[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 78 (Wednesday, May 20, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S5692]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

                                 ______
                                 

          CELEBRATING THE 100 YEAR BIRTHDAY OF POWELL, WYOMING

 Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, on May 25, 2009, we will 
celebrate the centennial of Powell, WY. Located in the valley of the 
Shoshone River, Powell is surrounded by the Absaroka and Big Horn 
mountain ranges, and is east of Yellowstone National Park.
  One hundred years ago, the U.S. Reclamation Service offered for sale 
lots in a tract of land designated as the Powell Townsite. The sale 
began the last week in May 1909 and by June 30 of that year all lots in 
the square mile tract were purchased. The sale totaled $16,750. While a 
thriving community was officially born May 25, 2009, the area had been 
occasionally populated for tens of thousands of years. Stone circles 
provide the archaeological and ethnohistorical evidence to show that 
the Shoshone and Crow had active family organizations, camp activities, 
and domestic life in the area.
  Perhaps the first White man to view what would become Powell was 
Lewis and Clark's colleague, John Colter. During the winter of 1807, 
Colter made the solitary trek from Fort Manuel Lisa to inform the 
Native Americans living near the Clark Fork River that a new trading 
post had been established. On his way back, he viewed the sagebrush 
flats along the Stinking Water River. Just a century later, the town of 
Powell would be born--and the river renamed Shoshone.
  In 1906, the U.S. Reclamation Service established an engineering camp 
on the sagebrush flats and called it Camp Colter. Yet when the townsite 
was offered for sale, a new name was necessary since another location 
in the Big Horn Basin was also named for the Lewis and Clark explorer. 
The town's forefathers chose to honor Major John Wesley Powell, an 
early explorer, conservationist and reclamationist--and the former head 
of the U.S. Reclamation Service Geodetic Survey.
  Powell is a terrific community. On the town's centennial blog, Cathy 
Howard Miller writes, ``Powell--a small town where everyone knows you 
and you know them, a place to raise children, where you can feel 
safe.'' Cathy's words sum up the reason why Powell was elected as one 
of 10 All-America Cities in 1994. With a population of 5,381, its 
economy is based upon oil, irrigated farming, ranching, tourism, and 
agricultural support services. Home of the Powell High School Panthers 
and the Northwest College Trappers, Powell is a great place to live, 
work, and raise a family.
  Mr. President, I encourage my colleagues to join me in wishing 
Powell, WY, a happy birthday. 

                          ____________________