MARKING THE OREGON TRAIL THE BOZEMAN ROAD AND HISTORIC PLACES IN WYOMING 1908-1920 PRESENTED BY THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION OF WYOMING STATE REGENTS OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, WYOMING MRS. H. B. PATTEN, Cheyenne, 1912-1914 GRACE RAYMOND HEBARD, Laramie, 1914-1916 MRS. EDWARD GILLETTE, Sheridan, 1916-1918 MRS. BRYANT B. BROOKS, Casper, 1918-1922 WYOMING OREGON TRAIL COMMISSION CAPTAIN H. G. NICKERSON, Lander, President, 1913-1921 MRS. H. B. PATTEN, Cheyenne, Secretary, 1913-1915 A. J. PARSHALL, Cheyenne, 1913-1915 MRS. J. T. SNOW, Torrington, 1915-1921 GRACE RAYMOND HEBARD, Secretary, 1915-1921 Report prepared by GRACE RAYMOND HEBARD State Historian of the Wyoming Daughters of the American Revolution Secretary of the Wyoming Oregon Trail Commission State Historian of the Wyoming Colonial Dames. The Marking of Trails and Historic Places BY THE Oregon Trail Commission of Wyoming THE Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution AND CITIZENS OF WYOMING It seems entirely appropriate that the organization known as the Wyoming Daughters of the American Revolution should present this report of its activities in the State of Wyoming during the past ten years, for the reason that this organi- zation was responsible to a large degree for the introduction of a bill, in the Twelfth State Legislature in 1913, which became a law and established the Wyoming Oregon Trail Commission. The Sons of the American Revolution assisted in the work to obtain the Trail Commission, as did other interested citizens of Wyoming. The text of the law, Session Laws, 1913, page 24, Chapter 29, reads as follows: MARKING THE OLD OREGON TRAIL. SECTION 1. The Old Oregon Trail and historic landmarks in the State of Wyoming shall be marked by appropriate markers under the supervision of a com- mission of three members, the same to serve without compensation, to be appointed by the Governor; Proz-idcd, That no indebtedness shall be contracted or incurred hereunder beyond the actual amount in the hands of the State Treasurer appro- priated for the payment thereof. SEC. 2. The appropriation provided for herein shall be paid out only on certified vouchers, granted in like form, approved by the said commission, and the State Auditor is hereby authorized to draw warrants on the State Treasurer for the expends provided by this act upon certified and approved vouchers as herein pro- vided, but no such warrant shall be drawn for any amount in excess of the amount that may be at the time in the State Treasury, appropriated for that purpose. SEC. 3. Any person who shall destroy, deface, remove or injure any monument or marker erected as herein provided for, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not less than thirty days nor more than ninety days, or both by such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court. Approved February 20, 1913. For the first year of the existence of the Trail Commission the Legislature generously appropriated the sum of $2.500, with which a large number of markers were purchased and located in different parts of the State, The Legis- latures following 1913 appropriated the sum of $500 at each Session. THE OREGON TRAIL The Wyoming Daughters of the American Revolution did not initiate the movement for trail marking; in fact, they were somewhat tardy in their activities for this purpose, for several states through which old trails ran had received gen- erous appropriations from their Legislatures for this historical work of trail and site marking before the year of 1913. Special reference is made to marking the greatest of all trails, the Oregon, the southern trail of Santa Fe, and other trails leading to the West. The State of Missouri in 1909 made an appropriation sufficiently large to enable the D. A. R. of that State to mark the Santa Fe Trail from eastern to western boundaries; Kansas has placed eighty-nine markers in that State along this trail ; New Mexico in 1 909 received a Legislative appropriation for markers to be located in that State along this old merchants' road, and Colorado, in 1912, completed the trail of markers which runs from Independence, Missouri, the start- ing point of both the Santa Fe and the Oregon Trails, to the sleepy interior city of Santa Fe, seven hundred and seventy miles to the southwest, a marker being set at about every seven miles the entire length of the Santa Fe Trail. As the southern trail to the West was outlined by stones, markers and monu- ments, so the more northern, or central one, the Oregon Trail, has been traced along its length of two thousand and twenty miles. The states east and west of Wyoming through which the trail passed have marked this homeseekers' road from Independence to the Oregon country. Wyoming has finished the gap that repre- sented the trail within the boundaries of Wyoming. The report here presented delineates the activities of the Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution, public-spirited citizens, and the Oregon Trail Com- mission of Wyoming. Too much praise cannot be given to the President of the Commission, Capt. H. G. Nickerson, of Lander, who from 1 9 1 3 to 1 92 1 has not only assisted in locating trails and historic sites and battelfields, but has traveled on foot, by wagon, by horse and automobile into the territory that is lo- cated west of Casper to Cokeville and from Ft. Washakie in the central part of the State to the Union Pacific railroad to the south. Here and there Captain Nicker- son has placed stones, boulders and slabs of native material on which he, in the open, has carved with his chisels and mallet inscriptions and notations. No task has been too difficult for Captain Nickerson to undertake, no distance too long to journey, in order to locate sites off of the Oregon Trail, no weather too disagreeable ? no mosquitoes too numerous to make him waver in this service for the State. Not only has Captain Nickerson helped to make the history of Wyoming since the year of 1 866, but he has assisted in writing Wyoming's history on these stones and boulders. Mr. A. J. Parshall, through his long residence in Wyoming and his experi- ences as a civil engineer, contributed greatly to the value of the Oregon Trail Commission, a value beyond an expression in words. To Mrs. H. B. Patten, through whose extensive and painstaking reports this report is made possible, words of commendation are gratefully given for her efficient work. Mrs. Elizabeth Snow (Mrs. J. T.), of Torrington, through her interest in the work arid her many years of citizenship in Wyoming, has been a valuable and helpful member of the Commission. All of the Chapters of the Wyoming Daughters of the American Revolution, Cheyenne, Laramie, Sheridan, and Casper, and the Wyo- ming Sons of the American Revolution, have not only cooperated in the marking THE OREGON TRAIL and site selecting work and giving financial aid to the cause, but have given unstintingly of their time in the support of this movement. To Governor Joseph M. Carey, during whose administration the Oregon Trail Commission was created, to Governor John B. Kendrick, and to Governor Robert D. Carey, and the members of the Legislature of and since 1913, a tribute of appreciation is here given. They all have made the work of preserving history for Wyoming a possibility. FETTERMAN MONUMENT The most substantial of monuments placed in Wyoming to commemorate deeds of valor and sacrifice is the marker placed on the summit of ''Massacre Hill" in Johnson County near the boundry line between Johnson and Sheridan Counties, north and west of the site of Fort Phil Kearney. Through the efforts of Congressman Frank W. Mondell, an appropriation was obtained from the government to mark the site of a battle waged between eighty-one soldiers and civilians, under Captain Fetterman, and Red Cloud and his warriors. In the combat of December 21, 1 866, there were thousands of Indians against these eighty-one whites. No wonder there were "no survivors". The redman fought for the possession of his luxuriant grazing and hunting grounds, the land which had been exclusively used by Indians "since the time of man runneth not". The whiteman was fighting under government orders for the use of the land as a road leading to the goldfields near Virginia City, Montana. Although the monument was erected many years ago, it was not dedicated until July 3, 1908, when Gen. H. B. Carrington, who was commander from 1 866 to 1 868 of Fort Phil Kearney, Fort Reno and Fort C. F. Smith, all on the Bozeman Trail, which crossed and recrossed the land of the Sioux, took part in the ceremonies of the day, as did Hon. F. W. Mondell, Mr. William Daly, Sr., who had helped to fashion the flag pole for the garrison in July, 1866, and Sergeant S. S. Gibson and Mr. William Murphy, who were stationed at Fort Phil Kearney during the troublesome days in the Powder River country. The monument is made of native cobblestones set in cement. On the side toward the wagon road is a large bronze shield on which are blazoned the following: ON THIS FIELD ON THE 2 1ST DAY OF DECEMBER, 1866, THREE COMMISSIONED OFFICERS AND SEVENTY-SIX PRIVATES OF THE 18TH U. S. INFANTRY AND OF THE 2ND U. S. CAVALRY AND TWO CIVILIANS UNDER THE COMMAND OF CAPTAIN