Cheyenne, Wyoming of Two Minds About Denver-Like Growth

This city once dreamed in lofty superlatives — that it could become a major metropolis, axis of the Intermountain West and heavyweight hub of the high plains.

Relentless growth in Denver may affect Cheyenne, Wyoming’s capital, where John Brazzale, an electrician, was working on a lamp in front of the city’s former Union Pacific Depot.

But by the late 1800s, Denver, 95 miles south in Colorado, had won the contest. Gold strikes and good water supplies made the difference. Cheyenne gradually retreated to its roots as a wind-blown provincial heartland, dependent on a Cold War-era missile base and the spillover of jobs from Wyoming’s tiny state government.

Now the Denver area’s relentless growth, with its phalanx of satellite cities and suburbs that march north toward Wyoming, are grabbing Cheyenne by the lapels.

By KIRK JOHNSON

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/us/04cheyenne.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin