Monday, August 17, 2020

Teapot Dome Historical Oilfield, WY

 Place: Teapot Dome Historical Oilfield

Weather: Mostly sunny skies, 59/95F.

Route: From Sioux Falls 579 miles west on I-90 W and WY-50 S.

Significance: Albert Fall was the first cabinet official to ever face a prison sentence in U.S. history as part of the Teapot Dome scandal.  He was the Secretary of the Interior for Warren Harding in the early from 1921-23.  Teapot Dome was the name of one of three oilfields - the others were in California - that Fall leased to oil companies without any competitive bidding process. In return he received over 7 million dollars (in today's money) in no interest loans and outright bribes.  Harding's administration was pretty corrupt - he brought many of his old friends from Ohio into his administration - they became known as the "Ohio gang." 


Image:


Teapot Rock (from fineartamerica.com)

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