Hot cinders, black coal smoke, a distant whistle…powerful

locomotives, owned and run in the 1800s in Wyoming by even

more powerful railroad companies, were symbols of their

commercial and political power that’s still unsurpassed.

The construction of the Union Pacific in 1868 gave rise to the

towns, the economy, and even the politics of southern Wyoming

and when the Chicago Burlington and Quincy built across the

northern part of the state in the 1890s, a similar

transformation took place.

    “Wyoming, the Railroad State: Impact of an Indispensable Industry”

will be the program at the spring dinner of the Cheyenne

Genealogical & Historical Society to be held on

Tuesday, May 14th at the Cheyenne Holiday Inn. Presenting the entertaining, educational program will be Greg Nickerson, 

historian, writer and filmmaker from Big Horn, Wyo., who

has a masters’ degree in history from the University of

Wyoming, and is a featured speaker with the Wyoming

Humanities Council Forum.

    The event will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Yellowstone Room

of the Holiday Inn with check-in, a silent auction and dinner as

prelude to the program at 7 p.m.

Registration & entree selection for the $16-dinner is necessary for

this event by calling Judy at 632-2623; deadline for reservations

is Thursday, May 9 at 4 p.m. Guests wishing to attend

the program-only for $5 may also pre-register. This is the 2013

capstone program sponsored by the Cheyenne Genealogical

and Historical Society whose mission is to stimulate

and encourage family history research.