BREVET- LIEUTENANT COLONEL WILLIAM J. FETTERMAN WERE KILLED BY AN OVERWHELMING FORCE OF SIOUX UNDER THE COMMAND OF RED CLOUD. THERE WERE NO SURVIVORS. THE OREGON TRAIL SACAJAWEA Sacajawea, the little Shoshone Indian woman guide to Lewis and Clark on their expedition across the country to the Pacific Coast in 1 805-06, lived for many years, after the return of the expedition, in the country now embraced in the State of Wyoming. Sacajawea and her two sons, Bazil and Baptiste, lived in the region of the Wind River Mountains, where she died and was given a Chris- tian burial. On April 9, 1 884, Rev. John Roberts, missionary to the Indians in the Wind River and Shoshone Reservation, performed the ritual for the burial of the Indian guide, she being at the time of her death one hundred years of age. After establishing beyond a question of doubt that this Indian woman was at one time the young Indian guide for Lewis and Clark, a monument, in 1 909, through the efforts of Miss Hebard, who had located the last resting place of Sacajewea, was erected over the guide's grave. The cement marker was erected by Superintendent Wadsworth, then of the Indian Agency. In this cement a bronze tablet has been placed which was donated by the late Hon. Timothy F. Burke, at that time a Trustee of the University of Wyoming. SACAJAWEA DIED APRIL, 1 884 A GUIDE WITH THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION 1805-1806 IDENTIFIED 1909 BY REV. J. ROBERTS WHO OFFICIATED AT HER BURIAL. FREMONT MARKER ON THE LARAMIE PLAINS General John Charles Fremont was sent by our government into the West to establish, or survey, a possible route for a transcontinental railway through the Rocky Mountains. He made five such expeditions to the West, three for the government and two privately financed. In 1 843 Fremont and his men, with Kit Carson for a guide, marched into what is now Wyoming by the way of THE OREGON TRAIL Colorado into Albany County, establishing one of his temporary camps about four miles South of the present day city of Laramie. These men blazed a way to the Northwest across the Laramie Plains, journeying just North of Sheep Mountain. About August 1, 1843, the party was 12 miles West of Laramie, having had on that day an exciting chase after buffalo and encountering a band of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians, who, however, did not challenge the white man's journey over their hunting grounds. The trail made by General Fremont and his men became in 1 862 a part of the Overland Route, which ran along the southern tier of counties in Wyoming to old Fort Bridger. Where this trail of Fremont's expedition and the Overland road crosses, only in dim outline today, the Colorado, Wyoming and Eastern Railroad on the Laramie Plains, the Jacques Laramie Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (of Laramie) erected a monument of grey Salida granite. The stone was at the time of its dedication placed in cement on the ground, but subsequently the Oregon Trail Commission had the stone raised several feet from the earth by a cement foundation. The location is in Sec. 34, T. 16, R. 75, between "Plains" and "Millbrook" stations. At the unveiling of this marker on July 1, 1911, the exercises were con- ducted by Mrs. C. P. Arnold, Acting Regent of the Jacques Laramie Chapter, and Mrs. William Reed, the Chaplain of the D. A. R. At this dedication, as all other unveiling ceremonies, the program consisted of rehgicuj, patriotic and historical exercises, prayer, national songs and addresses. The main address was given by Miss Grace Raymond Hebard, ex-Chapter Regent of the D. A. R., on "Trail Breakers". THE FIRST STONE ERECTED IN ALBANY CO. TO MARK THE OLD OVERLAND TRAIL 1862-1868 ERECTED BY JACQUES LARAMIE CHAPTER DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION LARAMIE. WYOMING 1911 Unveiling the marker on the Laramie Plaint where Fremont's survey of IMS. which In the sixties became a part of the Overland Route, crosses the track of the Colorado. Wyoming and Eastern Railway, twelve miles West of the city of Laramie. Ceremony under the direction of the Jacques Laramie Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. July 1. 1911. Left to right. Miss Amy Abbot, Miss Grace Raymond Hebard. Mrs. R. E. Fitch. Mrs. J. H. Abbot. Mrs. F. Blake. Mrs. George Patterson. Mrs. James Mathison. Mrs. Arnold Bode. Mrs. C. P. Arnold (Acting Regent), and Mrs. Frank W. Lee. THE OREGON TRAIL THE OREGON TRAIL ON THE NEBRASKA-WYOMING BOUNDARY OREGON TRAIL MARKED BY THE NEBRASKA AND WYOMING SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 1912 The Nebraska-Wyoming Marker, placed on the boundary line where the old Oregon Trail enters Wyoming. The Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution of Nebraska and Cheyenne, on April 4, 1913, placed an imposing monument on the boundary line between the two states where the old Oregon Trail crossed the States' line, in Tp. 23, R. 60. The .stone of granite is on the South side of the North Platte, near the present village of Henry, Nebraska. The monument, with a large cement base, is in a field of alfalfa, but can be easily located from the established road by the aid of a stone "finder" about five feet high, which is on the main road. This finder is on the right hand side of the road as one travels to the East. Near the stone may be found a gate leading to the boundary monument. The site of this boundary stone bears unusual significance aside from being on the trail and the boundary line of two adjoining states. It was near the site of the stone that in December, 1812, a remnant of the John Jacob Astor over- land expedition, which had gone to the Pacific Coast, on its returning journey, camped for several months before pushing on to St. Louis, which had been the point of departure for the West. In the spring of 1811 A.stor's party, under the leadership of Wilson Price Hunt, started from the Missouri river with the pur- pose of establishing fur posts along the Missouri, Snake and Columbia rivers west to the Pacific Ocean, intending to follow the route taken by Lewis and Clark in 1 804-'06. Hunt encountered hostile Indians in what is now South Dakota on his way up the Missouri, and, in place of continuing to the North- west, he deflected his course to the Southwest, passing through what is now Wyo- ming, through Crook, Campbell, Johnson, Washakie, Hot Springs, Fremont and Lincoln Counties and out of Wyoming near the Snake river south of the Teton Mountains. Thus, these pioneer explorers were the first white men to traverse the lands in Wyoming from the eastern to the western boundaries. The follow- ing year, 1812, from Fort Astor, on the Pacific (Oregon), which had been established in 1811 by the Astoria parties, a small party of men, under the leader- ship of Robert Stuart, started on a return journey to St. Louis. In due course of time the party reached the western boundary of our State. This group of men THE OREGON TRAIL. also went through Wyoming, but from the West to the East, by the way of the Snake, then southeast through South Pass to the Sweetwater and North Platte rivers. The place where these fearless explorers went through the rift in the Rocky Mountains is not exactly known, but there is no doubt that these white men did go through the pass somewhat to the South of the road that was estab- lished in the years to come, and which road was called the Oregon Trail. This handful of Astoria men, in November, 1812, reached the mouth of Poison Spider Creek where it empties into the North Platte, somewhat Southwest of the present day city of Casper. Here, an early snowstorm driving them into winter camp, they built a warm log cabin, the first building to be erected in Wyoming by known white men. From this seemingly secluded spot, the Indians discovered the white men, eating them out of house and home, thus forcing the Astorian to journey on down the Platte, making their winter camp near the site of the Nebraska- Wyoming boundary monument. The return trip of the Astorian, a party reduced to ten men by the time of the erection of the Nebraska-Wyoming winter quarters, from the Pacific to St. Louis was made in ten months, a journey that by train in this day may be made in less than three days. On April 4, 1913, the following program, in the presence of four hundred citizens of Nebraska and Wyoming, was presented at the boundary monument: Mr. H. G. Leavitt, Master of Ceremonies; music by the Torrington Boys' Band ; Unveiling the Monument, by Mrs. Charles Oliver Norton, State Regent of the D. A. R. of Nebraska, and Mrs. H. B. Patten, State Regent of Wyo- ming; Presentation of the Monument, by Mrs. Norton; Acceptance of the Monument in behalf of the people of Nebraska, by Hon. C. S. Paine, who represented Governor Moorehead; Presentation of Monument by Wyoming, by Mrs. H. B. Patten, Secretary of the Wyoming Oregon Trail Commission; for the Sons of the American Revolution, an address by Rev. Leon C. Hills, of Cheyenne ; Receiving the Monument for Wyoming, Hon. A. J. Parshall, Chey- enne; "One Hundred Years Ago", Dr. Grace Raymond Hebard, Laramie; "The Pioneer", an original poem, Mrs. Alice Dyer Nichols, Henry, Nebraska. THE OREGON TRAIL IN CONVERSE COUNTY The stone posts placed in the Counties of Converse, Goshen, Johnson, Platte, and