A Conversation That’s Likely to Occur Only in Wyoming
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It is said that Wyoming is a small town with very long streets. Translation: we Wyoming residents tend to know people from all over the state and those folks are likely to know others who know us. It is a good place to live, if you are a good person, but it could be challenging if one is a “bad person,” because you’re likely to be known across the state in a less than positive light.
The other day, I received a telephone call from a man that I rent a storage unit from. I was at our cabin outside of Pinedale and I was curious when the man’s name showed on my cell phone screen as an incoming call. Wondering if there were problems at the storage units, I answered the call. Mike introduced himself to be sure that I knew who was calling and then he said, “I have a piece of mail that was intended for you. It is addressed to Box 322, Pinedale.”
It took me a minute to realize that Box 322 is our mailbox in Green River. I said, “That’s our box number in Green River.” Mike said, “Well, Box 322 in Pinedale belongs to my mother. I picked up her mail for her today and noticed an envelope with your name on it, but with her Box number. I can bring it to you, if you’re going to be home.”
I thought that was awful nice, but I knew that Mike lived near the Daniel, WY Post Office and I didn’t think it was practical to expect him to drive clear over to Fremont Lake to bring me an envelope. I responded, “Gosh Mike, that’s nice of you, but I am willing to come get the envelope. Just let me know where you’d like me to pick it up.” Mike said, “It’s no problem. I take care of my mother, who lives in Pinedale, and it will only take a few minutes to drop it by. You live up on Fremont Lake, right. By the CCC Ponds? My Mom will enjoy the ride. I’ll be over in a few minutes.”
Before I knew it, Mike was pulling into my yard in a nice Lexus RX350, with his mother in the passenger seat. I met him in the yard. His first comment was, “You’ve got a nice place and a great view of the lake.” Then he nodded at my pickup and said, “License number 31! You must be an “old timer.” This is the part of the conversation that is so unique to Wyoming. I am aware of no other state that has an automobile licensing system like ours. I have also noticed that those of us who have a half-century or more of living in Wyoming tend to know what number correlates to which County and we tend to treasure a low license number.
To be sure, I have three vehicles licensed in Sweetwater County. My Jeep is #4- 4632(Sweetwater County + the last four digits of our home phone number. Yes, a real “landline” that I can’t get rid of, because it would render my license plate number meaningless.). My pickup is 4-31, which was my paternal grandfather’s license number, when he licensed his company truck in the 1930’s. That #31 was passed to my father, when he purchased the General Store from my grandmother. I acquired #31 when my father passed away. The acquisition was not challenged, because I was the only “living child” of my dad. I am proud to have this license number. It means more to me than most folks would imagine.
Our third vehicle, my wife’s car, is #4-26. I’m not sure how the number originally came into her family, but it was her father’s number. When her father and mother passed away, Debbie wanted to acquire the number. Although Debbie had a “vanity plate” at the time #4-MSDB (for Miss Debbie, as she was known during her 30+ years as a preschool teacher), the low number #4-26 was more coveted than the ‘vanity plate”. When she went to the Courthouse to see about transferring the #4-26 number to her, she had to get a release from her brother, who was the only one of her siblings living in Wyoming. (This gives credibility to my comment that we old folks take our license numbers seriously. The County won’t issue a low number to someone who can’t demonstrate that there are no contenders for the number.)
My conversation with Mike made me think more about the auto licensing system in Wyoming. Ironically, I was reading a story on “CowboyStateDaily.com” that provided additional historical information about the system. In 1930, the State Legislature instituted a system, by which each county in Wyoming was assessed. Based on the assessed value, the Counties were ‘force ranked’. This resulted in Natrona County, which had extensive oil reserves at the time, being ranked #1. The process proceeded through all 23 Counties. The value of Teton and Sublette Counties were not recognized in that 1930 exercise because the recreation and resort economy had not matured at the time. As the story mentioned, the rankings would be substantially different in most cases, if the assessment and ranking were conducted today.
