27 Facts About Wyoming

Almost half of the land in Wyoming is owned by the federal government, generally protected for public uses.

Today Wyoming's economy is largely based on tourism and the extraction of minerals such as coal, natural gas, oil, and trona.

Wyoming was a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which was guided by French Canadian Toussaint Charbonneau and his young Shoshone wife, Sacagawea.

Thomas Campbell wrote his 1809 poem "Gertrude of Wyoming", inspired by the Battle of Wyoming in the American Revolutionary War.

Wyoming was a pioneer in welcoming women into electoral politics.

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In 1924, Wyoming was the first state to elect a female governor, Nellie Tayloe Ross, who took office in January 1925.

Wyoming's constitution included women's suffrage and a pioneering article on water rights.

Wyoming was the location of the Johnson County War of 1892, which erupted between competing groups of cattle ranchers.

Wyoming's climate is generally semi-arid and continental, and is drier and windier in comparison to most of the United States with greater temperature extremes.

Wyoming is a dry state with much of the land receiving less than 10 inches of rainfall per year.

Wyoming is one of only three states to have borders defined by only "straight" lines.

Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho.

Much of Wyoming is covered with large basins containing different eco-regions, from shrublands to smaller patches of desert.

Wyoming has 32 named islands; the majority are in Jackson Lake and Yellowstone Lake, within Yellowstone National Park in the northwest portion of the state.

Wyoming has the second-lowest population density in the country and is the sparsest-populated of the 48 contiguous states.

The main agricultural commodities Wyoming produces include livestock, hay, sugar beets, grain (wheat and barley), and wool.

Wyoming is the home of only a handful of companies with a regional or national presence.

In 2008, the Tax Foundation reported that Wyoming had the most "business-friendly" tax climate of any U S state.

Wyoming is one of only two states in the 48 contiguous states not served by Amtrak.

Wyoming's Constitution established three branches of government: the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

Wyoming is unusual in that it does not have an intermediate appellate court, like most states.

Wyoming has state circuit courts, of limited jurisdiction, which handle certain types of cases, such as civil claims with lower dollar amounts, misdemeanor criminal offenses, and felony arraignments.

Since the adoption of the amendment, all state court judges in Wyoming are nominated by the Judicial Nominating Commission and appointed by the Governor.

On December 10, 1869, John Allen Campbell, the first Governor of the Wyoming Territory, approved the first law in United States history explicitly granting women the right to vote.

Today, Wyoming is represented in Washington by its two Senators, John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, and its one member of the House of Representatives, Congresswoman Liz Cheney.

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Uniquely, Wyoming elected Democrat Nellie Tayloe Ross as the first woman in United States history to serve as state governor.

Wyoming's served from 1925 to 1927, winning a special election after her husband, William Bradford Ross, unexpectedly died a little more than a year into his term.