Daniel Sandoval

We are surrounded by fuel and the volatile element of oxygen. All that's needed is enough heat to start the reaction. Fortunately, the combustion temperature of all that fuel is too high for spontaneous ignition. Fire was in the news for the fourth week of July.

100 years ago

The lead article of the July 29, 1908, Natrona County Tribune covered the Casper visit of dignitaries such as James R. Garfield, secretary of the Interior and son of President James A. Garfield, Sen. Francis E. Warren and Rep. Frank Mondell.

Livery unstable: The Star livery and feed barn in Casper was consumed by fire and 10 horses perished in the conflagration. Proprietor of the Star was M.N. Castle, and he had his business insured for $2,000. The damage estimate was $7,000.

During the 9 o'clock hour on a Wednesday night, a stable hand thought he heard hail on the roof, but when he stepped outside the skies were clear. He returned to find flames and sounded the alarm.

The fire brigade arrived within minutes of the alarm, but the roof of the livery stable was fully involved, and great tongues of flame leapt into the night sky. Inside the stable, men scrambled to free the panicked horses from their corrals.

Thad Ferguson's horse was so frightened it had to be dragged outside the burning structure, but it died in the street, bringing the loss to 11 horses.

Firefighters put two streams of water to the building, but the heat was so intense that two nearby buildings started to burn. The blacksmith shops of Jack McGrath and J.E. Schulte needed to be wet down to keep the fire from spreading.

Some 20 horses were saved, but the material losses were high. Castle had a ton of oats and more than a car load of hay in the barn. The Wood and Foshay hearse was in the stable, so too was a new wagon stocked with provisions belonging to Rasmus Lee.

Womanly sway: The July 29, 1908, Tribune called T.C. Fann a "weak sister" because he cried when his inconstant wife was being held in jail as a witness against the man who was trying to seduce her from her marriage.

Frank Seese pleaded guilty to pulling a gun on Mr. Fann during a confrontation about Mrs. Fann, and Seese pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon. Seese was convicted of adultery. With the aggregate fines being paid in jail time, Seese would spend about 18 months in jail.

75 years ago

A jury acquitted 29 defendants in the conspiracy to violate Prohibition trial being held in Cheyenne. Among them were Casper's mayor, sheriff and chief of police. The July 27, 1933, Casper Tribune-Herald published front-page photos of Sheriff G.O. Housley and Mayor E.W. Rowell.

Untimely burns: The July 28, 1933, Tribune-Herald reported two fires burning out of control. Gas well No. 23 in the Sand Draw field south of Riverton was consuming an estimated 10 million cubic feet of gas every day.

There was thought to be a leak under the drilling rig when the casing blew off the well head and the gas ignited. Two rig workers narrowly escaped injury.

A forest fire raged in the North Laramie River area, 25 miles west of Wheatland. The fire was started by a lightning strike and burned along the boundary between Platte and Albany counties.

Night jump: A parachute exhibition in Cheyenne didn't go according to plan, and the jumper hitchhiked her way back to the airfield. Faye Cox was supposed to jump from 4,000 feet above the field, deploy her parachute, and then ignite flares so spectators could watch her descent.

Cox became snagged on a strut of the aircraft. She dropped her belt laden with flares and freed herself. She then opened her parachute and drifted safely to the ground. Cox walked a few miles until she hailed a car to give her a ride to the airfield.

There was a tense period of time when people thought she was lost, possibly dead, because the pilot blinked his landing lights for her jump, but no one saw her descent. Her brother and fellow parachute jumper, Floyd Cox, was so distraught he required medical attention.

When Cox appeared at the airfield, she said she was "very, very embarrassed."

50 years ago

The July 29, 1958, Casper Morning Star published a photo of three Lebanese girls manning a rooftop gun position in the rebel held section of Beirut, Lebanon. The girls were armed with pistols, a dagger, rifle and grenade.

Cutting torch: A fire at Gray's Auto Shop on A Street in Casper was brought under control quickly after shop workers accidentally started a fire when cutting up a junk car.

There were no injuries reported, and the fire was extinguished before it spread to other cars or combustible materials.

25 years ago

Clayton Conger, a 4-year-old Wyoming boy was in critical but stable condition after a liver transplant in Pittsburgh. The July 28, 1983, Casper Star-Tribune published a photo of a medical team boarding a jet with the donor liver in Denver.

Property damage: Casper Fire Department Spokesman Gary Freel said the fire in the 100 block of West H Street was probably arson, probably started in the bedroom of the unoccupied home.

Two pumper trucks were dispatched to the scene, and it took firefighters nearly three hours to extinguish the blaze.

"A Look Back in Time" is made possible with the help of Western History Archivist Kevin S. Anderson at the Casper College Western History Center, which is open to the public.