G1701

Wyoming State

Centenary

Collins Cover Announcement

WYOMING STATEHOOD

This issue celebrates the Centennial of Wyoming Statehood. I chose for the topic of my cachet a breed of explorer whom I have always held in high esteem. Rugged individualism. Raw

courage. Undaunted pathfinder. I speak of the legendary mountain man.

He is pictured here -- high on a rocky, grass-covered promontory with a view that is as grand as Wyoming itself. Below is a distant river valley flanked by virgin forests and meadows. In the distance, the Tetons of the Rocky Mountain range jut upward in towering dominance of all else.

The mountain man himself is a tower of strength and selfconfidence. Muscular of build and full bearded as was the norm. Fur cap and fringed buckskin shirt. A powder horn hangs from a shoulder strap while a rifle is grasped in the right hand as a natural extension of the body. In the left hand, a string of pelts are the material rewards of the trapline. But the other reward that the mountain man reaped was the clear mountain air. The spirit of adventure. The freedom of movement in unsettled wilderness.

Below the rocky ledge on which the mountain man stands, eagles soar over the valley below. His eyes don't meet the great bird's flight because the gaze is looking higher with inner thoughts that can only be pondered by those who dare to strike out into the unknown. Standing tall, higher than the eagle.

The Wyoming stamp has the Cheyenne, Wyoming First Day postmark. A Statehood cover that captures the adventure of the American West. COLLINS #G1701. $8.50.