🤠Wyoming

The Equality State · The Cowboy State

Wyoming is the least populous U.S. state and the first place in the world where women could legally vote — a 1869 territorial law predating any similar measure anywhere. It contains most of Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Tetons, and the continental divide, plus vast grasslands that have long been prime cattle country.

The Equality State

In 1869, the Wyoming Territorial Legislature passed an act giving women the right to vote — the first such law in the world. When Wyoming applied for statehood 21 years later, Congress balked at admitting a state with women's suffrage. Wyoming's delegation famously replied that Wyoming "will remain out of the Union a hundred years rather than come in without woman suffrage." Congress relented, and Wyoming entered as the 44th state in 1890 with women's suffrage intact. The state's official nickname — The Equality State — honors this history.

Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872, was the world's first national park. Roughly 96% of the park is in Wyoming, with small portions spilling into Montana and Idaho. Yellowstone sits atop a massive volcanic caldera — the source of the park's 10,000 geothermal features, including the geyser Old Faithful, which erupts roughly every 90 minutes. Grizzly bears, wolves, bison, and elk roam the park; wolf reintroduction beginning in 1995 has remade the ecosystem.

The Grand Tetons

Just south of Yellowstone, Grand Teton National Park preserves the jagged face of the Teton Range, which rises more than 7,000 feet above Jackson Hole valley with no foothills in between. Grand Teton peaks at 13,775 feet. The valley town of Jackson has become a destination for skiing, river trips, and photography.

Cowboys and Coal

Wyoming has a real cowboy culture — the iconic bucking bronco on the state's license plate is based on a real 1903 horse and rider. Cheyenne Frontier Days, held every July since 1897, is the largest outdoor rodeo in the world. Economically, Wyoming is the largest coal-producing state in the country (roughly 40% of U.S. production) and also a major producer of natural gas and uranium. The state has no personal income tax.

Wyoming Facts

• Wyoming is the least populous state — fewer than 600,000 residents, spread across 97,813 square miles.
• The state has only two escalators — both in Casper — according to local lore.
• Wyoming was the first state to have a female governor — Nellie Tayloe Ross, elected in 1924.
• Devils Tower, an 867-foot igneous rock formation, was the first U.S. national monument, designated by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906.
• The continental divide runs through Wyoming, and the "Great Divide Basin" is an area where water drains neither east nor west but simply stays put.

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