FORT LARAMIE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

WYOMING

Fort Laramie was truly the “Crossroads of a Nation Moving West.” Established in 1834 as a small fur trading post, Fort Laramie was purchased by the government in 1849 and rapidly grew to become the largest and most important military post on the Northern Plains.

For 56 years the epic story of America’s western expansion played out on a grand scale at a place in eastern Wyoming where the North Platte and Laramie Rivers meet. Here, Indians, trappers, traders, missionaries, emigrants, gold seekers, soldiers, cowboys and homesteaders would, each in their turn, leave their mark on a place that would become famous in the annals of the American West. That place was Fort Laramie. Over the latter half of the 19th century, the fort would witness and make possible much of what occurred on the western frontier.

During its lifetime, Fort Laramie successively fulfilled a variety of roles. First, it served as a major post in the Rocky Mountain fur trade. A few years later, it became an important way station for thousands traveling the Oregon, California and Mormon trails, seeking the “Land of Opportunity.”

Fort Laramie saw rapid advances in communication and transportation technology as stage lines, the Pony Express, and the transcontinental telegraph passed through. Fort Laramie hosted numerous treaty negotiations with Native Americans, the most famous of which were the Horse Creek Treaty of 1851 and the still controversial and contested Treaty of 1868. Ultimately, Fort Laramie served as a major base of military operations. Numerous campaigns were grayed from the fort against the Northern Plains tribes who were fiercely defending their homeland against further incursions and settlement by an ever-expanding nation. Eventually, Fort Laramie became a center of commerce for local homesteaders and ranchers. With the end of the Indian Wars, however, Fort Laramie’s usefulness to the government was rapidly fading. Fort Laramie was abandoned in 1890 and sold at public auction.

Fort Laramie slowly deteriorated over the next 48 years and nearly succumbed to the ravages of time. But with the determined efforts of local citizens and Wyoming state legislators, the preservation of the site was secured when, on July 16, 1938, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed a proclamation creating Fort Laramie National Monument. The park was re-designated a National Historic Site by an act of Congress on April 29, 1960. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. It was expanded to its present size of 835 acres through another act of Congress in 1978.

Twelve original buildings, most of which are restored and refurnished, and numerous ruins still exist today. The park has an intensive preservation program to ensure the integrity of the structures for generations to come. In 2003, the park put new roofs on two buildings, replaced a porch, completed numerous interior and exterior painting projects, and conducted a study on different methods to preserve lime grout concrete, the most common building material at the site. All work conformed to the Secretary of the Interior’s standards for historic preservation.

Fort Laramie is surrounded by a remarkably unaltered landscape and viewshed. Visitors to the site are afforded an unprecedented opportunity to visit and experience not only one of our nation’s most historic places, but a nearly intact historic vista as well.

DID YOU KNOW

• Fort Laramie was the first permanent white settlement in what would later become the State of Wyoming.
• Fort Laramie was named after a fur trapper, Jacques LaRamee, who was killed nearby on a stream that would later bear his name. He now has a fort, a town, a city, a mountain range, a mountain peak, a county, and a river in Wyoming named after him.
• Fort Laramie actually had three names, although it was commonly called “Fort Laramie” throughout its existence. The first fort, built in 1834, was christened Fort William. The second fort, constructed in 1841, was named Fort John. It became officially known as Fort Laramie after the army purchased it in 1849.
• Fort Laramie National Historic Site contains the oldest standing building in the State of Wyoming, “Old Bedlam”, originally constructed as bachelor officer’s quarters in 1849.
• Fort Laramie never came under direct attack during its 56 years of service.
• Two of the first major confrontations between the U.S. Government and the Lakota (Sioux) Indians occurred near here and involved troops from the Fort Laramie garrison.
• Hundreds of famous people passed through Fort Laramie, among them Jim Bridger, Thomas Fitzpatrick, John Fremont, Red Cloud, Spotted Tail, Wild Bill Hickcock, Buffalo Bill Cody, Calamity Jane, and Mark Twain.

DON'T MISS ATTRACTIONS

• ANNUAL MOONLIGHT TOUR MILITARY ENCAMPMENT WEEKEND: On July 31st and August 1st, soldiers, gold seekers, emigrants, and an assortment of other frontier individuals will take you on a journey into 19th-century Fort Laramie. The fort will be alive with programs, demonstrations, historic camps, displays, and more. The weekend will include a moonlight tour from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Saturday evening. the 31st. This special program will allow visitors to meet many characters from the rich history of Fort Laramie.
• FORT LARAMIE: CROSSROADS OF THE WEST HISTORY SYMPOSIUM: August 4th-8th,Fort Laramie National Historic Site and the National Park Service, in conjunction with the Western History Association, present “Fort Laramie: Crossroads of the West.” Dedicated to presenting new scholarly research on the significance of this historic site, the symposium will afford an opportunity to re-examine and re-envision the role the fort played in the development of the trans-Mississippi West. Contact the park for further details.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PRIORITIES

Last year, about 50,000 visitors from the United States and other countries around the world come to Fort Laramie. We can say with confidence that almost all of them were glad they did.

This year, 93% of the visitors polled during the visitor survey rated the overall quality of the fort’s facilities, services, and recreational opportunities as very good or good; 97% rated the assistance they received from park employees as very good or good; 100% rated the ranger programs as very good or good. But only about 50,000 visitors came.

As recently as twenty years ago, more than 100,000 visitors a year stopped at Fort Laramie. The Service has a number of theories, if not facts, to explain the decline, relating to costs, distances, and changing public interests.

Though not yet scheduled, the park intends an in-depth study to identify and address the actual cause or causes for the decline in attendance as a benchmark for planning park management and the economic and educational potential of Fort Laramie and similar sites and facilities in other places. Reversing the trend is important to maintaining a realistic public understanding and appreciation of the legacy of the American West from the 19th century – the roots of 21st -century American life in the West.

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LINKS:

Fort Laramie National Historic Site»

Partnering & Managing for Excellence Report»

Previously Featured Parks»