Fort Laramie and Cheyenne, Wyoming

We spent two days in Cheyenne so that we could sample the western culture of the area. I find it interesting that we are in "Cowboy Country", but we have yet to see any cowboys on horses out in the country. For that matter, we haven't seen that many cattle - they must be grazing somewhere other than the side of I-80. I think it could be good publicity for a city like Cheyenne to hire some cowboys and have them move cattle along the side of the interstate.  But no one asked me.

One of the days, we drove north for about 90 miles to visit Fort Laramie. The fort is located at the confluence of the North Platte and the Laramie Rivers and has been in existence in one form or another since the fur trader days. It was an important stop for the Oregon, California and Mormon trails before the pioneers entered the mountainous part of the trails.

When the railroad came through, the number of pioneers using the trails dwindled to almost nothing, but the Fort transitioned to supporting the Pony Express and, then to establishing and maintaining the telephone lines that replaced the Pony Express. In addition, the Fort played an important part of the wars with the Plains Indians.

The fort didn't look like I expected it - with a wall surrounding the buildings and protecting against Indian attacks. But there had never been a wall and the Fort was only directly attacked once, when a band of Indian warriors swept in and drove off a large number of horses before the soldiers even realized what was going on. The Indians were chased, but only a few of the horses were recovered. The rest of the time, Fort Laramie was a gathering place for the Plains Indians where they met with government officials for treaty negotiations and fur trading.

The second day in Cheyenne was spent sampling some of the attractions in the downtown area. The train station has been restored and now serves as a visitor's center and museum. The emphasis in the museum is on the railroading industry - Cheyenne's rail yard currently sees 80 freight trains pass through each day and in the past, Cheyenne served as a hub for the railroad business. One really cool exhibit in the museum was a huge model display of the Union Central and Northern Railroad. One individual spent over 30 years building everything - the detail was amazing.

Tomorrow we continue westward.

These huge boots were all over the downtown.  Like many other cities, these boots were painted by local artists, auctioned off to support local charities and then displayed in front of the businesses that bought them.

On our way to Fort Laramie, we accidently took the backroad way. It included about six miles of a gravel road.  We passed by the Laramie River Station - one of the largest power supply stations in the country. There was a huge pile of coal, it looked like it was a couple hundred feet tall and there were at least 3 long trains of coal cars in line to dump their loads. I've never seen one of these up close - impressive.

 

Finally, we reach Fort Laramie.

 

A herd of mules (or horses, we were too far away to determine) was enjoying the grazing.

 

Not all the buildings have been restored. The unrestored ones are deteriorating because the building material erodes in the wind and rains.

 

Every building in the fort are original, even the totally restored ones.

 

 

This is one of three barracks. We saw lots of wasps crawling on the walls - they didn't seem upset that we were walking around, thank goodness. Made me a bit nervous.

 

 

An excellent audio tour explained all the buildings and their contents.  This was an on-site bar. The idea was to try and control the drinking by offering it on-site under some supervision.  It kinda worked.

 

The women who lived at the Fort with their husbands tried to civilize their surroundings.

 

The furnishings are not original but authentically represent the time period.

 

This was the home of a Lt. Colonel and his family.

 

 

Called "Old Bedlam", this was housing for bachelor officers. It often hosted large parties, hence the name.

 

The fort was large with parade grounds in the middle.

 

 

Of course, there was a jail.

 

Examples of the weapons and transportation used during the period the Fort was active.

 

We noted an interesting phenomenon - around 5 pm, the herd came trotting back on their own, right into the corral. Decided it must be dinner time.

 

This is the original iron bridge which was built to cross the Laramie River. No longer in use, it is being preserved.  Russ noted that the bridge spans a length about 3 times more than the current width of the river.

 

Waited for several minutes while a coal train made its way to the power station.

 

The late afternoon drive back to Cheyenne was long, but pretty.

 

 

The restored Union Pacific Depot is beautiful.

