Fort Laramie, WYApr 26, 2012
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Oregon Trail Wagon Ruts site near Fort Laramie
Now that is a rut.
One lane, one way traffic only.
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Robidoux RV Park
Gering, NE
Thursday – April 26, 2012
Low Temperature: 55 degrees
High Temperature: 81 degrees
Rain: 0.12”
Wind: High Wind Gusts – 42 mph.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANCY
Day Trip: Oregon Trail Ruts SHS; Registry Cliff SHS; Fort Laramie Nat. Historic Site.
Today we made a trip back into Eastern Wyoming and to more historic sites along the Oregon Trail.
Our first stop was at some well preserved Oregon Trail Ruts. This site in on the list of National Historic Landmarks and is now a state(WY) protected site and reportedly is some of the best preserved examples of wagon ruts that were cut in the soft limestone along the No. Platte River. I was amazed at how deep the wagon wheels cut into this section of rock. This was apparently a pinch point forcing all wagon traffic up over this bluff this borders the No. Platte River.
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Our next stop just a short distance away was Registry Cliff, another example of the pioneers marking their progress westward by leaving their names and dates carved into the side of a bluff that rises 100' above the North Platte River. Despite more than a century of wind, water and erosion, the inscribed names and dates are still visible. Unfortunately this site has also suffered some vandalism over the years and many of the historic markings have been over crowed by some current day slobs.
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Our last stop of the day was at the Fort Laramie Nat. Historic Site. The history of this fort is well documented. Being at the crossroads of a nation moving west it was perhaps the single most important location in America's expansion west. Fort Laramie played an important role as host to several treaty negotiations with Northern Plains Nations. Of course we broke most all of those treaties.
Originally founded as a trading post in 1834. it became a military post in 1949 when the US Govt. purchased the site from the American Fur Company. The fort was finally closed and sold in 1890 at public action for a little over fourteen hundred dollars. The Fort is now in the process of being restored.
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Another day spent enjoying some of the special places in our nations history.
What will tomorrow bring....??
