Fort
Laramie was founded in June 1834 by William Sublette and Robert Campbell when
buffalo robe trade with Native American tribes was fast replacing the beaver fur
trade. Crafted of Cottonwood logs at the juncture of the Laramie and Platte
Rivers and given the name Fort William, the small stockade played a key role in
controlling supplies to the central Rocky Mountains and to the bison range in
the Great Basin.
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| Fort William |
Sublette
and Campbell sold the fort in 1835 to fur trading company Fontenelle,
Fitzpatrick & Co, who in turn sold the company to Pierre Chouteau and the
American Fur Trading Company in 1836. The American Fur Trading Company and its
trapping brigade, the Rocky Mountain Outfit, operated the original trading post
until 1841 when Lancaster Lupton built Fort Platte just north of Fort William
and also began trading with the Native Americans. At this time, Fort William was
deteriorating and didn’t provide much in the way of protection. In competition
with Lupton, The American Fur Company invested $10,000 in the construction of a
new stockade. Crafted of adobe walls, with a central courtyard, the new
stockade opened in 1841 and was given the name Fort John, after business
partner John Sarpy.
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| Fort John |
Fort
John was an impressive structure, and what the travelers along the
Oregon/California Trail associated as Fort Laramie. By 1849, the flood of emigrants
to the west was motivation for the government to step in and assure their
safety. The American Fur Company sold the fort to the U.S. Army and in April of
that year, the Regiment of Mounted Rifles moved into the adobe fort, as the
government thought to secure the area with a string of army forts along the
trail, thus beginning Fort Laramie’s history as a military outpost.
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| Wyoming History.org |
The
army didn’t waste time building up the fort and adding to it with stables for
horses, officer and soldier quarters, a bakery, guardhouse, and a powdered
magazine house. As the flood of emigrants continued, Fort Laramie grew in size
and importance. Several trail routes passed through the fort, including the
Mormon Trail, the Bozeman Trail, the Pony Express Route, and the Transcontinental
Telegraph. Fort Laramie became the main military fort in the Northern Plains
and saw its first battle with Native tribes in 1854 in what is known as the Grattan
fight; an incident near the fort involving a wagon train.
Fort
Laramie is also famous for hosting several Indian councils wanting to bring
peace to the area. These campaigns failed, with the Army eventually subduing
the several of the tribes.
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| Fort Laramie ruins |
Battles
with the Plains tribes wasn’t the only thing the fort played a role in. The
army also saw the development of the open range cattle industry and the
settlement of the plains. With that settlement, the dangers of living on the
plains ceased and the army abandoned the fort in 1890. Most of the buildings
and the land were auctioned off, with some of the buildings either being relocated
or demolished. The fort fell prey to time and weather until 1938 when it was
inducted into the National Park System and preservation of the site was
secured. Today folks can tour the fort year round and view 12 restored
buildings.
