1941

• Legislature provides for a State Guard force and councils of defense.51
• State Board of Probation and Parole is created to be effective April 1.52
• Marriage and divorce records are to be recorded in State Department of Vital Statistics, effective in May.53
• Jade becomes a commercial product at Lander.
• George Hopkins, a parachutist, spends six days on Devils Tower before being rescued by professional mountain climbers.
• Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, December 7, and the United States officially enters World War II days later. Wyoming is credited with 23,611 men and 515 women in military service.

1942

• On September 1, an Army Air Base is activated at Casper for final phase of four-engine bomber training.
• Heart Mountain Relocation Center for West Coast Japanese, in Park County, has a population of 10,872 by October.

1943

• Wyoming has three military installations during World War II: an expanded Fort Francis E. Warren, Cheyenne, which is a Quartermaster Replacement Training Center; a new Army Air Base at Casper, built in the summer of 1942 for final phase of four-engine bomber training; and a prisoner of war camp at Douglas, constructed in 1943.
• At the Heart Mountain Relocation Center, established in 1942 between Powell and Cody, more than 10,000 evacuees, primarily Japanese from the West Coast, are kept under surveillance by the War Relocation Authority until 1945. Two-thirds are loyal, American born citizens. They contribute more than 900 servicemen to the army, twenty of whom are killed in action.
• In spite of war scarcity of essential goods, the Federal Office of Price Administration (OPA) keeps prices in line and discourages hoarding.
• Rationing for various commodities, including shoes, sugar, and coffee is extended to include all foods.
• Gasoline rationing allotment is four gallons a week.
• March 16, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, setting aside more than 220,000 acres of land, establishes Jackson Hole Monument.
• The National War Fund consolidates numerous causes in a single effort to raise funds. Wyoming exceeds its quota in each federal war loan drive, and bond sales exceed income tax collections.
• Chicago and Northwestern and Burlington railroads consolidate parallel lines and eliminate eighty-seven miles of track west of Casper. This nets 30,000 tons of scrap metal to the salvage effort.
• During the labor shortage women have an opportunity to prove their capabilities by filling a variety of jobs.
• In June, the Female Labor Law is amended by the Legislature to increase hours to more than eight a day and days to more than five a week during the emergency. (Session Laws 1943, ch. 30)

1944

• The first session of the Wyoming Post-War Planning Committee is held in February.
• In March, gasoline allotment is cut to two gallons a week.
• As a part of the Civil Defense program, more than 9,000 people completed first aid courses.
• Agriculture assumes new importance on the theory that "food will win the war!"
• In a special session of the Legislature in April, the Soldiers Vote Act sets rules and regulations allowing servicemen who are temporarily away from their voting precincts to vote by mail in the general county, state, and national elections. (Session Laws 1944, ch. 2)
• In June, Gasoline rationing is raised to three gallons.
• In December, Congress votes to abolish the Jackson Hole Monument, which had aroused heated opposition in Wyoming, but the President does not sign the bill.
• Though Wyoming does not attract many war industries (1941-45), its natural resources--coal, iron, and oil--prosper.
• Frontier Oil Refinery at Cheyenne began operation.