 

 

The floor of the depot had an inlaid marble scale map of the train route from Omaha to the Promontory (where the eastbound train met the westbound train), including the dates when the railroad reached key areas.

 

This model railroad display took up most of the 2nd floor of the museum.

 

 

 

There are a lot of western themed art pieces in the downtown area.

 

This steam engine is called Big Boy. It is the world's largest steam locomotive.

 

I did not know this part of World War II history. This is a railroad car called a Merci Train. France gave a train car to each state. Every car was filled with gifts for the citizens of the state.

 

Build in 1890, this is Wyoming's oldest locomotive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chimney Rock and Scottsbluff Nebraska

We continued to follow the Lincoln Highway when we left Omaha. The drive to North Platte was full of small towns, farms harvesting their corn, and views of the North Platte River. Fall colors are showing more frequently as we head west and gain altitude.

We changed our plans a bit when we left North Platte and took the Oregon Trail route to two historical landmarks: Chimney Rock and Scottsbluff.  These two rock formations were important to the pioneers heading out on the California, Oregon and Mormon Trails because it meant that they had traveled about 1/3 of the way to their end destination from Independence, Kansas. Scottsbluff offered an opportunity to restock supplies, rest up and perhaps do a little touring (some left their signatures on the sandstone formations, although none remain because of erosion.) The strange formations, which could be seen for days before arriving, told the pioneers that they were moving from the "Great American Desert" into western lands. 

Nowadays, you can walk in the ruts left behind by the pioneers and their covered wagons. There is a narrow, twisting road that leads up to the top of Scottsbluff, offering some amazing views of the countryside. At Chimney Rock, you cannot get close to the formation but the visitor's center offers some great views of it.  Chimney Rock is eroding quite quickly -you can see the difference from the early 1800s to now.

I was thrilled to see Chimney Rock and Scottsbluff.  I remember, in fifth grade, studying about the western movement and how the pioneers looked forward to seeing the formations after many weeks of tough travel. I knew that I had ancestors who had traveled to their new home in a covered wagon (although not on these famous trails) and I felt a connection to those people.

We continue our exploration of pioneer and western days by heading to Cheyenne for a couple of days.

More trees are showing their autumn garb.

The farmers are working hard, but it will take awhile to mow most of Nebraska.

We found this veteran's memorial in Columbus, Nebraska.  It showcased the Higgins boat because Andrew Higgins, the inventor of the boat that won World War II was born in Columbus.

This is actually a replica of the Higgins boat. You could enter it and get some sense of what all those American soldiers were standing in as they waited to storm the Normandy coast.

The memorial has evolved. This is a memorial to the victims of 9/11. It consists of some of the building girders with an eagle perched on top. Always an emotional view.

I tell you, no one does county courthouses better than Midwest towns.

Pioneers could see Chimney Rock for days before their actual arrival. This helped motivate them on their very difficult journey.

Chimney Rock is a National Park Historical Site and is managed in conjunction with the Nebraska Historical Society.

This is a side view of the formation. The layers are being eaten away by winds and rain.

Scottsbluff was the next major landmark. Mitchell Pass is close by and was used by the Oregon and California Trails. Prior to the development of the pass, the pioneers avoided the area because of the rugged topography.

Replica wagons provide some sense of scale and the primitiveness of the situation for the pioneers.

The wagons were used for hauling supplies, not people.  Most people walked the entire trail.

Part of the Oregon Trail remains. You can see how deeply gouged the trail became because of the hundreds of wagons

The view from the top of Scottsbluff was beautiful. A town now exists nearby.

Part of the winding road up to the top of Scottsbluff. North Platte River is visible in the distance. You can see how folded the local terrain is and how it would discourage pioneers from following a path close to Scottsbluff. But the development of nearby Mitchell's pass shortened the trail by eight miles (about a day of travel.)

Headed down the road to Cheyenne.  Not seeing corn anymore, but more pronghorn antelope and cattle.