Harry S. Harnsberger (October 1889 – July 1975) was an American jurist who served as a justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court from March 12, 1953, to January 1, 1969.Wyoming State Archives biography of Harry Harnsberger, available at 2301 Central Ave, Cheyenne, WY 82001.
Harnsberger was born in Decatur, Illinois in 1889.Wyoming Blue Book, Volume Three, Wyoming State Archives and Historical Department, 50th Legislature Centennial Edition, 1990, at 34-35. He came to Wyoming in about 1910 to become a cowboy. The depression that year convinced him to return to school. After graduating from Georgetown University Law School, he began his legal practice in Lander, Wyoming in 1914. He was later prosecuting attorney and attorney general.Casper Star-Tribune, "Gives Response" (September 17, 1953), p. 8. On March 12, 1953, Governor Clifford Joy Rogers appointed Harnsberger as Justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court following the death of Justice Harry P. Ilsley. He served as chief justice in 1967. He retired on January 1, 1969, and died in Cheyenne in 1975. Many of his legal opinions received national recognition. He was most proud of Day v. Armstrong (1961), which ruled that landowners along the North Platte River had no right to prevent boaters from floating or fishing on the river, even if the landowners owned land on both sides of the river.
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