1945

• In January the Wyoming Post-War Planning Committee is suddenly deactivated with the explanation that the army and navy feel that postwar planning leads to complacency, which hinders the war effort.
• Wyoming Aeronautic Commission is established. (Session Laws 1945, ch. 64)
• The Legislature passes the Junior College Bill in the form of an Enabling Act which authorizes any school district with an accredited four-year high school program to vote a special levy up to two mills for a junior college program. Casper College becomes Wyoming's first junior college. (Session Laws 1945, ch. 82, s. 3d)
• The Legislature adopts a joint resolution memorializing approximately 35,000 men and women of the State of Wyoming in the armed services who "offered not only their endeavor and sacrifice but even life itself on the altar of our country, bringing glory and credit to the State of Wyoming." (Session Laws 1945, HJM 8)
• Veterans are granted an exemption of $2,000 in assessed valuation.
• March 7, the Army Air Field at Casper is deactivated.
• May 7, Germany signs unconditional surrender
• August 14, Japan surrenders. The formal Japanese surrender takes place aboard the USS Missouri September 2.
• Wyoming mourns the loss of 1,095 men who were killed or died in the service during World War II. (The figure given above is from Wyoming's War Years, 1941-1945, loc. cit., pp. 339-349, which lists the names of the casualties. Letter from G. R. Bowles, Manager National SSS Operations, Washington, D.C., quotes Secretary of Defense official figure as 706. The discrepancy is made up by names supplied by relatives or draft boards in correspondence with the University of Wyoming War Memorial office.)
• The Office of Civil Defense is disbanded.
• The Selective Service System, the U.S. Employment Service, and the Veterans Administration (VA) help returning soldiers with their readjustment.
• The Wyoming Stock Growers Association reports the cattle industry is on "the soundest basis in recent years." Price ceilings and stockpiling of wool complicate problems for the wool growers.

1946

• U.S. Senator Joseph C. O'Mahoney (D) and Governor Hunt (D), opposing what they consider too much centralized government in Washington, are elected while the four other state elective offices are filled by Republicans.
• The battleship USS Wyoming is decommissioned, and the full silver service is returned to the donor, the State of Wyoming. (Session Laws 1911, ch. 70, House Bill No. 206) The following press release was compiled by the Archives and Historical Department, February 16, 1971:

• "The full silver service of the battleship USS Wyoming has been in the custody of the State of Wyoming since the battleship was decommissioned in 1946. The magnificent service includes more than fifty pieces.

• Perhaps the most impressive is the punch bowl, thirty-six inches deep, engraved with Wyoming scenes. A silver platter, measuring three feet by two feet, bears an intricate engraving of the state capitol building. Other pieces in the service include twenty-three punch cups, three entree dishes, two candelabra, two vegetable dishes, two goblets, two compotiers, a sauce ladle, a drainer fish dish, a plateau and waiter, a teapot, a coffee urn, and a water pitcher. All the larger pieces are engraved with navy insignia and the Great Seal of the State of Wyoming and nearly all have rococco ornamentation. Blue gentian decorates the edges of many of the pieces, as the Indian Paintbrush had not yet been designated as Wyoming's state flower when the silver service was purchased.

• The silver service was presented for use on the battleship when the USS Wyoming was christened on May 25, 1911, by Miss Dorothy Knight, daughter of Jesse Knight, a former Chief Justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court. The people of Wyoming, complimented and proud in having the new battleship named for the state, had the Legislature appropriate $7,500 for the purchase of the silver. The presentation was attended by Governor Joseph M. Carey and U.S. Representative Frank Mondell.

• When the ship was retired after thirty years service, a bill was introduced in Congress by Senator Lester C. Hunt of Wyoming, requesting that the silver set be given to the State of Wyoming. It had long been a custom to present silver services from battleships to the sponsor states when the ships were decommissioned. The bill, passed in June,1946, provided that "The Secretary of the Navy is hereby authorized and directed to deliver to the custody of the Governor of Wyoming for exhibition, educational purposes and use by the University of Wyoming the name plate, the ship's bell and the silver service of the United States Ship Wyoming." When it was returned to the state the service was appraised at more than $46,000. The value is now substantially higher.

• At the time it was built the Wyoming was the largest battleship in the world and the most formidable craft afloat. After participating in the naval review in New York on December 30,1912, it joined the Atlantic fleet and became the flagship of the commander in chief. During World War I she was assigned to the British grand fleet and participated in the internment of the German high seas fleet. She was also the ship that escorted the USS George Washington, with President Woodrow Wilson on board, to Brest, France, in 1918. She made a cruise to the Pacific with the Patrol fleet in 1925. She was modernized in 1927 at a cost of three and a half million dollars. After the London Naval Conference of 1930, the USS Wyoming was demilitarized and converted into a training ship. She was used in Chesapeake Bay for the training of more than 35,000 officers of World War II. Since all the notables who visited or inspected the fleet were entertained in the admiral's cabin during the years the Wyoming was flagship of the Atlantic fleet, many famous persons have used the silver service, including Queen Wilhelmina of Holland." (See Wyoming State Tribune, August 16, 1946. The sliver service, which was used for official state functions following its return, is now on permanent display in the State Museum)