Sheridan, were committed to the charge of the respective County Commis- sioners for placement. They are five feet high, and a half foot wide, and one foot thick, marked: OREGON TRAIL BOZEMAN TRAIL MARKED BY THE OR MARKED BY THE STATE OF WYOMING STATE OF WYOMING 1913 1913 Usually these stones are placed on a cement foundation, the labor and the expense of the cement donated by the several counties. In September, 1913, the Commissioners of Converse County placed five of these stone posts on the Oregon Trail, as follows: At the junction of the Cheyenne-Fetterman and Fort Laramie and Fort Fetterman road. THE OREGON TRAIL On the trail just South of the Wagon Hound. At La Prele school house, which is just one-half mile from the trail and marks the site of the first school house erected in Converse County. A stone West of S. O. ranch at the junction of the trail and the wagon road. A marker near the grave of a child who was buried on the trail near the Big Muddy. "Near the center of the Big Muddy field, a few feet South of the Oregon Trail, is a lonely grave, covered with stones and marked by a rough head- stone on which is rudely chiseled the name, and date of death, July 3, 1 864, of a little girl, Ada Magill, a member of the party of Ezra Meeker, who passed this way en route to Oregon more than 56 years ago. The party camped for the night on the bank of the North Platte. The child was taken ill, died and was buried by the edge of the trail. Stones were heaped on the grave and a rude fence erected about it to keep off wolves and coyotes. The fence long ago disappeared, but the stones remain. Nearby is a red stone marker, an official Orgon Trail post. Hundreds of automobiles pass over this highway every day en route to Yellow- stone Park. For more than half a century canvas covered wagons, headed west- ward, crossed the rich oil sands of the Big Muddy, the owners little realizing that there were riches under their feet as well as at the far end of the trail. Over this lonely grave the noon day sun beats down, and not one in a thousand of those who pass by know of its existence. The snows cover it with a mantle of white in winter. In spring the winds whisper and the birds sing above it. And in the watches of the night the stars keep vigil over this tiny God's acre in a treeless land." On Saturday, September 20, 1913, the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion, the citizens of Douglas, and mem- bers of the State Federation of Women's Clubs, the Federation at that time hold- ing its annual meeting in Douglas, wit- nessed the ceremony of unveiling a monu- ment five miles west of the city, the monument being placed at the site where the old Oregon Trail crosses the road that went to Fort Fetterman, called the "Upper La Prele Road". The monu- ment, as well as five stone posts set in Converse County, had the site selected, the inscription made by the following committee of Converse County citizens: Messrs. Al Ayers, M. K. Wiker, George Powell, H. P. Allen, and Ed- ward T. David. The program for the unveiling of the Douglas-Fort Fetterman monument fol- lows : Unveiling of Monument, by Helen McWhinnie; "The Pioneer", Mayor C. H. McWhinnie; Mr. B. J. Irwin. "Why the Site"; Mrs. S. Downey Unveiling the Monument near Douglas, Mayor McWhinnie making the address, September 20, 1913. Dr. C, A. Duniway with folded arms. THE OREGON TRAIL (Eva Owen), who as an infant went over the Oregon Trail with her parents in 1852, "Trail Breaking"; Mr. Al Ayers, "Helping to Build Fort Fetterman in 1867 and Dismantling the Fort in 1867". Mr. Ayer having taken part in both events; President C. A. Duniway, of Wyoming State University, "Responsi- bilities to Pioneers", reading in part from his mother's diary, written in 1852, when she. as a young woman, went over the Oregon Trail with her parents on their way to the Oregon country. This monument of red sandstone from the quarry south of Glenrock, about 10 feet high, on a base three feet square, bears the following inscription: "THIS MONUMENT MARKS THE JUNCTION OF THE OREGON TRAIL AND A ROAD TO OLD FORT FETTERMAN. THE FORT WAS NINE MILES SOUTH OF THIS SPOT. ESTAB- LISHED JULY 19, 1867; ABANDONED MAY 25. 1882. ERECTED BY THE STATE OF WYOMING AND CITIZENS OF CONVERSE COUNTY TO COMMEMORATE THE EARLY HISTORY OF WYOMING." Fort Fetterman, named for Gen. William L. Fetterman, who was killed by the Sioux December 21,1 866, was situated on the south side of the North Platte, where La Prcle Creek empties into the river. When the three forts, Reno, Phil Kearney, and C. F. Smith, on the Bozeman Trail, were abandoned in August, 1 868, Fetterman became an important supply point for the army operat- ing against the Indians in the Northwest. For a period of years Gen. Henry B. Freeman, father of Mrs. Robert D. Carey, was stationed at this post, also at old Fort Caspar, Fort Reno, and Fort Phil Kearney. THE OREGON TRAIL IN PLATTE COUNTY In October, 1913, three Oregon Trail markers were sent to the Commis- sioners of Platte County, who placed them : One on the divide East of Badger Creek. On the divide between Little Cottonwood Creek and the Platte River. At the old telegraph and stage station grounds on Horse Creek, southwest of Glendo. THE OREGON TRAIL AND HISTORIC SITES MARKED BY CAPTAIN H. G. NICKERSON PRESIDENT OF THE OREGON TRAIL COMMISSION DURING THE SUMMER OF 1913 AND 1914 FORT AUGUR AND FORT BROWN A smooth-faced, oblong granite boulder, weighing about one-half of a ton, hauled from the mountains near Lander, and placed on the site of old Fort Brown, now the property of F. G. Burnett, of Fort Washakie. situated on the South side of Main street, in the city of Lander. Tp. 33, R. 99. marked "SITE 10 THE OREGON TRAIL The Stone Marking Forts Augur and Brown. Located in the City of Lander. Marked and placed by Capt. H. G. Nickerson. OF FORT AUGUR, 1869/70, FORT BROWN, 1870-78" (named in honor of Gen. C. C. Augur, at one time Commander of the Mountain Divi- sion. The name was changed to Fort Brown in 1 870, in honor of Capt. Fred- erick H. Brown, who lost his life in the Fetterman battle on December 21, 1866, near Fort Phil Kearney. Fort Brown was ultimately moved to the In- dian reservation in Fremont County and renamed "Fort Washakie" for "the great and good Indian". Chief Wa- shakie is buried on the site of the fort, his grave being marked by a large granite stone. This marker was the gift of the late Hon. Timothy Burke, in 1914. The site of Fort Washakie was marked by Captain Nickerson. FORT WASHAKIE A granite slab weighing about one-half of a ton, hauled twenty miles, placed on the site of old Fort Washakie, where the flag staff stood, on the Shoshone and Arapahoe Reservation, in Tp. 35, R. 100, marked, "SITE OF FORT WASHAKIE, 1878, 1909, CAPT. T. G. CARSON, LAST COM- MANDER, DIED MARCH 9, 1 9 1 3." FORT STAMBAUGH A quartzite slab placed on the site of Fort Stambaugh, on the old parade ground, in Tp. 29, R. 99, located a few miles East of South Pass City and three miles Southeast of Atlantic City, marked: "SITE OF FORT STAM- BAUGH, 1870-78." This fort was named in honor of Lieutenant Stambaugh, who was killed near the site by Indians on May 10, 1870 (Fremont County). BURNT RANCH STATION A slate slab, hauled ten miles to the site of Burnt Ranch Station on the Sweetwater River, on the Oregon and California Trail, Tp. 28, R. 1 00, about ten miles East of Pacific Springs, and marked, "BURNT RANCH, OREGON AND CAL. TRAIL, 1913." This station was used in the sixties as a stage and telegraph station (Fre- mont County). The "Lander Cut-Off Trail" a branch of the Oregon Trail, started to the Northwest from this station, leaving Wyoming a few miles South of the present town of Auburn (Fremont County). THE OREGON TRAIL II ST. MARY'S STATION A slate slab obtained twenty miles from the site, placed on the spot where St. Mary's Station was located on the Sweetwater River. Tp. 29, R. 97, twelve miles East of Miner's Delight, marked "OLD OREGON TRAIL. 1913. ST. MARY'S STATION." This station was also used for stage and telegraph purposes (Fremont County). INDEPENDENCE ROCK Independence Rock, on the North side of the Sweetwater, Tp. 29, R. 85, a solid, dome shaped granite rock about two hundred feet high at its North side, over a mile in circumference, situated on the old Oregon and California Trail, was marked on the West face of the stone, "OREGON AND CALIFORNIA TRAIL, 1843-9, 1914" (Natrona County). DEVIL'S GATE A solid granite boulder weighing many tons, was marked at Devil's Gate on the Sweetwater, at the Post Office of Sun, five miles West of Independence Rock, T P . 29, R. 87, "OREGON AND CAL. TRAIL. 1843-9, 1914" (Natrona County). SPLIT ROCK At Split Rock, on the Sweetwater River, on the Oregon Trail, in Tp. 29, R. 88, on the face of a granite bluff by the road side, was marked, "OREGON AND CAL. TRAIL, 1843-9. 1914" (Natrona County). THREE CROSSINGS At the Three Crossings, a stage and telegraph station in the Sixties, on the Sweetwater, about eight miles North of Rongis, on the old trail, Tp. 30, R. 92. on the face of a granite bluff by the road side was marked "OREGON AND CAL. TRAIL. 1843-9. 