[WYOMING - LARAMIE CITY]. TRIGGS, J.H. History and Directory of Laramie City, Wyoming Territory, Comprising a Brief History of Laramie City from its First Settlement to the Present Time, Together with Sketches of the Characteristics and Resources of the Surrounding Country; Including a Minute Description of a Portion of the Mining Region of the Black Hills. Also a General and Business Directory of Laramie City. Laramie City: Daily Sentinel Print, 1875.

8vo (224 x 145 mm). 91 pp. including advertisements. Original blue printed wrappers (light chipping at extreme ends, faint crease near upper corner); slipcase. Provenance: Carnegie Public Library, Laramie City, Wyoming (rubberstamps on upper cover and title-page); Passed to the mother of Stephen Corlett Downey (1873-1934), a Laramie lawyer, by the Carnegie Library following his death (gilt-stamping on slipcase).

FIRST EDITION of this early history of the Wyoming Territory, with local advertisements on the versos of the first 50 leaves, and with a long alphabetical directory at the end. J. H. Triggs spent 12 years on the plains and in the Rocky Mountains. His history of the region begins "from the day of first settlement in April of 1868. It has long been recognized by students of western history as probably the most honest, outspoken, and vivid account of the early and turbulent days. Laramie was famous for its disorder, crime, and rapid growth. Triggs describes the horde that first came in as made up of one-fifth honest and daring men, the balance 'were gamblers, thieves, highwaymen, robbers, cut-throats, garroters, prostitutes, and their necessary companions.' The narrative describes the ensuing mass-meeting to form a government; its organization and collapse; the reign of violence; the formation of the Vigilance Committee government; the battles between the Vigilantes and the new police and succeeding events, until finally the Territorial legislature in desperation, took away the city's charter, and put the community under the jurisdiction of the Federal courts" (Eberstadt 136:667h). Downey was a prominent Laramie lawyer and legislator who played a crucial role in upholding votes for women in 1871. In 1886, Downey was elected to the Territorial House of Representatives and again in 1890, the last session before statehood. In the 1886 session, Downey introduced a successful bill for funding a university in his home state, for which he is now considered a founding father of the University of Wyoming. Adams Herd 2332; Adams Six Guns 2239; Graff 4191; Howes T-351 ("b"); Stopka Wyoming Territorial Imprints 1875; Streeter IV:2245.