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. above Cody; a canal diverting water from Shoshone reservoir round the N. of Shoshone dam and covering lands in the vicinity of Cody, Corbett, Eagle Nest and Ralston; a dam at Corbett about 16 m. below the reservoir diverting water to Ralston reservoir and thence to lands in the vicinity of Ralston, Powell, Garland, Mantua and Frannie, and a dam on the Shoshone river near Eagle Nest diverting water into a canal covering the lands of the Shoshone River Valley. This project was authorized in 1904; it will affect, when completed, 131,900 acres, of which in 1909 about 10,000 acres were actually under irrigation. Near Douglas, in Converse county, there is a reinforced concrete dam, impounding the waters of Laprele Creek, to furnish water for over 30,000 acres, and power for transmitting electricity. There are large irrigated areas in Johnson and Sheridan counties.
Forests.—The woodland area of Wyoming in 1900 was estimated at 12,500 sq. m. (13% of the area of the state), of which the United States had reserved about 3500 sq. m. in the Yellowstone National Park and 5207 sq. m., chiefly in the Bighorn Mountains in the N., and the Medicine Bow Mountains in the S.E. of the state. The saleable timber consists almost entirely of yellow pine, though there is a relatively small growth of other conifers and of hard-wood trees.
Manufactures.—Wyoming's manufacturing industries are relatively unimportant. In the period 1900-1905 the value of factory products increased from $3,268,555 to $3,523,260; the amount of capital invested, from $2,047,883 to $2,695,889, and the number of establishments from 139 to 169; the average number of employees decreased from 2060 to 1834. In the same period (1900-1905), the value of the products of urban[1] establishments decreased from $1,332,288 to $1,244,223, and the amount of capital invested increased from $871,531 to $988,615; but the value of the products of rural establishments increased from $1,936,267 to $2,279,037, and the capital invested from $1,176,352 to $1,707,274. The values of the products of the principal industries of the state in 1905 were: car and general shop construction and repairs by steam railway companies, $1,640,361; lumber and timber products, $426,433; flour and grist mill products, $283,653; butter, $114,354. Among other manufactures were gypsum wall-plaster, saddlery and harness, malt liquors and tobacco, cigars and cigarettes.
Transport.—There has been relatively little development of transport facilities in Wyoming. The railway mileage, which was only 459 m. in 1870, increased to 1002 m. in 1890, 1280 m. in 1905, and 1623 m. on the 1st of January 1909. The Union Pacific railway crosses the S. of the state, connects with the Oregon Short Line at Green river and extends both E. and S. from Cheyenne. The Colorado & Southern (controlled by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company) extends N. from Cheyenne to Orin Junction, where it connects with the Chicago & North Western, which runs across the south-central part of the state as far as Lander (under the name of the Wyoming & North Western railroad). Four branches of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy system enter or cross the state. One extends from Cheyenne S.E. to Holdredge, Nebraska; the main line crosses the N.E. of the state to Billings, Montana, whence it extends S. to Cody and Kirby in the Bighorn basin, Wyoming; while another branch from Alliance, Nebraska, extends to the iron mines at Guernsey. The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy was building in 1910 a new line from the N.W. to connect with the Colorado & Southern line at Orin Junction, passing through Douglas. When completed to Orin Junction this will be a main through route from the Mexican Gulf to the N.W. Pacific coast. There are also several shorter railways in the state, and various stage lines reach the more inaccessible regions.
