Absaroka
Absaroka was proposed as a new state in 1939, to be created from portions of the existing states of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. The impetus behind its proposed creation came from the actions taken by President Franklin D. Roosevelt known as the New Deal. Opponents of certain aspects of the New Deal were so vehement in their denial of its constitutionality that they decided to revisit issues which most of the nation had thought to be settled by the Civil War. Among these were that no state had the right to secede and thus dissolve its relationship with the Union once granted, and that state laws must be in compliance with federal laws.
Supporters of Absaroka were mostly Republicans, and they supported a self-appointed former street commissioner from Sheridan, Wyoming – A.R. Swickard – who declared himself governor. Governor Swickard was well known to the region as a baseball player of consummate skill and renown.
The governor quickly established a facility to produce license plates for the new state. He also drew an official map of the new state outlining its boundaries; included within it was the new monument which had been under construction for some time named Mount Rushmore. Recognizing its income potential as a source of tourists dollars, Swickard had a young woman declared Miss Absaroka, and photos taken of her wearing a sash so proclaiming.
In 1939 the King of Norway toured the American West, and Swickard welcomed His Majesty as a guest of the state in Sheridan, where meetings of the Absaroka legislature were held in the Rotary Club’s basement. The machinations of the Absaroka government drew the somewhat embarrassed attention of the state legislatures of Montana and South Dakota, who began to more closely address the concerns and grievances of the citizens of their newly created rival states.
In the fall of 1939 war broke out in Europe and other concerns besides the New Deal began to occupy the public attention. By early 1940 evidence of the State of Absaroka was all but gone, and Mount Rushmore remained within the State of South Dakota.