Juror for Two “Trials of the Century”–Wyoming and Idaho
Phil Roberts, 4-19-24 A Wheatland area rancher, O. V. Sebern, served on the jury for the Tom Horn trial in Cheyenne in 1902-3, often referred …
Wyoming Memories
Wyoming’s First Commercial Computer
A sample computer card that was used to input data into Wyoming’s first commercial computer, an IBM 1401 card system, installed in September 1960 in …
Checking for a Rattle Under the Dash
By Phil Roberts, 4-13-24 One day in mid-summer in the mid-1970s, I drew the lucky duty of measuring the jail cells and interviewing the various …
Wardrobe Malfunction: Case of the Exploded Trousers
By Phil Roberts, 3-12-24 I’m quite familiar with “wardrobe malfunction.” For me, it became an issue in my first year on faculty at UWyo. Before …
School Days at Christmas: Lusk, 1950s
By Phil Roberts, 12/15/23 We were excited each year for the last day of school before Christmas vacation. First, in Lusk, it was a movie …
November 22, 1963. Remembering like it was yesterday..
Phil Roberts, 11-22-2023 Electronics class that late Friday morning in Worland High School, the last 50-minute class before noon, was routine enough. Each of the …
Yellow Submarine
By Phil Roberts, Oct. 18, 2023 Many years ago, I just went to work in the State Historical Department in Cheyenne and our old car …
Reflections on Learning to Type–and the Future
Phil Roberts, 8-26-23 For a brief moment yesterday, I was transported back to Nov. 5, 1964, and Mr. Siegle’s typing class. We had just moved …
‘Send in the Clowns’: UWyo Carillon Said
The carillon on the UW Student Union used to play tunes at 8 a.m., presumably to get faculty, staff, and students cheered up for the …
The Historian and Femto-chemistry
Many years ago now, I’ received an e-mail from Mark Linz and Neil Hewison at American University in Cairo Press. The manuscript they were awaiting …
A Trek Tale
By Phil Roberts, 5-22-23 Odd things happen when people try to impress, particularly, newly hired directors of state agencies like Vincent Foley was at the …
Photographing Rainbow Bridge–From Very Close Range
By Phil Roberts, 5-15-23 Rainbow Bridge is a spectacular landmark in the Utah desert right next to the shore of Lake Powell, the lake formed …
Getting Run Over in Cheyenne: Memory of the Flight
By Phil Roberts- May 13, 2023 May 13 is the anniversary of the only time I was ever hit by a car—in the crosswalk on …
The Saga of Avocado Hill
By Phil Roberts Avocado Hill. That picture of the Wyoming Highway patrolman narrowly dodging that out-of-control semi, reminds me of an incident from the past. …
Swimming When Your Head is Heavier Than Your Feet
The world can be brutal to those few, like me, who have a head that is heavier than his feet. I’m among the estimated three …
Looking for Anchor Dam: A Lawsuit, A Chain-link Fence, and Two Dobermans
By Phil Roberts, 8-10-22 The saga of Anchor Dam in northwest Wyoming, well known to most people, has become symbolic of what happens when engineering …
Fort Robinson Biennials: Like Returning Home Again 
David, I just found this on the computer. I had written it in August 2005, after the reunion and just before classes had started. Just …
Going Home: A Memory of Pal, Steve, and Our Hike to the Sunset
By Phil Roberts, 9 May 2022 We walked that warm summer afternoon, along the rough trail leading to the top of the Hat Creek Breaks …
The Cellphone Log
By Phil Roberts It is almost unnoticeable in this photo of Barol Lodge at the AMK ranch (inside the borders of Grand Teton National Park), …
Having a Sandwich with Tom Horn (A Century After He Was Hanged)
By Phil Roberts, Nov. 19, 2021 Hired gunman Tom Horn was hanged on the “Julian gallows” inside the Laramie County Jail 118 years ago tomorrow. …
Fractional Money: Civil War Era Coin Shortage Solution
A few months ago, I wrote about the merits of silver dollars, widely used in most of Wyoming in the 1950s. I neglected to mention …
Silver Dollar Days in Wyoming, 1950s
By Phil Roberts As nice as it sounded, walking and hearing silver dollars clanking in your Levi’s pocket used to have a few down sides. I’m …
A 42-Year Tie Ends: The Scrapping of a 1979 Chrysler
By Phil Roberts A 42-year odyssey with a white 1979 Chrysler LeBaron came to an end this week when we sold it to a salvage …
Pumping Gas on the Cody Road to Yellowstone
A Reminiscence by Phil Roberts Pumping gas at a filling station was a pretty good job for high school students in those long-ago days before …
Not the Olympics: My Idaho Sheet-throwing Title
By Phil Roberts Olympic records are falling every day… I’m reminded, more than 50 years after becoming “State Champion,” of the time I finally decided …