“ A commissioner of taxation who is appointed by the governor with the concurrence of the Senate for a term of four years exercises a general supervision over all tax officers and the boards of equalization. By a law enacted in 1909 county commissioners are forbidden to levy a tax which will yield more than 10% in excess of that raised the preceding year. The constitution limits the state tax for other than the support of educational and charitable institutions and the payment of the state debt and the interest thereon to four mills on the dollar ”

“ The causes for a divorce are adultery, incompetency, conviction of a felony and sentence to imprisonment therefor after marriage, conviction of a felony or infamous crime before marriage provided it was unknown to the other party, habitual drunkenness, extreme cruelty, intolerable indignities, neglect of the husband to provide the common necessaries of life, vagrancy of the husband and pregnancy of the wife before marriage by another man than her husband and without his knowledge. ”

“ The homestead of a householder who is the head of a family or of any resident of the state who has attained the age of sixty years is exempt, to the value of $1500, or 160 acres of land, from execution and attachment arising from any debt, contract or civil obligation other than taxes, purchase money or improvements, so long as it is occupied by the owner or his or her family, and the exemption inures for the benefit of a widow, widower or minor children. ”

“ The transition of the principal stock-raising industry from large herds of cattle to small, and the utilization of the ranges for sheep grazing almost exclusively covered a period of over twenty years preceding 1910, during which time many conflicts occurred between range cattle-owners and sheep flock masters over the use of the grazing grounds. ”

“ Erosion buttes and mesas occasionally rise as picturesque monuments above the general level of the plains, and in the vicinity of the mountains the plains strata, elsewhere nearly horizontal, are bent sharply upward and carved by erosion into “hogback” ridges. These features are well developed about the Bighorn Mountains, an outlying member of the Rockies which boldly interrupts the continuity of the plains in north-central Wyoming. The plains sediments contain important coal beds, which are worked in nearly every county in the state. ”

“ At the present time serious collisions between sheep and cattle owners are rare. There are still many cattle in the state, but they are divided up into small herds, no longer depending upon the open range for a precarious subsistence during the winter, but are sheltered and fed during winter storms on the hay ranches. The breeds of cattle are far superior now to the old range stock, so that it pays to take care of them, many thousands are fed during the winter on alfalfa hay. ”

“ Since that time experience has proved that the grazing ranges of the state are better suited to sheep than cattle, the former being much more profitable and better able to stand the cold on the open range. While many cattlemen have been driven out of business by the encroachments of sheep, the majority of the present flockmasters were range cattle owners in the past and have changed to the more profitable occupation. ”

“ The district courts have original jurisdiction in all actions and matters not expressly vested in some other court and appellate jurisdiction in cases arising in the lower courts. Justices of the peace, one of whom is elected biennially in each precinct, have jurisdiction in civil actions in which the amount in controversy does not exceed $200 and the title to or boundary of real estate is not involved, and in criminal actions less than a felony and in which the punishment prescribed by law does not exceed a fine of $100 and imprisonment for six months. ”

“ On the 2nd of September 1885 the miners at Rock Springs attacked about 400 Chinamen who had been brought by the railway to work in the mines, killing about fifty of them and driving the remainder from the district. Governor Warren summoned Federal troops and prevented further destruction of life and property.
The Territory increased in population and more rapidly in wealth, owing chiefly to the large profits in cattle raising, though this prosperity suffered a check during the severe winter of 1886-1887, when nearly three-fourths of the range cattle died of exposure. ”

“ Some of these small settlers owned no cattle, and subsisted by stealing calves and imbranded cattle (mavericks) belonging to the range cattlemen. In parts of the state it became impossible to get a jury composed of these small squatters to convict anybody for stealing or killing cattle, and so bad did this become that, in 1892, certain cattlemen formed a small army of mounted men and invaded the central part of the state with the avowed intention of killing all the men generally considered to be stock thieves, an episode known as the Johnson County Raid. ”

“ The secretary of state, auditor, treasurer and superintendent of public instruction are elected for the same term as the governor.
Legislature.—The legislature consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The number of representatives must be not less than twice nor more than three times the number of senators. One-half the senators and all the representatives are elected every two years. Both senators and representatives are apportioned among the several counties according to their population; each county, however, is entitled to at least one senator and one representative. ”

“ Whenever 100 freeholders request it, the county commissioners must submit to the voters of a proposed high school district the question of establishing a high school district, and each precinct giving a majority vote for it constitutes a part of such a district for establishing and maintaining a high school. All children between seven and fourteen years of age must attend a public, private or parochial school during the entire time that the public school of their district is in session unless excused by the district board. ”

“ The Constitution, which continued the Territorial provision of full suffrage for women, met the approval of Congress, and on the 10th of July 1890 Wyoming was formally admitted as a state. Since admission the progress of the state has been steady. Extensive irrigation projects have made available many thousand acres of fertile land, and much more will be subjected to cultivation in the future as the large ranges are broken up into smaller tracts. ”

“ The Hartville iron deposits are worked by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, which ships large quantities of ore to its furnaces at Pueblo, Colorado. The discovery of natural gas in the Douglas oil field has opened up the possibility of working a smelting plant at the mines by means of this cheap and convenient fuel. The distance to be covered by a pipe line is not prohibitive, and the matter has been under consideration by the owners and lessees of the iron mines.
There are sandstone deposits in Carbon county, which supplied the stone for the Capitol at Cheyenne and the state penitentiary ”