1914" (Fre- mont County). LANDER CUT-OFF On the Sweetwater River at the mouth of Gold Creek, on the Lander Cut-Off of the Oregon Trail. Tp. 29. R. 102. about twelve miles East of Elk Horn, on a granite boulder weighing many tons, there was marked. "ORE- GON TRAIL LANDER CUT-OFF. ft The President and the Secretary of the Wyoming Oregon Trait Commission on the "Old Trail to the West" near Split Rock. Natrona County. August. HIS. Although the old trail it seldom used for traffic, the road of the emigrant is today easily traced, in some places being fifty feet wide and ten feet deep. Sage brush, sand, wind and time cannot efface the well-beaten path made by the home- seekers on their journey to the lands of the Pacific. 1843-1914" (Fremont County). 12 THE OREGON TRAIL BIG SANDY At the bridge over the Big Sandy, where the Lander Cut-Off of the Oregon Trail passes through Tp. 30, R. 105, at Big Sandy Post Office, a granite slab was placed and marked, "OREGON TRAIL LANDER CUT OFF, 1843- 1914" (Fremont County). OREGON TRAIL Where the main Oregon Trail crosses the Little Sandy, in Eden Valley, three miles Northeast of Farson, Tp. 26, R. 1 05, a slate slab was placed, having been hauled fifty miles, marked, "OREGON TRAIL, 1843-1914" (Sweet- water County) . Where the Oregon Trail leaves the Big Sandy on its North side at the big bend, in the Southeastern part of Tp. 23, R. 109, a slate slab was set, hauled forty miles, marked, "SLATE CREEK ROUTE OREGON TRAIL, 1843- 1914" (Sweetwater County) . Where the Oregon Trail crosses Green River in Tp. 24, R. Ill, near the boundary line of Sweetwater and Lincoln Counties, there was set a slate slab, on which was marked, "OREGON TRAIL SLATE CREEK CROSSING, GREEN RIVER, 1843-1914. N." (Sweetwater County). Where the main Oregon Trail crosses Green River, just North of Ander- son's Island, at the home of Mr. Walters in Tp. 25, R. 112, about three miles Northeast of Fontenelle, there was placed a slate slab, marked, "OREGON TRAIL, 1843-1914" (Lincoln County). Near Fontenelle Creek, about five miles West of its junction with Green River, in Tp. 24, R. 113, was marked on the sandstone bluff, "OREGON TRAIL, 1843" (Lincoln County). To reach and mark these various points, as stated by Captain Nickerson, necessitated traveling with a team about eight hundred miles, consuming the warm months of the summer of 1913 and 1914, with much inconvenience and hardship, owing to the frequent rain storms, and often high winds, deep dust and the mosquitoes, the insects often driving "us from the streams out into the hills or plains to camp, making camping in the open country very disagreeable." "I aimed to mark permanent bluffs and boulders, when found at suitable points on the trail, often, however, I was compelled to haul rocks a long distance. The marking was done by cutting the letters deep into the hardest rock obtainable (generally granite) , then painting the sunken letters with the best black paint. I often found it difficult to follow the trail, as it was fenced in for hundreds of miles along the streams and was obliterated by hay meadows and cultivated ranches." Marker on Fontenelle Creek in Lincoln County. Inscription carved on the sandstone that makes part of the bluff. THE OREGON TRAIL 13 MARKERS MADE UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF CAPTAIN H. G. NICKERSON THROUGH THE WESTERN PART OF WYOMING DURING THE SUMMER OF 1915-1916 On Slate Creek, about twelve miles from its junction with the Green River in Tp. 23, R. 113, one and one-half miles from Graham's ranch, about twelve miles Southwest of Fontenelle and twelve miles North of Opal, was placed a slate slab marked. "OREGON TRAIL, 1843, 1915" (Lincoln County). OREGON TRAIL 191 Marker at the junction of Green River and Slate Creek in Lincoln County, showing the style of native stones that had to be used to mark the Oregon Trail, the distance being too great to carry granite or other more attractive shapes of stone. EMIGRANT SPRINGS OREGON 1 KAIL 18V \ At Emigrant Springs, about twenty miles from Green River, near Supply in Tp. 23, R. 1 I 5, a slate slab was placed, marked, "OREGON TRAIL. 1843- 1915". About twenty-five feet East of this marker are several graves of emi- grants with unmarked stone slabs above them, with sage brush five or six feet high on the graves. One hundred yards West of the graves is a fine spring. (L'ncoln County). Marker at "Emigrant Springs" In Lincoln County. This cut shows the long stretch of country, the sage brush, the sand, the mountains in the distance, a landscape very characteristic of the Oregon Trail West of Independence Rock. 14 THE OREGON TRAIL OR r CON ' V3 Marker in Sublette Basin, a native granite stone. The inscriptions on all of the stones placed by Captain Nickerson were made by him out in the open with his chisel and mallet, re- gardless of the burning sun and biting sand storms. Near the crossing of Rock Creek, where the trail enters a Mr. Reynold's field, about eight miles from Cokeville in the Sublette Basin, in Tp. 23, R. 118, was placed a solid granite stone on which was marked, "OREGON TRAIL, 1843, 1915" (Lincoln County). In Tp. 25, R. 112, on the face of a hard sandstone bluff, was marked "OREGON TRAIL, 1843, 1916". This bluff is called "Names Hill" be- cause of the great number of names carved on its face by Oregon emigrants who camped on the meadows between the bluff and the Green River (Lincoln County) . COKEVILLE The town of Cokeville (Lincoln County) has placed two stones on the Oregon Trail, one in the Eastern suburbs of the town, eight or nine feet high, and one six miles Northwest of the town, near Border, on the Wyoming-Idaho boundary line, South of Bear River. THE OREGON TRAIL, THE LANDER CUT-OFF AND THE SUBLETTE AND BRIDGER ROUTES Just West of where Willow Creek (Fremont County) empties into the Sweetwater, six miles south of South Pa.ss City, a branch road of the Oregon Trail, called the "Lander Cut-Off", goes Northwest to the Post Office of Big Sandy, Tp. 30, R. 105, from where the road is almost directly West to Big Piney, Tp. 30, R. Ill, and then Northwest to a point just South of Afton, Tp. 32, R. 119, and then out of the State of Wyoming. This trail was used quite extensively during the days of gold digging, in the Sixties, in Virginia City, Montana. From the Burnt Ranch Station, which is where Willow Creek empties into the Sweetwater, the regular Oregon Trail went to the Southwest, through South Pass and by the way of Pacific Springs, crossing the Little Sandy about three miles Northeast of Farson (Sweetwater County) and on to the West Side of the Little Sandy Creek to near where that creek and the Green River join. Near Eden was a cut-off from the main road which went directly to the West and was known as "Bridger's Route", which went North of Fontenelle and West to Cokeville, where one of Sublette's Cut-offs joined the Bridger's Route, the united trail going somewhat Northwest, leaving Wyoming South of Border. The Bndger and Sublette Routes ran almost parallel from Eden to Cokeville. The trail of Bridger THE OREGON TRAIL 15 left Eden to the Southwest, following the West bank of the Big Sandy to within six miles of its junction with the Green, which was crossed about a mile above its junction with Slate Creek. From this point, T. 24, R. Ill, the Bridger Route went to the Southwest to near Sublette, then across Ham's Fork about six miles North of Fossil and Northwest to Cokeville, joining Sublette's Route. The Bridger and Sublette Routes were used by those emigrants who dared to leave the beaten trail and water, thus shortening the journey by many miles. The main Oregon Trail, after crossing the Green River near its junction with the Big Sandy, went to the Southwest, crossing Ham's Fork of the Green and going up Black's Fork to old Fort Bridger, Tp. 16, R. 115, and then to the Northwest out of the State. SHERIDAN COUNTY The Sheridan County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion assisted in locating the four Bozeman Trail markers in that county. In addition to this, the Chapter, in 1914, placed a large gray granite monument and base on the site of the first house erected in the city of Sheridan, the house, or log cabin, being erected by Mr. Mandell in 1878. On the side of the marker appears these words: SITE OF FIRST CABIN BUILT IN SHERIDAN 1878-1914 ERECTED BY THE D. A. R. FORT SANDERS Old Fort Sanders, situated three miles south of the city of Laramie, was constructed in July, 1866, in order to have soldiers protect the tie choppers who were working in the hills east of the Fort from the depredations of the Indians, to guard the mail route on the Laramie plains, and protect the builders of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1 866-69. The place was selected because it was at the junction of the emigrant road which followed up Lodge Pole Creek from Camp Walbach and the road coming from the south by the way of Denver. At this point the two roads united, going West by the way of Fort Halleck and Bridger's Pass. The old fort of Halleck was evacuated July 4. 1866, the logs from the fort being hauled across the Laramie plains by oxen and used in the construction of Sanders, John Sublette, now ( 1 920) of Milo. Carbon County, assisting in driving the ox teams. This new post was first called Fort John Buford. but was subsequently changed to Sanders, named for Capt. William P. Sanders, 6th U. S. Cavalry, and Brigadier-General, U. S. Volunteers, who gave his life for his country in the battle at Knoxville, Tenn., in November, 1863. 