Population.—The population in 1870 was 9118; in 1880, 20,789; in 1890, 60,705; in 1900, 92,531; in 1910, 145,965. The density of the population was 0.6 per sq. in. in 1890 and 1.5 per sq. m. in 1910, there being in this year only one state with a smaller average number of inhabitants to the sq. m., namely Nevada, with 0.7. Of the total population in 1900, 88,051, or 96.2%, were whites; 1686 were Indians; 940 were negroes; 461 were Chinese and 303 were Japanese. The Indians are all taxed. They belong to the Arapaho and Shoshoni tribes.[2] The Wind River Reservation, under the Shoshoni School, is in the central part of the state. There were 17,415 foreign-born in the state in 1900, of whom 2596 were English, 2146 Germans, 1727 Swedes, 1591 Irish, 1253 Scotch and 1220 Finns. Of the 41,903 persons of foreign parentage (i.e. having either or both parents of foreign birth) in that year 4973 were of English, 4571 of German, and 4482 of Irish parentage, i.e. on both the father's and the mother's side. Of the 75,116 born in the United States, 19,307 were natives of Wyoming, 6112 were born in Iowa, 5009 in Nebraska, 4923 in Illinois, 4412 in Missouri and 3750 in Utah. Among the numbers of religious denominations in 1906 the Roman Catholics, with 10,264 communicants, had the largest membership, followed by the Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, with 5211 communicants (21.8% of the total church membership for the state), the Protestant Episcopalians with 1741, the Methodists with 1612 and the Presbyterians with 984. The urban population (i.e. the population of places having 4000 inhabitants or more) increased from 18,078 in 1890 to 26,657 in 1900 or 47.5%, the urban being 28.8% of the total population in 1900. The semi-urban population (i.e. population of incorporated places, or the approximate equivalent, having fewer than 4000 inhabitants) decreased in the same period from 14,910 to 12,725, and the rural population (i.e. the population outside of incorporated places) increased from 29,567 to 53,149, which was 78.7% of the total increase. The principal cities of the state (with population) in 1900 were: Cheyenne, 14,087; Laramie, 8207; Rock Springs, 4363; Rawlins, 2317, and Evanston, 2110. After 1900 the population of the centre and N. of the state increased in proportion faster than the older settled portions in the S. In 1910 Sheridan (8408) in Sheridan county, Douglas in Converse county and Lander in Fremont county were as important as some of the older towns of the southern part of the state.
Government.—Wyoming is governed under its first constitution, which was adopted in November 1889. An amendment may be proposed by either branch of the legislature. If it is approved by two-thirds of the members of each branch, it must be submitted to the people at the next general election and, if approved by a majority of the electors, it then becomes a part of the constitution. Whenever two-thirds of the members elected to each branch of the legislature vote for a convention to revise or amend the constitution and a majority of the people voting at the next general election favour it, the legislature must provide for calling a convention. Suffrage is conferred upon both men and women, and the right to vote at a general election is given to all citizens of the United States who have attained the age of twenty-one years, are able to read the constitution, and have resided in the state one year and in the county sixty days immediately preceding, with the exception of idiots, insane persons, and persons convicted of an infamous crime; at a school election the voter must also own property on which taxes are paid. General elections are held biennially, in even-numbered years, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and each new administration begins the first Monday in the following January.
Executive.—The governor is elected for a term of four years. He must be at least thirty years of age, and have resided in the state for five years next preceding his election. If the office becomes vacant the secretary of state becomes acting governor; there is no lieutenant-governor. The governor, with the concurrence of the Senate, appoints the attorney-general, the state engineer and the members of several boards and commissions. He has the power to veto bills, to pardon, to grant reprieves and commutations, and to remit fines and forfeitures, but the Board of Charities and Reform constitutes a Board of Pardons for investigating all applications for executive clemency and advising the governor with respect to them. 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. The legislature meets biennially, in odd-numbered years, on the second Tuesday in January, and the length of its sessions is limited to forty days. All bills for raising a revenue must originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose amendments. The governor has three days (Sundays excepted) in which to veto any bill or any item in an appropriation bill, and a two-thirds vote of the members elected to each house is required to override his veto.
Judiciary.—The administration of justice is vested principally in a supreme court, district courts, justices of the peace and municipal courts. The supreme court consists of three justices who are elected by the state at large for a term of eight years, and the one having the shortest term to serve is chief justice. The court has original