“ If the owner is married the homestead can be alienated only with the consent of both husband and wife. The family Bible, school books, a lot in a burying-ground and $500 worth of personal property are likewise exempt to any person who is entitled to a homestead exemption. ”

“ The white-tailed Virginia deer inhabits the bottom lands and the mule deer the more open country. Lewis’s prairie dog, the cottontail rabbit, the coyote, the grey wolf and the kit fox are all animals of the plains. In the mountains are elk, puma, lynx, the varying hare and snowshoe rabbit, the yellow-haired porcupine, Fremont’s and Bailey’s squirrels, the mountain sheep, the four-striped chipmunk, Townsend’s spermophile, the prong-horned antelope, the cinnamon pack-rat, grizzly, brown, silver tip and black bears and the wolverine. ”

“ The cold is sharp and bracing rather than disagreeable, on account of the dryness of the air; and the periods of cold weather are generally of short duration. The winter climate is remarkably pleasant as a rule, and outdoor work may usually be carried on without discomfort. ”

“ Where alkali is present, the plains may be nearly barren, or covered with grease wood and species of atriplex, including the so-called white sage. Grease wood is likewise abundant in the foothills wherever the soil contains alkali. Various species of nutritious grasses cover much of the plains and foothills, and even clothe the apparently barren mountain peaks.
Climate.—In the lower Bighorn Valley, summer temperatures rise to 95° or 100°, but at heights of 6000 to 7000 ft. on neighbouring ranges, summer temperatures seldom rise above 90°, and frosts may occur at any time. ”

“ Neither party is permitted to marry a third party until one year after the divorce has been granted. The desertion of a wife or of children under fifteen years of age is a felony punishable with imprisonment for not more than three years nor less than one year. ”

“ The principal cereal crop in 1909 was oats, the product of which was 3,500,000 bushels, grown on 100,000 acres and valued at $1,750,000. The wheat crop increased from 4674 bushels in 1879 to 2,297,000 bushels in 1909, grown on 80,000 acres and valued at $2,274,000. The product of Indian corn in 1909 was 140,000 bushels, grown on 5000 acres and valued at $109,000.
Mining.—The development of Wyoming's naturally rich mineral resources has been retarded by inadequate transport and by insufficient capital. The value of the slate's mineral product was $5,684,286 in 1902 and $9,453,341 in 1908. ”

“ Cheyenne in the S.E., has a winter mean of 27°, and a summer mean of 65°. The percentage of sunshine in the state is high. Precipitation varies in different areas from 8 to 20 in., the average for the state being 12.5 in. Wyoming thus belongs with the arid states, and irrigation is necessary for agriculture. A greater precipitation doubtless prevails on the higher mountains, but trustworthy records are not available. Spring is the wettest season. The prevailing winds are W. and reach a high velocity on the level plains. ”

“ There is a great variety of birds. Eared grebes and ring-billed gulls breed on the sloughs of the plains, and rarely the white pelican nests about the lake shores. Here, too, breed many species of ducks, the mallard, gadwall, baldpate, three species of teal, shoveler, pintail, hooded mergansers, and Canada geese; other ducks and geese are migrants only. ”

“ Settlers intending to occupy such lands must satisfy the state that they have entered into contracts with the irrigating company for a sufficient water-right and a perpetual interest in the irrigation works. The principal undertaking of the Federal government is the Shoshone project in Bighorn county. This provides for a storage reservoir, controlled by Shoshone dam on Shoshone river, about 8 m. ”

“ Agriculture.—The total area in farms in 1880 was 124,433 acres, of which 83,122 acres (66.8%) were improved; in 1900 it was 8,124,536 acres, of which 792,332 acres (9.8%) were improved. The large increase in unimproved acreage in farms was principally due to the increased importance in sheep-raising. In 1909 Wyoming ranked first among the states in the number of sheep and the production of wool. The number of sheep in 1909 was 7,316,000, valued at $32,190,000, being more than one-eighth in numbers and nearly one seventh in value of all sheep in the United States. ”

“ The resentful Indians resorted to war. After a long and arduous contest in Wyoming, Montana and Dakota, which lasted from 1874 to 1879, and during which General George A. Custer (q.v.) and his command were killed in 1876 on the Little Bighorn in Montana, the Indians were thoroughly subdued and confined to reservations. The settlers in Wyoming shared the general antipathy to the Chinese, common to the western country. ”

“ The posts on the Montana trail were abandoned, and the Indians agreed to remove farther E. and to cease attacking trains, not to oppose railway construction, &c. The territory N. of the Platte river and E. of the Bighorn Mountains was to be reserved as an Indian hunting ground and no white men were to settle on it without the consent of the Indians. Gold was discovered on the Sweetwater river in 1867, and a large inrush of population followed. This unorganized territory E. of the Rocky Mountains was a part of Dakota, and in January 1868 Carter (later Sweetwater) county was erected. ”

“ Miscellaneous Laws.—A married woman may hold, acquire, manage and convey property and carry on business independently of her husband. When a husband or a wife dies intestate one-half of the property of the deceased goes to the survivor ”