16 THE OREGON TRAIL Monument placed at the site of Fort Sanders, near the city of Laramie, July 18, 1914. Reading from left to right: Miss Alice M. Hebard, Mrs. Joseph M. Carey, Hon. Joseph M. Carey, Mrs. F. ("Grandma") Blake, Mrs. Chase, Mrs. James Mathison and Mrs. R. E. Fitch. The Jacques Laramie Chapter of the D. A. R. of Laramie, on July 1 8, 1914, unveiled a monument on the site of Fort Sanders, the State and this Chap- ter purchasing the marker. Mrs. J. H. Abbot, Chapter Regent, unveiled the monument; Mrs. R. E. Fitch, ex-Regent, delivered an address on "Marking Historical Places"; Governor J. M. Carey, speaking on "The Early History of Wyoming and the Building of Fort Sanders", saying in part that "Fort Sanders became a most important station, and I am glad that its location is to be today well marked. I doubt if there had been any time in the history of this grand State that such an historic ceremony has taken place. Just before the time Laramie was founded, soon after the Civil War, there assembled in this .spot probably as many heroes as were ever together on any spot in the world. These were General Scott, General Sherman, Philip Sherman, General Grant, General G. M. Dodge, General Harney, General Rawlins, all young men except Harney, who was sixty-six." THE OREGON TRAIL 1 7 THIS MONUMENT MARKS THE SITE OF FORT SANDERS ESTABLISHED SEPTEMBER 5. 1866 ABANDONED MAY 18, 1882 NAMED IN HONOR OF BRIGADIER GENERAL WILLIAM P. SANDERS ERECTED BY THE STATE OF WYOMING AND JACQUES LARAMIE CHAPTER DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION JUNE, 1914 FROM JULY 10 TO SEPTEMBER 5, 1866 KNOWN AS FORT JOHN BUFORD FORT HALLECK Near the base of Elk Mountain (Carbon County) was established, in 1862, Fort Halleck, named for the one-time U. S. Secretary of War, Major General Halleck. This fort was also a stage and express station for the Over- land Route, which went directly West from this point to Salt Lake by the way of Bridger's Pass (near the Post Office of Sulphur, Carbon County). This route, which was established in the year of 1862, and used for a portion of its way in Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming, was blazed by Gen. John C. Fremont in 1843. This Overland Route was South of the old Oregon Trail, coming into Wyoming by the way of Latham, Denver and La Porte. Colorado. The site of Halleck was a great .strategic point. The Indians from all points of the compass centered around and along the trails which were used in that locality. It was a strong point of offense for the redman and also for defense by the whites. The fort was not a stockade, but consisted of several substantially constructed buildings. No ceremonies have been held for the unveiling of the monument on the site of this fort. The monument is of granite, polished on one side, bearing the inscription as below. The stone was placed by the State, Mrs. Inez Kortes of Elk Mountain and the Jacques Laramie Chapter. D. A. R. The marker is placed on the old parade ground of the fort, just in front of the Quealey home, known as "The Quealey Home Ranch*', about six miles West of the town of Elk Mountain. Tp. 20. R. 81. Sec. 21. 18 THE OREGON TRAIL Monument marking the site of the important fort of Halleck, situated on the old Overland Trail in Carbon County. The two markers donated by Mrs. Kortes and Mrs. Meyer and the one at Fort Fred Steele are of the same kind of stone and style of inscription. CARBON COUNTY In 1914 Mrs. Inez L. Kortes and Mrs. R. D. Meyer, of Carbon County, each donated the sum of $50.00 for the erection of a monument, the style of the stone being identical with that which marks the site of old Fort Halleck, granite highly polished on the side on which the inscription is carved. THE OREGON TRAIL 19 THE SITE OF OLD ROCK CREEK THE SITE OF STAGE CROSSING OLD CHEROKEE TRAIL OVERLAND TRAIL 1862-1868 THIS MONUMENT IS FREMONT'S SURVEY 1843 ERECTED BY ERECTED BY MRS. R. D. MEYER INEZ KORTES HANNA, WYOMING ELK MOUNTAIN, WYOMING JUNE 1914 JUNE 1914 The Kortes marker is located in front of the old Arlington summer resort, now called "Wildwood Resort", about three and a half miles from the new oil fields. This site is where the General Fremont Survey (1843), the Overland Trail and the Cherokee Trail cross Rock Creek, located in T. 20, R. 80, Sec. 20. The Meyer marker is on the exact spot where the Old Cherokee Trail crosses the Overland Trail. In the first surveys of the Lincoln Highway, the road ran by this marker, but more recent surveys do not pass the monument, which is now 30 feet off of the main road. Situated in T. 1 9, R. 70, Sec. 8. The Oregon Trail Commission placed an Overland Trail marker on the hill above the town of Elk Mountain, inside of the town limits, on the main traveled road from Elk Mountain to Laramie City. CHEROKEE TRAIL (Sweetwater County) About forty-five miles South of Rock Springs on the "Old Cherokee Trail" there is a grave of a young woman who went over the road in the early days, a member of one of the cross-country caravans. The emigrants placed a rough piece of sandstone with an inscription over the grave. Time and weather almost obliterated the markings, but Mr. Robert Ramsey, Jr., secured a new stone and re-inscribed the data from the old stone, and placed the marker on the forgotten grave. For over twenty-five years this family has taken flowers to this lonely grave on each Decoration Day. The original stone and the replacement read: 1834 1852 IN MEMORY OF MALINDA J. ARMSTRONG DIED AUGUST 18, 1852 FORT LARAMIE Fort Laramie was the most significant and substantial of the posts on the Oregon Trail, situated on the South side of the North Platte near its junction with the Laramie River. No fort on this long trail of over two thousand miles has had as many visitors of distinction in literature, from the U. S. Army, from the 20 THE OREGON TRAIL Fort Laramie Monument. camps of the Sioux, Arapahoes and Cheyennes and other warring Indians, or was as familiarly known, or became the common campfire talk as the fortification named for Jacques Laramie. Laramie was a French Canadain trapper who lost his life in 1 820 while setting his beaver traps on the river that bears his name. At different times the spelling of this fur trader's name has been de la Ramee, La Ramee, La Ramie, and Laramie. This fort has also been called Fort William and Fort John. In 1834 the old post was first constructed by Wil- liam Sublette and Robert Campbell not as a fortification, but as a building in which was to be carried on traffic in furs, a fur trading center for the Indians located in that vicinity. The fort soon changed hands, becoming the property of Fitzpatrick, Milton Sublette and Jim Bridger (1835). During this same year the post was transferred to Lucien Fontenelle, who, in turn, soon sold the buildings to the American Fur Company, the name of the fort being at this time changed to Fort John, previously having been called William for Sublette. The original site of the old fort was about a mile down the Laramie from, its present location. Gradually the name of Fort John became changed to "Fort Laramie", or "Laramie on the Platte". The post remained in the possession of fur traders until 1 849, when it was sold to the government and garrisoned as a military fort. The fort remained a military post until 1 890, when it was sold in a large part to Hon. John Hunton, who has lived at, or near, the fort since 1 866, to the present day, December, 1 920. At this post many treaties with the Indians were signed. Gen. John Charles Fremont visited the place in 1 842 and it was largely upon his recommendation that Forts Kearney, Nebraska, Laramie and Bridger, Wyoming, and Hall, Idaho, were purchased for military purposes in order to protect from the deprada- tions of the redman the emigrants and traffic on the way to the West. At Laramie the emigrant trains repaired their creaking, sun-warped wagon wheels, replenished their stock of provisions, put new shoes on their oxen and horses, rested and slept without an anxious care of Indian raids. Fort Laramie played an important part in the operation of the fateful Boze- man Trail, which went from this fort to the Northwest into the choice hunting grounds of the Sioux on the Powder, Tongue and Big Horn Rivers. Some of the old fort's buildings are today in a state of splendid preservation, notably the historic batchelors' headquarters called "Bedlam", about which Capt. Charles King, who was at one period stationed at the fort, constructed a romance bearing the name of this old building. The lumber for the construction for this and other buildings was freighted by ox teams from Fort Leavenworth. THE OREGON TRAIL 21 Isolated indeed were the men at this post in its early days, when they saw and experienced active service in a field so far removed from civilization that in April of one year they heard of the presidential election which had taken place early in November of the preceding year. A monument 1 4 feet high, built of concrete, has been erected at Fort La ramie exactly where the Oregon Trail entered the old fort, about fifty feet East of the ancient adobe sutler's store, built in 1 852. At this store Mr. Hunton and Judge Gibson Clark in the sixties served for many years as clerks to Sutler Seth E. Ward. Mr. Hunton and Mr. Joseph Wilde donated the monument, the State furnishing a tablet of Fort Collins stone two feet square, which has been embedded in the monument, bearing the following inscription: FORT LARAMIE A MILITARY POST ON THE OREGON TRAIL JUNE 16, 1849-MARCH 2, 1890 THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED BY THE STATE OF WYOMING AND A FEW INTERESTED CITIZENS 1913 In the morning of June 17, 1915, ceremonies were held at the monument, when Mrs. John Hunton, a member of the D. A. R., unveiled the marker. Hon. Joseph M. Carey, who had as Governor of Wyoming and a pioneer citizen assisted in the organization of an Oregon Trail Commission, spoke on "The Life of the Pioneer"; Miss Grace Raymond Hebard, State Regent of the D. A. R., told of "The Significance of Fort Laramie on the Oregon Trail". LINGLE AND TORRINGTON Unveiling the Oregon Trait marker near Lingle. Hon. Joseph M. Carey (peaking. June 17. 