fort laramie

Fort Laramie's setting on the approaches to the Rocky Mountains looks much as it did when the post was the center of activity in the area. Located 3 miles southwest of the town of Fort Laramie, Wyoming off U. S. Route 26.




As America expanded westward, this outpost in the Wyoming wilderness played a crucial role in the transformation of the West, first as fur-trading center, then as military garrison. For over five decades, it was a landmark and way station for the cavalcade of trappers, traders, missionaries, emigrants, Pony Express riders, and miners wending their way west.
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It was also an important staging point for the U. S. Army in its dealings with the plains tribes displaced by migration and settlement. Founded by William Sublette in 1834 as a trading post "Laramai's Point" became a military post for the government during the 1850's and 1860's. no idea of what these are
The Great Migration of 1843 brought close to a thousand people to Fort Laramie and throughout the 1840's wagons increased in numbers peaking in the 1850's to 50,000 annually. Fort Laramie was one of the few supply points on the long journey. (From Brochure of National Park Service, U. S. Department of the Interior).



Photo is of the Hospital Ruins (1873) which was built on the site of the old cemetery used by the army until 1868. Its 12 beds were enough for most situations but were inadequate when an epidemic hit the post. The hospital contained a dispensary, kitchen, dining room, isolation rooms and surgeon's office, but no labs or operating rooms. Future plans are to restore the hospital and use as a visitors center.