Few People Know Northern Wyoming Almost Became Another State
Wyoming is so awesome it’s hard to imagine it any other way than it is today. What few people know is that at one time, a huge section of the Cowboy State wanted to secede and join forces with parts of two other states to form an entirely new and different state. Thankfully, the notion didn’t gain traction after an initial push by supporters. Otherwise, depending on where you live now, you might have been an “Absarokan” instead of a “Wyomingite.”
Wyoming just wouldn't be Wyoming without all of its parts, especially if the top third of the state broke off to become a state of its own.
That's what almost happened in 1939 after FDR and Congress passed laws under the New Deal that conservative Wyoming farmers and ranchers didn't agree with. They resented states falling under Democratic control and hatched a plan to band together with like-minded people from neighboring states to form what they envisioned would become the 49th state.
Ranchers and farmers from remote sections of South Dakota and Montana felt the same way as the residents of northern Wyoming, and proposed borders of the new state were drafted, taking in chunks of the neighboring states. The rebels planned to call their new state "Absaroka."
A leader of the movement, A.R. Swickward, stepped up and appointed himself governor of Absaroka. Previously the street commissioner of Sheridan, he also named his hometown the capital of the new state and began going about the work of a governor, including entertaining grievance hearings.
Proponents of Absaroka felt they had it all figured out. Tourism would be a huge boon for the new state since it included attractions like Mount Rushmore...
A few of those historic plates still exist today, and collectors delight in finding one and telling the story of the state that almost was.
Eventually, momentum waned, and the state was never admitted to the Union. These days, the story of Absaroka is little more than an anecdote in Wyoming’s history, with tellers of the tale chalking it up to Western quirkiness.
What other eccentric stories are in Wyoming’s past?
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