1915 22 THE OREGON TRAIL In the afternoon of this day two Ore- gon Trail markers were unveiled East of the fort. The one at Lingle on the South side of the North Platte, one and a half miles from the town, was unveiled by Miss AJice M. Hebard of the Cheyenne Chapter of the D. A. R. After this ceremony, Governor Carey and the State Regent both addressed the assembly on the subject of frontier life. The Oregon Trail marker at Torrington, as at Lingle, was purchased by the State, the citizens of Goshen County placing and setting tHe stones in cement foundations about four feet above the ground. The granite marker is on the South side of the Platte and one mile West of Torrington. After the unveiling of the Torrington monu- ment by Mrs. Frank Close, of Torring- ton, Mr. Edward Patrick, a frontiers- man of the Goshen Hole district, spoke on ''Privations Necessary to a Civiliza- tion" ; Mr. I. S. Bartlett, of Cheyenne, told of "The Immigration on the Oregon Trail"; Governor Carey of "Agricul- tural Possibilities in Goshen County", and Miss Hebard on "The Gold Fields that the 49ers on the Oregon Trail Overlooked", referring to the fields of golden grain in the midst of which the trail stone had been placed. In the evening the citizens of Torrington had a campfire "mess wagon" supper, around which fire the pioneers told of the early days of frontier Wyoming. The Oregon Trail Marker near Torrington FORT BONNEVILLE Capt. Benjamin L. E. Bonneville, in the summer of 1832, came from St. Louis over the Oregon Trail into the present State of Wyoming, bringing with him 1 10 men, 28 wagons drawn by mules, horses and oxen, provisions, merchandise and ammunition. Bonneville was the first to take four-wheeled vehicles through South Pass and beyond, though William Ashley, in the early twenties took a two-wheeled cannon through and beyond the Pass. The redmen, seeing Bonne- ville's wonderful cavalcade, were filled with awe and admiration at the gorgeous trappings and clanking chains on the horses. They also looked with intense curiosity and interest on the family cow and her calf following peacefully in the rear of the procession, this being the Indians' first knowledge of a completely domesticated milch cow. Bcnneville journeyed across the Green River to Horse Creek, where he built, in the heart of the Indian country, a fur post. This fortification was about 300 yards from the West bank of the Green, Horse Creek emptying into the river about five miles below the fort. The site is six miles West of the town of Daniel, Lincoln County (T. 34, R. 112). Although much time and labor were THE OREGON TRAIL 23 expended on the construction of the post, an early snow made Bonneville move to the West out of the present boundaries of Wyoming, establishing a new fort on the Snake (Idaho). The building of Fort Bonneville, called "Fort Nonsense" and "Bonneville's Folly", in 1832, gives Bonneville the distinction of erecting the first fur fort within the boundaries of Wyoming. On August 9, 1915, eighty-three years to a day after the fort was built, President H. G. Nickerson and Secre- tary Grace R. Hebard of the Oregon Captain Nickerson and Miss Hebard chiselino the T ! /" L. J .L 1J inscription on the Bonneville Monument at 1 rail Commission Visited the old Site the site of the old fort. June 9. 1915. of Bonneville's folly, where, with pick, irrigating shovel and crowbar the old rotten stumps of the stockade were found buried three or four feet in the ground. During the winter of 1914-15 Dr. J. W. Montrose, of Daniel, snaked on the snow and up the frozen river a native boulder v which he hauled near the supposed site of the old fort. On hands and knees in the sun, dust and gravel, with mallets and chisels, the members of the commission carved the letters on the stone, which was finally rolled into place with the aid of an automobile, log chains and crowbars. Although the site of the fort is in an isolated district, a large audience, mostly in automobiles, arrived in the afternoon of this day for the exercises. A neighbor- hood basket lunch had been arranged by Dr. and Mrs. Montrose and Mr. and Mrs. David Scott, which was served before the giving of the program. Cap- tain Nickerson explained the purpose of the Oregon Trail Commission, telling of the work he had done and what was to be done to fully mark the Oregon Trail across the State of Wyoming. The Sec- retary of the Commission gave a history of the life and journey of Captain Bonne- ville, explaining why he came to that part of "The Great American Desert". As the audience sang "America" it seemed strange to hear the words that stir to national patriotism, out in a locality where before had only been heard the nightly songs of the coyote, the war-cry of the Indians and the occasional "whoop" of the cowboy since the day when the trader and trapper trailed over that part of the country. Fort Bonneville Marker. 24 THE OREGON TRAIL The citizens of the neighborhood have constructed a two step, concrete base for the boulder, thus making it more easily to be seen and to be protected from cattle and vehicles. FORT BRIDGER Next in importance to Fort Laramie on the Oregon Trail, which was 667 miles from the east end of the trail, was Fort Bridger, 403 miles from Fort Lara- mie, situated on Black Fork of the Green (Sec. 34, T. 16, R. 115). As early as 1 834 the direct vicinity of this post was used as a rendezvous for fur traders and trappers, for all of the branches of the Green abounded in beaver. Here were Sublette, Fitzpatrick, Fontenelle, Bridger and others, all of whom have written their names in the history of AVyoming, the streams, mountain peaks, passes, plains, rivers and towns bear silent witness to these indomitable fur men. In 1843 Jim Bridger made the old fur trading post into a small fort, adding a blacksmith shop and repair station. At this place wagons were repaired, sup- plies replenished, tired men and animals rested, and hope renewed for a successful journey over the remaining portion of the trail. The need for military protection to the emigrant and his wagon train Fort Bridger Monument (Uinta County). ^^ ^ government to purc h a se Bridge's fort, rebuild and enlarge it and keep possession of it from 1 859 to 1 890. Judge W. A. Carter, father of Mrs. Maurice Groshon, for a number of years made this fort his headquarters, being sutler of the post. Mr. Groshon's ranch joins on the site on which a monument has been placed to mark where the old fort had served the emigrants in their need for protection, food and shelter. In the fall of 1915 the citizens in the neighborhood of Fort Bridger turned out en masse to aid in the building of the marker for this old fortification, Mr. Groshon being the promoter of the erection of the monument. The marker is made of cobblestones set in cement with a concrete foundation, built in a pyramid form seven and a half feet at the base and ten feet high. The bronze tablet set in cement on the side of the marker, donated by the State, reads as follows : FORT BRIDGER, ESTABLISHED AS A TRADING POST 1834. U. S. MILITARY POST ON THE OREGON TRAIL, JUNE 1 0, 1 858, TO OCTOBER, 6, 1 890. THIS MONUMENT IS ERECTED BY THE STATE OF WYOMING AND A FEW INTERESTED RESIDENTS. 1914. THE OREGON TRAIL 25 WHITMAN AND SPALDING (South Pass) In 1835 Dr. Marcus Whitman and Rev. Samuel Parker were sent from the Atlantic coast as missionaries to the Ore- gon country, with a view to establishing missions among the Indians of that part of the great Northwest. When these men, with their guides, had reached the country, via the Oregon Trail, West of South Pass they found so many redmen assembled and eager to hear of the "Whiteman's Book of Heaven", as they called the Bible, that it was decided to have one of the missionaries return to civilization for additional workers. Par- ker, the elder man, with Jim Bridger as a guide, was sent forward into the wil- derness, while Whitman retraced his steps to New York to obtain recruits for the religious work to be carried on near the mouth of the Columbia River. In the spring of 1 836 we again find Dr. Whitman on the Oregon Trail, this time with his bride and Rev. H. H. Spalding and his bride, a strange bridal tour it must have been for the two white women, quite the most remarkable on record. On July 4, 1836, the small caravan reached South Pass, where, with the Bible in one hand and an American Pioneers of the Oregon Trail. Left to rioht, Ezra Meeker and Capt. H. G. Nickerson. Pathbreakers and Trailmarkers. i South Past Marker near Pacific Spring*, by Ezra Meeker, 1M3. PI. HI (I flag in the other. Dr. Whitman, with the rest of the party, fell on his knees and took possession of the land to the West as a home of American mothers and the Church of Christ. The special significance of this group of people on the way to the West was that now for the first time white women were on the trail that ended at the Pacific Ocean; and the fact that these women represented a factor in home making that the Hudson Bay Company, which had dominated the Oregon country, had to recognize and to which the company ulti- mately had to bow in submission. 