperatures range from a low of 10 F (-12 C) in the mountains to 28 F (-2 C) in the southeast. Mean July temperatures range from 50 F (10 C) in the mountains to 75 F (24 C) in the Big Horn Basin in north-central Wyoming. Annual precipitation varies from 4 inches (100 mm) in the desert areas of the southwest to much greater amounts in the mountains, where annual snowfall can surpass 200 inches (5,100 mm). Wyoming's population density is one of the lowest in the United States. An increase in population of more than 50 percent in the 1970s, largely because of expanding mining activity, reversed in the 1980s in response to a downturn in the oil industry. Since 1950 the urban population has surpassed the rural, with more than half living in the southeastern quarter of the state. The three largest cities, Casper, Cheyenne, and Laramie, contain about one-fourth of the population. Indians now make up less than 2 percent of the population and live mainly on the Wind River reservation. Whites and Hispanics comprise more than 95 percent of the population, and distinct ethnic groups include Mexicans, Scandinavians, Italians, and Germans. Agriculture is limited by a lack of water and by temperature extremes, although the soils of the plains and mountains are generally fertile. Less than 5 percent of the land is cropped, of which nearly two-thirds is irrigated. Barley, wheat, corn (maize), hay, oats, sugar beets, dry beans, and potatoes are the leading crops. Grassland pastures occupy about 38 percent of the land, and Wyoming ranks high nationwide in sheep rearing, mainly for wool. Beef cattle are raised in quantity, and apiculture is also important. Forests are limited to mountain areas, but they support a developed lumbering industry. Mining has rapidly expanded and has become the leading component of the state's economy. Wyoming is among the nation's leaders in coal, petroleum, natural-gas, uranium, bentonite, and trona (for soda ash), and iron-ore production. Manufacturing is limited to petroleum refining, chemicals, fertilizer, and glass, but the state is a major producer of electrical energy, both hydroelectric and thermal, much of which it exports. Tourism is important, centring on the state's national parksincluding Yellowstone, the first in the United States, and the Grand Teton, Flaming Gorge, and Big Horn national parksand national forests and privately owned dude ranches. Camping, swimming, fishing, hunting, and hiking, as well as skiing and other winter sports attract millions of visitors annually just to the national parks and forests. Wyoming's highways, railways, and air transport systems are widely used, and there are more than 100 airports throughout the state. The University of Wyoming, at Laramie, is supplemented by two-year community colleges. Cultural events include the annual state fair at Douglas, Jubilee Days at Laramie, Frontier Days at Cheyenne, county fairs and rodeos, various Indian festivities, and the Grand Teton Music Festival (summer) at Jackson Hole, where there is a resident community of artists, writers, and musicians. Area 97,809 square miles (253,326 square km). Pop. (1990) 453,588. county, western New York state, U.S., consisting of a plateau region bounded by the Genesee River to the southeast. Cliffs as high as 600 feet (183 metres) line the Genesee in Letchworth State Park, which Wyoming county shares with Livingston county. Other waterways include Silver Lake and Tonawanda, Oatka, and East Koy creeks. Forested regions feature a mix of hardwoods. When European settlers first arrived, Iroquoian-speaking Seneca Indians inhabited lands near the Genesee. Located south of Attica, the Attica Correctional Facility was the site of a prison uprising in September 1971 that killed 43 people. Other towns are Perry, Arcade, and Warsaw, which is the county seat. The county was created in 1841, its name derived from a Delaware Indian word meaning land of vast plains. Manufacturing and agriculture (cattle, milk, and potatoes) are the main economic activities. Area 593 square miles (1,536 square km). Pop. (1990) 42,507; (1996 est.) 44,357. Additional reading Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Wyoming, Wyoming: A Guide to Its History, Highways, and People (1941, reprinted 1981), provides a still-useful overview of the state. Robert Harold Brown, Wyoming: A Geography (1980), describes the land and its resources. DeLorme Mapping Company, Wyoming Atlas & Gazetteer, 2nd ed. (1998), contains topographic maps. David Lageson and Darwin Spearing, Roadside Geology of Wyoming (1988); and D.L. Blackstone, Jr., Traveler's Guide to the Geology of Wyoming, 2nd ed. (1988), trace the state's geologic history. Mae Urbanek, Wyoming Place Names (1988), combines geography and local history.Wyoming's history is chronicled in T.A. Larson, Wyoming (1977, reissued 1984), an introduction, and History of Wyoming, 2nd ed., rev. (1978). Ongoing historical research is reported in Annals of Wyoming (quarterly). Gerald Raymond Webster