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Pronghorn antelope all but outnumber people in wide-open WYOMING
, the ninth largest but least populous state in the union, with
just 460,000 residents. Above all, this is classic cowboy country
- the inspiration behind Shane, The Virginian and countless other
Western novels - where the days of the open range are evoked by
rodeos, country-and-western dance halls and ranchwear stores. The
state emblem, seen everywhere, is a hat-waving cowboy astride a
bucking bronco.
Northern Wyoming is the prime tourist goal, with well over three
million per year heading for the simmering geothermal landscape
of Yellowstone National Park , and the craggy mountain vistas of
the adjacent, and equally outstanding, Grand Teton National Park
. Wedged in between Yellowstone and South Dakota to the east are
the helter-skelter Bighorn Mountains , likeable Old West towns such
as Buffalo , and the otherworldly outcrop of Devils Tower .
The meager supply of buffalo in early Wyoming caused fierce intertribal
wars over hunting grounds and kept the Native American population
down to around 10,000. However, Sioux, Cheyenne and Blackfoot combined
to inflict notable defeats on the US Army before it could clear
the way for pioneer settlement in the 1870s. The cattle ranchers
and sheep-farming homesteaders who followed engaged in violent range
wars over grazing rights to the wiry grasslands.
Unlikely as it may seem, this rowdy, heavily male-dominated state
was the first to grant women the vote in 1869 - a full half-century
before the rest of the country, on the grounds that the enfranchisement
of women would attract settlers and increase the population, thereby
hastening statehood. A year later Wyoming appointed the country's
first women jurors, and the "Equality State" elected the
first female US governor in 1924.
The absence of rivers to irrigate farmland has effectively put
a lid on agricultural and population growth. These days, any weather-beaten,
denim-clad stranger is more likely to be an oil roustabout than
a genuine cowboy, fuel and mineral extraction having replaced livestock
as the mainstay of the economy in the early part of the twentieth
century.
Greyhound buses operate along I-80 through the south. The rest
of the state is covered only patchily by regional bus companies;
it takes considerable time and planning to get where you want to
go, so your own car is definitely the best option. Jackson has the
state's largest airport , though flights also go to Casper and Cheyenne.
Cycling across northern Wyoming can be great fun, although if you're
crossing the Bighorns you'll need to pick your routes carefully,
as roads here have incredibly steep gradients.
See what Wyoming car rentals has to offer today. Choose a link
above to view today's special Wyoming rental car rates from different
agencies! Click here to get started with a car
rental quote now!
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