Since the 1^st of January, 1906, Raymond Benjamine West has been engaged in the practice of law at Basin and has been accorded a liberal clientage which has constantly grown both in volume and importance, connecting him with many of the leading cases tried in the courts of his district. He was born in Nebraska City, Nebraska, January 25, 1875, and is a son of Dempsey Carlyal and Anna E. West. In the State University of Nebraska he pursued his preparation for the bar and was graduated on the 13^th of June, 1901, with the LL. B. degree. He then entered upon practice after being admitted to the Nebraska bar on the 13^th of June of that year. He was also admitted to practice at the bar of Wyoming in October of the same year and on the following 19^th of June he came to Cody. On the 1^st of July, 1902. he removed to Meeteetse, where he engaged in general merchandising until July 1, 1905. On the 1^st of January, 1906, he entered upon the practice of law at Basin and on the 1^st of January. 1911, was elected county attorney, which position he filled until the 1^st of January, 1913, carefully protecting the legal interests of the county during that period. In his practice he has won for himself very favorable criticism for the careful and systematic methods which he has followed. He has remarkable powers of concentration and application and his retentive mind has often excited the surprise of his professional colleagues. As an orator he stands high, especially in the discussion of legal matters before the court, where his comprehensive knowledge of the law is manifest and his application of legal principles demonstrates the wide range of his professional acquirements. The utmost care and precision characterize his preparation of a case and have made him one of the successful attorneys of Bighorn county.
    At North Platte, Nebraska, May 27, 1908, Mr. West was married to Miss Nora Davis Fenwick and to them have been born two children: Helen Elizabeth, born April 3, 1909; and Margaret Lucile, August 4. 1911. The parents are communicants of the Episcopal church and take an active interest in its work and progress.
    Mr. West belongs to the Masonic fraternity, in which he has taken high rank. He is now a past master of Temple Lodge, No. 20, A. F. & A. M., of Basin; has membership with the Knight Templar commandery at Sheridan; and is a member of Kalif Temple. A. A. O. N. M. S. He likewise belongs to the Basin Chamber of Commerce and was president thereof in the year 1917, cooperating heartily in all of its well defined plans and projects for the upbuilding of the city, the extension of its trade relations and the upholding of its civic standards." His political allegiance has always been given to the republican party but he has never sought office outside the strict path of his profession. His military record covers service as sergeant of Company A, of the Third Nebraska Regiment during the Spanish-American war and as captain of Company D, of the Third Wyoming National Guard, in which regiment he was afterward promoted to the rank of major, continuing in that connection until he resigned in January, 1915. His interests are wide and varied and he is actuated in all that "he does by a spirit of progress and improvement that has brought excellent results.