1947

• The cottonwood tree (populus balsamifera) is adopted February 1, as Wyoming state tree. (Session Laws 1947, ch. 9)
• A law is passed removing authority of municipalities to license drivers, and all drivers are required to obtain a license from the Drivers License Division of the State Highway Department. (Session Laws 1947, ch. 162)
• Attempt is made to pass a Right to Work Bill but it is tabled. Another bill, to move the Wyoming College of Agriculture from Laramie to Sheridan, is withdrawn as not possible because of expense.
• Governor Hunt is unsuccessful in his effort to secure a retirement system for state employees.
• Fort F. E. Warren becomes F. E. Warren Air Force Base.
• Heart Mountain is opened for veteran homestead entry.
• The Game and Fish Commission establishes game management units.
• Missouri River Basin begins construction of Kortes and Boysen dams.
• Governor Hunt reports Wyoming Post-War employment is high.
• The Board of Charities and Reform approves the appointment of the Wyoming State Welfare Department as an adoptive agency.

1948

• The University of Wyoming is flooded with World War II veterans who are taking advantage of the GI Bill.
• In a special session June 28-30, the Legislature appropriates about $2 million for the university and other institutions. It also passes a hospital, federal-aid Enabling Act.
• Constitutional Amendment No. 4 to permit a six-mill state tax levy for the support of public schools is passed on November 2. (Session Laws 1947, SJR 4)
• Governor Hunt is elected to the U.S. Senate.

1949

• "The Blizzard of '49" paralyzes the state, causing heavy livestock loss. Governor Crane appeals to President Harry S. Truman for aid. Government agencies join the state in opening roads and in air-lifting feed to starving livestock.
• The "Woman Jury Law" grants women the right to serve on a jury. (Session Laws 1949, ch. 61. infra, section on "Equal Rights.")
• The last of World War II occupation troops leave South Korea in June.

1950

• The 1950 United States Federal Census shows Wyoming population to be 290,529.
• A special legislative session is called to provide funds to meet a grasshopper infestation emergency. (Session Laws 1950, ch. 5)
• Wyoming Home and Hospital for the Aged (now the Pioneer Home) is established at Thermopolis. (Session Laws 1950, ch. 6)
• On February 20, the Yazzie case is filed in Albany County, and women are called for jury duty. The case is appealed when the lawyer for the defense questions the constitutionality of the so-called "Woman Jury Law." The Supreme Court decides that the word "men" in the Constitution means men and women and that they are equal before the law. (See infra, "The Significance of the Yazzie Case," in section on Equal Rights. See Mrs. Graf's account, ibid, of the mixed jury at Green River.)
• The first mixed jury since 1871 serves in the May session of the District Court at Green River and Mrs. Louis Spinner Graf is its foreman.
• In the next session, at Rawlins, Mrs. Daisy Conyers is foreman.
• Uranium is discovered in Crook County.
• In the 1950's, coal, which had been the state's most important mineral resource, is surpassed by oil and uranium.
• In a compromise federal bill, the Jackson Hole Monument is abolished and most of the disputed lands involved are added to Grand Teton National Park.
• A second Shoshone tribal case is tried, this time in the Court of Claims. It is unofficially known as the "Brunot Case" as it seeks to right the wrong done by the Brunot Agreement of 1872. (See infra, "Shoshone and Arapahoe Claims" in Section on "The Wind River Indian Reservation.")
• June 25, Communist North Korea attacks across the 38th parallel that divides the two Koreas. On U.S. initiative, the United Nations Security Council authorizes United Nationas members to support South Korea. President Harry S. Truman at once orders U.S. Forces into the conflict (the Korean War).
• November 22, a DC-3 Transport crashes on Mt. Moran in the Tetons with a fatality list of twenty-one.