26 THE OREGON TRAIL In the summer of 1 903 Ezra Meeker placed a marker at Pacific Springs, one of the most noted points on the Oregon Trail, the continental divide, a place passed by all the California and Oregon emigrants crossing the plains. Captain Nickerson, in June, 1916, hauled a stone slab to the Oregon Trail at South Pass, two miles east of Pacific Springs, Sweetwater County. This stone is in Tp. 27, R. 101, 20 feet from Ezra Meeker's Oregon Trail marker. The marker is in a cement foundation and carved on the stone is the follow- ing inscription: NARCISSA PRENTISS WHITMAN ELIZA HART SPALDING FIRST WHITE WOMEN TO CROSS THIS PASS JULY 4, 1836 Some estimate may be made of the strenuous labor performed by Captain Nickerson in marking the Oregon Trail from the following extract from his letter addressed the Secretary of the Commission on June 24, 1916: "I have just returned from the South Pass Continental Divide, taking ten days for the trip. Am badly used up, for I had a hard trip, had cold, stormy weather, hard frosts every night, snow banks everywhere, but I am thankful that we have finished the work desired. We hauled 200 pounds of cement from Lander, and a slate slab from Rock Creek 25 miles. It took me two days to cut 80 letters in the Whit- man-Spalding stone. I set both monuments in concrete." (Reference here is made also to Ezra Meeker's marker, which he placed in 1903 near Pacific Springs.) Mr. Meeker was at that time placing a marker here and there along the Oregon Trail, over which he had gone with an ox team in 1 852. He was marking the trail "to preserve the identity of the track and to honor the pioneers who wore it so wide and deep by their feet, by the hoofs of their oxen and the grind of their wagon tires" ! PROPOSED MILITARY AND POST HIGHWAY It is interesting to note that in 1916 during the last war, Captain of the Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., John W. N. Schultz, located at that time at Yellowstone National Park, wrote to the Oregon Trail Commission in regard to the possibility of using the old highway for military purposes. The letter, in part, reads as follows: THE OREGON TRAIL 27 "This office has been called upon by the Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army, for a report concerning a tentatively proposed military and post highway between St. Louis. Mo., and Olympia, Wash., to follow generally the Old Oregon Trail. I have, therefore, the honor to request to be furnished by the Commission of which you are a member with any information possible relative to this subject, including .such maps as are available, preferably in duplicate. "What is desired in detail, so far as possible, is information and maps showing the route of the Old Oregon Trail through Wyoming; the practicability of the route for an important highway such as suggested above; and the location, width, surfacing, and grades of an important present road which could form a link in such a National highway." LEST WE FORGET Seven miles Southeast of Lander, on the road to South Pass City, in 1870 three pioneers were killed by Indians. Captain Nickerson fashioned a memorial in remembrance of the event. FORT McGRAW On July 17, 1916, Captain Nickerson marked and placed a stone on the site of old Fort McGraw, near Lander, where troops of the U. S. Army were fortified and wintered in 1856, the fort being built as a stockade. William McGraw, a contractor and road builder, wintered at this fort, which was guarded by United States troops. The location is two miles east of Lander, in Tp. 33, R. 99. FORT FRED STEELE At the site of old Fort Fred Steele, Carbon County, between Hanna and Rawlins, on July 30, 1916, the Cosgriff brothers had the State's monument placed in a lasting foundation, the wording on the side of the stone, which is of the same material and size of the marker at Halleck, reads: 28 THE OREGON TRAIL FORT FRED STEELE U. S. MILITARY POST JUNE 30, 1868 TO AUGUST 7, 1886 MARKED BY THE STATE OF WYOMING 1914 CAMP WALBACH Situated in the N'/ 2 of NWJ4 of Sec. 1. T. 15, R. 70, at the head of Pole Lodge Creek in Laramie County, twenty miles West of Cheyenne, is a State monument to mark the site of Camp, or Fort, Walbach, placed on land owned by Mr. Lannen. The camp was named for Gen. J. B. Walbach, the site dedicated and unveiled on September 4, 1916. The placing of a marker on this rite was largely due to the suggestion of Hon. Joseph M. Carey and the work of Mrs. J. T. Graham, Mrs. H. B. Patten, Mrs. John F. Carey for the Daughters of the American Revolution and Hon. Maurice Groshon for the Sons of the American Revolution, and a few inter- ested pioneers. The funds for the erec- tion of the stone were from the State, the Cheyenne Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the State organization of the Sons of the American Revolution, the County Commissioners of Laramie County. The purpose for the construction of the camp was to place a guard at Cheyenne Pass to protect from Indian depredations the many emigrants who were then going over this road toward the West in search of homes. The road was never a mail route, but used exclusively by emigrants. A branch road from this camp went to the Northeast to Fort Laramie and one went to the South to Denver, the combination of two roads being called the "Fort Laramie and New Mexico Road". The camp was below the hill on which the monument now stands, the hill being used as a signal point for danger to be encountered from the Indians. On this hill may be seen today the neglected graves of several emigrants, one long, by the side of which is a small one. Were these mother and child? No one knows. All that is known is that the occupants of the ground were killed by Indians. On this elevation were also buried a number of soldiers, whose remains have been removed to one of the large military cornet Camp Welbach Monument. The flowers at the base are at the head of a grave of one of the emigrants killed by Indians. The bouquet was placed by Mrs. Richardson, of Cheyenne, a pioneer of pioneers, September 4, 1916. THE OREGON TRAIL 29 'veiling ceremonies cf ' - September day were conducted by Mrs. ~,^hon, Regent of the Chey^.mc Chapter of the D. A. R., and Mrs. John F. Carey, Chairman of the occasion. Mrs. Groshon gave a history of the camp; Hon. Joseph M. Carey spoke of the "Pioneer"; Hon. N. K. Boswell told of the "Early Days in Wyoming", and Miss Hebard, State Regent of the D. A. R., spoke on "Trails to the West." Marker on the Old Overland Route where it crosses the Colorado-Wyoming boundary line, not far from Virginia Dale, Colorado. Monument unveiled July 4, 1917. Reading from left to right: Seated. Mrs. Carrie McCormick, Miss Beatrice St. Clair, Mrs. P. J. McHugh (Regent of the Cache La Poudre Chapter, Fort Collins, Colo.), Mrs. James Mathison (Regent of the Jacques Laramie Chapter, Wyoming), Grace Raymond Hebard (State Regent of Wyoming). Mrs. Wilkie Collins. Mrs. George W. Storey, Miss Amy G. Abbot; standing to extreme left, unknown, Mrs. S. Arthur Johnson, Mrs. M. M. St Clair, Mrs. Gerald L. Schuyler (State Regent of the Colorado Daughters of the American Revolution), Mr. F. B. Bishop, Hon. W. H. Holliday. Mrs. J. H. Abbot. Mrs. R. E. Fitch. All are members of the D. A. R. except the two honored pioneers. COLORADO-WYOMING BOUNDARY. THE OVERLAND TRAIL The Overland Stage Route crossed the Colorado- Wyoming boundary line not far from Virginia Dale Station, Southeast of the present day city of Laramie. In the early sixties the Indian depredations on the Oregon Trail were so savage and numerous that a more southern road was put into use, which was called the Overland Route. This road, in place of going along the North Platte by way of Fort Laramie, went up the South Platte via Julesburg, Latham, Denver, Fort Collins, Virginia Dale (Colorado) and Rock Creek, Bridger Pass, Bitter Creek Valley, Green River to Fort Bridger (Wyoming), Salt Lake (Utah), and Fort Hall (Idaho). From Hall the road went to the Southwest to California, to the Northwest to Oregon and to the North to Virginia City (Montana). This route was intensively used from 1862 to the event of the Union Pacific railroad into Wyoming in 1 868. On the boundary line where the old road entered Wyoming from Colorado, a monument of Colorado granite 6'/2 feet by 4'/2, has been placed, bearing the following inscription : 30 THE OREGON TRAIL THIS STONE MARKS THE PLACE WHERE THE OVERLAND STAGE LINE