Wyoming: High altitudes, Low multitudes

Once when I was speaking to a group a long way from home, someone asked me if I was "lonely."
"No," I replied. "I am alone. But I am not lonely." That could also sum up how Wyoming people feel sometimes. We live in this vast state with fewer neighbors than anywhere else in the continental United States.

And again, the 2000 census has proclaimed Wyoming as the least populated state in the union. Some 479,000 hardy souls claim to live here. If they all lived in one city, it would still be smaller than nondescript places named Huntsville, Fresno, and Gary. There have been documented cases of busloads of Asian tourists pulling over to the side of the road so that its occupants can stare out at our vast acres of "nothing." They often get reverse claustrophobia - they get physically sick by the absence of walls, boundaries, noise and the presence of thousands of other human beings.

Those of us who call Wyoming home chuckle to ourselves when we hear about such things.
We aren't alone. And we aren't lonely, either.

Let's talk about those high altitudes. There are mountains higher than Wyoming's, but are there places more beautiful than the Tetons? Or the Cirque of the Towers? Or Square Top Mountain? Or even our stubby Oregon Buttes?

Some 350,000 people literally jumped off the edge of the earth when they headed west on the Oregon Trail from 1848 to 1863. They headed out with good intentions of manifest destiny. They were going to a new land. Believe me, the prettiest mountains they ever saw were these buttes. These bumps on the horizon marked South Pass. They knew if they could get over South Pass before winter hit, they would be home free - no storms could freeze them now. These squared off buttes were probably the most famous mountains in America during that two-decade time period. And those buttes sit right in the middle of Wyoming.

I have been writing news stories in Wyoming for over 30 years and I have heard the phrase "High Altitudes, Low Multitudes" from probably a half-dozen prominent political figures during this time.

Nobody does it much better than our present governor, Jim Geringer. He always pauses and then adds: "And GREAT ATTITUDES!" Out here in Wyoming, it isn't hard to have great attitudes. When you live in a place where the ski is blue 300 days per year and the sun shines brightly, well, that makes for our sunny dispositions. And the humidity is so low -- old cars in our state are greatly valued around the country because of their lack of rust.

There is an old joke that says in Los Angeles, a phone call to heaven costs $27,000. In Wyoming, that call costs 45 cents. Here, it is a local call.

During much of this year, our family drove many trips to Denver for medical appointments. We would often make the 124-mile trip from Lander to Rawlins and meet less than two dozen vehicles. You seldom had a problem passing anyone and the biggest danger was the chance of a deer or antelope jumping out onto the roadway.

And we have lots of deer, antelope and elk. A great tradition in Wyoming is the fall hunt. Freezers all over this state are full of game meat from successful hunters. And these are good, kind hunters who don't like to see animals suffer. They are good with guns and make quick kills. I've also heard many veteran hunters say the real reason they go hunting is to enjoy the outstanding fall weather in our state and the absence of people. These are the same guys who occasionally will say "the fun ends when you pull the trigger.
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We only have one four-year university in Wyoming and that means you can endure a three-hour drive one-way to go to a fall football game from our Lander home. If you live in Jackson or Cody or Sheridan or Gillette, this trip becomes a six-hour one-way marathon - but it's worth it.

High Altitudes.
Low Multitudes.

We could consider these two lines a new state slogan. It could offer a reverse psychology approach to marketing Wyoming. After all, when tourists want to go on vacation, they usually want to escape the hustle and bustle of their busy lives.

For years, Wyoming put a huge billboard on one of the busiest traffic stretches in New York City. It showed a picture of downtown Lander with a herd of cows holding up traffic. The caption read: Traffic Jam in Wyoming.

The theory was that anyone trapped there in that modern traffic jam might want to yearn to be out here in Wyoming. Away from the crowds.

What people all over the country don't understand about Wyoming people is that we actually like it this way. We CHOOSE to be in a land where the antelope outnumber the humans.

I also like to quote another of our politicians' favorite descriptions of Wyoming: It's just one big small town with extremely long streets.

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Authorized by William C. Sniffin
Contributions or gifts to Bill Sniffin for Governor 2002 are not tax-deductible.
Bill Sniffin for Governor - P.O. Box 900 ­ Lander, WY 82520 (307) 332-3111, ext. 17