[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11455-11456]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            KAYCEE, WYOMING

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I rise today to celebrate the centennial 
of Kaycee, Wyoming.
  The late Chris LeDoux, country singer and beloved citizen of Kaycee, 
once sang ``Well, I just smile because they don't understand, but if 
they ever saw a sunrise on a mountain mornin', watched those cotton 
candy clouds roll by, they'd know why I live beneath these Western 
skies.'' The citizens of Kaycee will tell anyone they meet that no 
truer words have ever been spoken about their town. Located in 
northeastern Wyoming, Kaycee is nestled in the foothills of the Big 
Horn Mountains with the Powder River flowing through its heart and the 
sprawling plains spread out before it.
  I stand here today to honor the town in its 100 year celebration, but 
many citizens would tell you that the town is 107. In 1906, the 
citizens in this blooming new municipality filed for incorporation, but 
the town went without a city government until the first town council 
meeting on August 12, 1913. Whether the town's age is 100 or 107, we 
congratulate Kaycee on this important milestone.
  Kaycee has a rich and varied history. Before the settlers and the 
ranchers came, Kaycee and the area surrounding it was the home of the 
Northern Cheyenne and Pawnee. Following the 1876 Battle of Dull Knife, 
the Cheyenne survivors surrendered and relocated, first to a 
reservation in Oklahoma, and then finally to the Pine Ridge Reservation 
in South Dakota. The outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid also 
used the beautiful but rough mountain terrain of the Kaycee area to 
elude capture by lawmen and bounty hunters at the Hole in the Wall 
Canyon.
  Ranchers and cowboys were very important in the development of the 
area. The men driving cattle through the region needed supplies, thus 
creating an opportunity for businesses at the Powder River crossing. 
However, the area was not tamed until after the 1892 Johnson County 
cattle war. This range war between small ranchers and larger ranching 
operations eventually required the intervention of President Benjamin 
Harrison.
  As the battles for land settled down, ranchers began to expand 
agriculture in the area and people from all walks of life came to 
Kaycee to create new lives for themselves. Some ranchers brought in 
sheep to graze the prairies, and with the sheep came the unique culture 
of the sheepherders. Among these are the Basque people who traveled 
from the Pyrenees Mountains on the border between Spain and France. 
Their legacy is strong with the people of Kaycee today.
  In addition to providing for the diverse wildlife and agriculture, 
the rich hills of Kaycee have abundant energy resources. Every day, 
citizens of this

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great community are working to increase our Nation's energy 
independence by mining uranium and bentonite, and drilling oil.
  In honor of the centennial of Kaycee, Wyoming, I invite my colleagues 
to see this wonderful place in person. I applaud the residents of the 
town for their efforts to celebrate such rich history and to present it 
to visitors from all over the world.

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