Today's post title has been said about many rivers: the Rio Grande, Missouri, the Colorado (pre-dam), the Little Colorado, etc. There is no doubt what the words mean.
Those same words have also been said of the old McDonald's 'bentonite' shakes.
But since I'm now in Casper, WY, I am thinking of the 49ers (the Californian gold rush ones) , who supposedly said it about Nebraska's Platte River, formed by the confluence of the North Platte, which flows through Casper, and South Platte rivers.
The North Platte's watershed is shown below; click on it to expand the view.
I'm up in the area because I am attending the NGWA's Ground Water Summit, which starts in Denver later today. But I thought I would arrive a day early and see a bit of Wyoming. I'm in the city that was Wyoming's original oil patch, where the mighty North Platte rolls out of the mountains on its journey across the Great Plains to meet its southern namesake and create the Platte River.
Here are the 'mighty' North Platte rapids near downtown Casper; downstream is to the left (how can you tell)? Nice hydraulic jump, guys.
Here is an oil derrick, something that made Casper famous; oil was discovered in 1890. And how about some fence posts topped by some
tricone roller drill bits?
Great town - seven Subways! Saw a wonderful minor league baseball game last night Class A Wyoming League. The hometown Casper Friendly Ghosts beat the Gillette Razors, 10-5. Uh-huh.
And I should mention that Casper was colleague Todd Jarvis' hometown for about ten years.
Time to hit the road.
"There's a feeling you get driving down to Casper at night from the north, and not only there, other places where you come through hours of darkness unrelieved by any lights except the crawling wink of some faraway ranch truck. You come down a grade and all at once the shining town lies below you, slung out like all western towns, and with the curved bulk of mountain behind it." --Annie Proulx
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