Walla Walla
They were land travelers again when on April 27 they met a roaming band of Walla Wallas (kindred of the Nez Perces) and their chief. The captains, who called him…
Telegraph Meets at Fort Bridger
Crews were spread out along the entire route of the telegraph, stringing wire simultaneously in several places. The wires were finally joined at Fort Bridger in what was then Utah on October…
Bridger’s Fort
Bridger and Vasquez acted on the indications. In the valley of Black's Fork, Uinta County, the southwestern corner of Wyoming, a day's ride from the sites of many rendezvous, on…
Fort Laramie
Miller felt the release that all travelers felt here. The fort was oasis, hermitage, hostelry, coolness and greenness after a weary land. And Fontenelle had a consummate refreshment for his…
Brigham Young’s Kingdom
The "Kingdom" had once been projected from the crest of the Rockies to the crest of the Sierra Nevada, and a number of anchor points had been settled: Fort Limhi…
Fort Laramie
[Fort Laramie] was one of the great fixed points of the later fur trade, in the heart of the Sioux country, on the way to the Shoshone country, linked to…
mIle 917: Fort Casper
Site of Fort Caspar/Platte Bridge Station, Fort Caspar Museum, 1847 Mormon Ferry, and Guinard Bridge. Fort Casper was a focus of 19th century emigration, commercial, and military activity. In 1847, Brigham…
Mile 753: Crossing Fort Laramie
"Most travelers approached Fort Laramie from the main Oregon and California roads along the south bank of the North Platte River. This required fording a tributary, the Laramie River, just…
Mile 753: Fort Laramie
"Fort Laramie, the American Fur Company's post near the junction of Laramie Creek and the Platte, was by far the largest and most celebrated post in this region and was…
Oregon Territorial Government
"In the summer of 1848, amid a popular outcry about Indian attacks, Congress created the Oregon Territory, the first territorial government west of the Rockies, and appropriated the funds to…
Mile 1403: East Rush Valley/Pass/Five Mile Pass/No Name Station
"East Rush Valley Station, built as a dugout, was listed by Howard Egan as being very active even though it is not identified as a contract station. The military road…
Mile 1392: Camp Floyd
"The station was located within John Carson's Inn in Fairfield and saw use for both the Express and stage travel. The adobe building was built in 1858. It is still…
Mile 432: Cottonwood Springs
"Cottonwood Springs was merely a seep in a gully which had been an old bed of the river, and which had curved up towards Cottonwood Canyon. The water-bed of the river being largely…
Dobytown
"Two miles west of Fort Kearney was the worst place on the entire overland route. A town had been laid out and christened 'Kearney City. (It was called 'Dobytown' for…
Fort Bridger
"Fort Bridger was quite a gay rendezvous on the Sunday we reached it, for besides ourselves and two companion trains, the place was enlivened by a score or two of mountaineers, and a…