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Published: July 11th 2011
We didn't know much about our country's history in this part of the West . After a month of exploring we better understand the great western trails of Wyoming. Heading North from Cheyenne, we stopped in Casper. We camped at Fort Casper, named after Casper Collins who had been killed by Indians while defending the fort. Casper gets its name from Casper Collins, son of John Collins, the namesake of Fort Collins, Colorado....Ohio natives both.
Fort Casper was flooding from the North Platte River but our site was dry. Tom is truly in love with the West and would have made a good rancher as he loves the vast, wide-open range with the Rockie Mountains in the backdrop.
We spent Father's Day in the middle of God's country looking at the Oregon Ruts and Independence Rock. The Oregon Ruts were carved in the mid-1800's by the wagon wheels of pioneers traveling on the Oregon Trail. The Bozeman trail and the Mormon trail split in Casper WY, one going North, the other South. It was the Bozeman Trail that spurred many of the Plains Indian Wars in this area as it went through treatied Indian land. Wagon wheels carved permanent ruts
Oregon Ruts
3 ft deep in placesin the limestone, each wagon train following the ruts from the previous wagon train.
Our next stop was Independence Rock where thousands of pioneers passing through carved their names. They knew if they made it there by the Fourth of July they had a good chance of getting over the Rockie Mountains before winter. We were surprised to see so many who migrated from Ohio.
Last stop on Father's Day was Fort Laramie, WY. The Pony Express, which existed from 1860-1861, came through here. The Pony Express preferred to hire young orphan boys because riding through uncharted land full of hostile Indians was a dangerous job. Historically, the largest migration of pioneers, miners, Mormons and fur traders (over 80,000) passed through on their way to a better future.
Next campground was in Hardin, Montana where we watched a re-enactment of Custer's Last Stand. That is a story for my next blog!
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