Laramie Plains
The Laramie Plains is an arid highland at an elevation of approx. 8,000 feet (2,400 m) in south central
Geography
In 1842 and 1843
History
The Laramie Plains in the 19th century were not occupied by any one tribe but instead utilized by the Northern
The plains also furnished a convenient transportation route through the region for trails that ascended through the mountains along the Cache la Poudre River, such as the Cherokee Trail, by which Cherokee from Indian Territory (Oklahoma) traveled to California.
Captain Howard Stansbury, U.S. Army Topographical Engineer, was exploring a route back from the Great Salt Lake over Laramie Plains in the summer of 1849 when his party encountered stampeding buffalo near the present city of Laramie, which was taken to be a sign of Indian hunters. His guide, the celebrated mountain man Jim Bridger, walked out to meet with them and negotiate in sign language, learning they were Sioux and feared Stansbury’s party might be a Crow warriors.[3] The Sioux invited Bridger and Stansbury to their village camped nearby for a feast. At the end of his exploration, Stansbury recommended the route from Fort Bridger in western Wyoming through Laramie Plains to the forks of the Platte (just west of modern North Platte, Nebraska), which later became part of the Overland Trail and Overland Stage Line.
East-West communications – the
In 1868 the plains were traversed by the route of the Union Pacific Railroad as part of the First transcontinental railroad. The building of the railroad caused a boom in the valley population, with the establishment of "Laramie City", which later became the site of the University of Wyoming. U.S. Highway 30, an all-weather route from coast-to-coast, was built along the railroad and was known as the Lincoln Highway. Today, Interstate 80 also follows the Overland Trail, coming very close to the site of Fort Halleck (Wyoming) near Fremont’s 1843 campsite at the base of Elk Mountain.
See also
References
- ^ The Medicine Bows: Wyoming's Mountain Country, by Scott Thybony, Robert G. Rosenberg, and Elizabeth Mullett Rosenberg, Caxton Press, Caldwell, Idaho, 2001, Pages 17-38
- ^ The Oregon Trail, by Francis Parkman, ed. E.N. Feltskog, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 1969/1994, Chapter XIX, Page 289
- ^ An Expedition to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake or Utah:...also, a Reconnoissance of a New Route through the Rocky Mountains, by Howard Stansbury, Philadelphia, Lippincott, Grambo & Co. 1855, Page 253. Found on website of University of Michigan's Making of America Books,MOA AJA 3655.0001.001
- ^ Fort Laramie and the Pageant of the West, 1834-1890, by LeRoy R. Hafen and Francis Marion Young, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London, 1938, Page 308