August 29, 2016 Fort Laramie , Wyoming

The Barracks

Fort Laramie

       In 1834 Robert Campbell and William  built the first "Fort Laramie" near the Laramie and North Platte rivers. It was  small post measuring 100 by 80 feet Lodges measuring 15 feet high. They enjoyed having a monopoly on the buffalo trade here until 1841 when a competing trading post,  Fort Platte was built one mile away. With such close competition, the owners were forced to replace their aging fort with a larger adobe-walled structure named Fort John.  In 1849 The US Army bought Fort John as part of a plan to establish it for as a military post a military presence  along the emigrant trails.  Officially renamed Fort Laramie it served as a military post for the next four decades.  It grew as a post and with soldiers quarters, stables a bakery, guardhouse and more. As its size and importance grew, Fort Laramie became the principle military outpost of of the Northern Plains. The fort was also the transportation and communication hub for the central Rocky Mountains Not only the emigrant trails but the stage lines, the Pony Express and the transcontinental telegraph all passed through the post.

Some of he original Fort

       Relations between  Indian tribes and the army deteriorated  as the number of emigrants on the overland trails swelled. As conflicts grew, therapy launched major campaigns  from Fort Laramie against the Northern Plains tribes who fiercely defended their homeland against further immigrants  moving west. In 1890 Fort Laramies importance diminished. The US Army abandoned the post and sold it at public auction.
       Fort Laramie's  riverside setting looks much like it did when the post was active.  Buildings from its military period, some dating back to 1849 survived intact because homesteaders bought and lived in  and public agencies later worked to preserve them. Eleven structures are now restored and refurnished to their historic appearances.