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Monday, November 28, 2016

6 Delightful Wyoming Facts

1. Wyoming has three nicknames (one of them's official): Cowboy State, Big Wyoming, and (officially) Equality State. The state motto is "Equal Rights." In 1869, the territorial governor gave women the vote, and women were able to serve on juries in Laramie in 1870, and a woman served as court bailiff in Laramie that same year. Esther Mary Hobart was the first female justice of the peace (also in 1870).

2. The center of Wyoming's population is in Natrona County, just south of Casper, not far from Independence Rock.

3. More than 91% of the state's land is classified as rural, and Wyoming has the smallest population of any US state. It's 49th for density (after Alaska), and it's the 10th largest state. Cheyenne, the capital and largest city, had a population of around 62,500 in 2013.

4. Wyoming Territory (and later the state) was named for the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania. A Congressman from Ohio (who had not yet been to the place he proposed to name) suggested the name, which he later regretted.

5. Wyoming's place in presidential elections is important partly because of its small population. Though twice as many people live in Montana as in Wyoming, the two states have the same number of electoral votes.

6. The state coin is the Sacagawea dollar.

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