The other recollection that I had, after my interaction with Mike, was a memory of attending a funeral in Rock Springs many years ago. (Before I had #31, or my wife had #26.) As I was walking through the parking lot at the funeral home, a fellow who was a few years older than my dad and his son were headed into the funeral home also. These two knew me and my family, as well as my wife’s family. We chatted as we walked toward the service. The older fellow said, “Well, you can tell the funeral is for a long-time resident of Rock Springs. Just look at all the low numbered license plates in the parking lot.” This comment brought a smile to my lips and there wasn’t a moment of hesitation. I knew exactly what he meant.
I have found it interesting to see that younger folks and people who haven’t lived in Wyoming for 5-plus decades seem to have no interest in low license plate numbers. Many don’t know, or care, how to deduce the county of origin of an automobile by the County number that precedes the license number.
We know what to expect at a ball game, when we see multiple autos showing certain County designations. We know if an auto is from a heavily industrialized County, or if they are from a County that is primarily agricultural. We can also deduce that a vehicle is from a County where the population is generally more economically privileged and perhaps have different political views than the majority of the state. However, we are always happy to see a Wyoming “bucking bronco” license plate when traveling out of state and I believe that nearly 100% of us Wyoming folks would stop to help a fellow Wyoming automobile, if we see them in distress.
It is funny how a little thing like an automobile license plate can communicate so much and can come to have a value beyond simple identification. I worry about the younger folks whose license numbers are 5 or more digits and have no relevance to their time in the State or County. To them, it’s simply a governmental identification with no value greater than that. Maybe us “old folks” see our license numbers as important and a successor to the cattle and livestock brands of old, that communicated so much more than their obvious symbolism.
Dividends
I shared the above portion of this story with some of my trusted critics, as I do with most of my stories. What I have come to appreciate is that along with an observation or correction that might help me make my stories better, these trusted critics often share a brief story of their own that was triggered by them reading my story. I refer to this as the “stone in a pond” phenomenon. I cast a stone (share my story) and the ripples that radiate from that story, like the expanding rings on the surface of a pond, are the stories those critics share back with me. This adds to the value of my original story. I have decided to try to capture a few of those response stories (dividends), so that future readers might enjoy those “ripples” too.
In the instance of the license plate story, one of my cousins shared with me that when she and her husband were both working, her license plate was 4-TCHN (for teaching), as she operated a preschool for many years. Her husband’s license plate was 4-FIXN (for fixing), as he owned a service truck and repaired heavy equipment. When they retired and moved to Sublette County, they simply acquired whatever numbered plates that they were issued, but they clearly enjoyed those many years of having unique plates that had meaning to them.
A long-time friend responded, after reading my story, that he had recently participated in a car show in the Fort Collins, Colorado area. After a long career, and having lived in several countries and multiple states, he has retired to the Colorado “front range.” While he was showing his fully restored 1972 Chevy 4 X 4 pickup, he noticed a restored car nearby that sported Wyoming County 2 plates. Having grown up in Rock Springs, he instantly recognized the Laramie County plate and went to visit with the owner. He related that he and the owner of the car from Cheyenne spend the balance of the afternoon visiting and sharing stories about their roots in Wyoming. He said, I would have had a much less interesting afternoon, had that Wyoming license plate not caused me to engage the man from Cheyenne.
Another close friend called me after reading my story. He has retired and moved to Nebraska to be near his children and grandkids. He said the story reminded him of the years that he lived in Kemmerer. He was a Mining Engineer who had grown up in Wisconsin but spent most of his career in Wyoming. First in the coal mine in Kemmerer, and then 25+ years in the trona mine near Green River. His story was that when he was a citizen of Lincoln County, he shared the position of most Lincoln County folks, regarding folks with County 4 plates. “They were parasites who only came to Lincoln County to invade the best Lincoln County hunting and fishing areas.” Then he moved to Sweetwater County and became one of the parasites.
Lastly, another of my cousins wrote to me, relating that she still remembered her parent’s license plate number and she knew that they had kept that number until their passing. However, with four grown children, 3 of whom had left Wyoming, she had no idea what happened to the license number. My story made her curious of who might now be driving around with what she thought of as “her parent’s license number.”
Nearly all of the folks that responded to my story expressed appreciation for learning about the history of how the Wyoming County numbering system came about and they all said that they enjoyed being able to identify the County of origin of those Wyoming vehicles that they encountered as they traveled.
Pretty good dividends derived from a fairly obtuse musing about “low numbered license plates” and the “small town with very long streets.”