ON ITS WAY TO THE WEST JUNE 1862-1868 CROSSED THE COLORADO- WYOMING BOUNDARY LINE. ERECTED BY THE STATE OF WYOMING AND CHAPTERS OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION CACH LA POUDRE, FORT COLLINS, COLORADO CENTENNIAL, GREELEY, COLORADO JACQUES LARAMIE, LARAMIE, WYOMING 1917 The unveiling of this attractive monument took place on the fourth of July, 1917, the audience being composed of citizens from Fort Collins, from the neighborhood of the stone, and from Laramie. Not far distant from this spot, to the South, is the old Virginia Dale Station, still in a good state of preservation, known nation-wide for the scene of nu- merous "hold-ups" by the desperadoes, for depredations by the redmen and as the headquarters of Jack Slade (Joseph A.), efficient division station agent, as well as a desperate outlaw. The boundary stone was unveiled by Mrs. James Mathison, Regent of the Jacques Laramie Chapter, followed by the program: 'The Overland Trail Through Lari- mer County" (Colorado), Mrs. P. J. McHugh, Regent of the Cache-la- Poudre Chapter, Fort Collins; "The Stage Station of Virginia Dale", Hon. William H. Holliday, Laramie; * First 1 hings in Colorado", Professor S. Ar- thur Johnson. Colorado Agricultural College; "Wyoming Fifty Years Ago", Mrs. R. E. Fitch, ex-Regent of the Jacques Laramie Chapter; "Today and Yesterday", Miss Grace Raymond He- bard, State Regent of the D. A. R. After the exercises a basket picnic was had near the trail and the monu- ment. Unveiling the Colorado-Wyoming Monument. Mrs. James Mathison, Regent of the Jacques- Laramie Chapter of the Doughters of the American Revolution. THE OREGON TRAIL 31 The D. A. R. of Wyoming were largely instrumental in having the state flag and state flower adopted by the Legislature in 1 9 1 7. At this boundary celebration the new state flag was for the first time used at a public function. Blended with it were the Colorado state flag, and the flags of the United States, of France and Great Britain. The state flower of Colorado, the blue and white columbine, and that of Wyoming, the brilliant red Indian paintbrush, were com- bined in bouquets, reminding one not only of our national colors, but those of France, under which our soldiers were on that day marching through the streets of Paris, the first time in history that the stars and stripes and the tri-colors of France were used in war in France. WOMAN SUFFRAGE TABLET I-/.KKS VHP si vi : Y.T.PKI n; Vilnius'! vn;uni!:i iiii- MKSV Y;U:,. I AVTASSIIMK Ilir UKmn M AITIU'YPP JOHN A) ) I-K rillS'l t''i)\TKK(JK i.i'.ri; \,VO: At the first Territorial Legislature of Wyoming the women of the newly organized commonwealth obtained the right to vote. On December 1 0, 1 869, Governor John A. Campbell signed a bill making a law that granted to women equal rights of franchise, regardless of sex. This was the first law of its kind enacted in the world, the embryo of national suffrage granted to the women of the U. S. in August, 1920. To commemorate this pioneer act, the Cheyenne Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Sons of the American Revolution of the State and a few interested citizens of Cheyenne donated a noble bronze tablet which, on July 21, 1917, was placed on the North wall of the building on the Southeast corner of Carey Avenue and Eighteenth Street. The site of the present building is that of the old build- ing in which the first Legislature in Wyoming was held. Those who were most responsible for the suffrage enact- ment were the Hon. William H. Bright, who was a member of the Legislature, being the President of the "Council", Mr. Bright introducing the bill for woman's suffrage in the Council, as the Senate is now called. Reinforced by Mrs. Bright, who was in Cheyenne at the time of the legislation, and Mrs. Esther Morris, who lived at South Pass City. Mr. Bright had the courage of his convictions, being able to successfully champion his bill. Mr. and Mrs. Bright also lived in this mining camp from which Mr. Bright had been elected to the Legislature. It was in this remote gold camp, hundreds of miles removed from civilization, surrounded by hostile redmen, that William H. Bright, through the direct influence of Mrs. Morris and a definite promise to her by him. that a bill was introduced in Wyo- ming's first territorial Legislature granting to woman the right of franchise. Bronze tablet at Cheyenne, placed on the wall of the building on the site of the old building in which was enacted the first woman suffrage law December It. 1M9. 32 THE OREGON TRAIL The unveiling ceremonies for this suffrage tablet were conducted by Mrs. Maurice Groshon, Regent of the Cheyenne Chapter of the D. A. R.. Hon. Joseph M. Carey, for forty-eight years a resident of Cheyenne, having come to Wyoming as U. S. District Attorney in 1 869, a witness to the several steps taken to make women's suffrage a law, spoke on "The History of the Enactment of Wyoming's Equal Suffrage Law". This address was followed by one from Miss Grace Raymond Hebard, State Regent of the D. A. R., on "True Democracy", supplemented by a tribute to Governor John A. Campbell, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Bright and Mrs. Esther Morris. Mrs. Isabella W. Campbell (Mrs. John A.), living at Washington, D. C., wrote on September 2, 1917, words of appreciation for the recognition of Gover- nor Campbell as follows: "It was a gracious thing in the Daughters to erect the tablet commemorating the suffrage act, for it was really a very courageous thing which my husband did and he was influenced entirely by his conscientious con- victions after studying the matter and recognizing its merits." INDEPENDENCE ROCK, ON THE OREGON TRAIL Independence Rock is forty-nine miles Southwest of the city of Casper, the Sweetwater lashing its Southwest side. It is an immense isolated stone of black granite over a mile in length from the North to the South and about one-half a mile in width, 193 feet high at its North end and 1 67 feet at the South. On the sides of this old rock and on its concave top are hundreds of names carved deep into the stone, some of them bearing a date as early as that of 1 843, most all of the names easily traced. So numerous were the names on the sides of this gigantic monument, this great interior landmark, that the good Father De Smet, when he journeyed over the Oregon Trail in 1 840, called the stone the "Register of the Desert". The old Oregon Trail, in reaching Independence Rock, left the North Platte at its great bend, near Casper, and went its way considerably West of the river, and West of the present site of the Pathfinder Reservoir. This rock was famous long before the coming of the white men, for the Indians journeyed to the stone in order to paint on its .sides the history of some of their famous battles. When the tide of emigration set in, the rock, situated almost midway on the road to the West, became an important point on the Oregon trail, like a beacon eagerly looked for by the mariner at sea, the landmark was hailed by the emigrant as it loomed beyond the billowing plains. In those days Independence Rock filled a large place in the minds of thousands of men and women ; today, by most of us, it is unknown. For a number of years there used to be at Independence Rock a town of considerable size. Not a timber remains today to mark its site. On the 6th of August, 1915, Capt. H. G. Nickerson, President of the Oregon Trail Commission, and the Secretary of the Commission visited this old stone, marking it with carved letters in several places. The rock at that time belonged to Mr. Henry D. Schoonmaker, on whose ranch the stone was situated. Since that date the ranch has been sold and the old landmark has come into the possession of a new owner. The members of the Oregon Trail Commission are strong in their opinion that this historical "register" should in the immediate future become the property of the State of Wyoming, and thus be protected from vandalism as is other State property. THE OREGON TRAIL 33 Mr. Schoonmaker, in 1 920, donated a handsome bronze tablet to Wyoming to be placed on the side of this old "register of the desert". The reading on the marker reads as follows: INDEPENDENCE ROCK PROBABLY DISCOVERED BY RETURNING ASTORIANS, 1812 GIVEN ITS NAME BY EMIGRANTS WHO CELEBRATED INDEPENDENCE DAY HERE JULY 4, 1825 CAPT. BONNEVILLE PASSED HERE WITH FIRST WAGONS 1832 WHITMAN AND SPALDING, MISSIONARIES, WITH THEIR WIVES, STOPPED HERE 1836 FATHER DE SMET SAW IT AND, OWING TO MANY NAMES UPON IT, CALLED IT "THE REGISTER OF THE DESERT", 1840 GEN. JOHN C. FREMONT CAMPED HERE WITH U. S. ARMY AUG. 2, 1842 50,000 EMIGRANTS PASSED HERE IN 1853 IT IS THE MOST FAMOUS LANDMARK ON THE OLD OREGON TRAIL On the Fourth of July in the year 1 862 nearly a thousand men, women and children chanced to be at Independence Rock, on their way to the Oregon country. It was found that there were many Masons in the congregation of homeseeking people, enough to conduct a Masonic Lodge on the crest of the stone. To commemorate this event, on the Fourth cf July in the year 1920, under the supervision of Past Grand Master A. J. Mokler, Casper, a memorial service for this event was arranged, which aLo wa: held on the top of the rock. tliL: i||;EK<'!'M- Hi- iltBMB IK MiLV L GLL /- JihUV