Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Southern Wyoming is a land of corridors, home to the Oregon, Mormon, California, Cher-
okee, and Overland Trails. The Pony Express crossed through here, as did the nation's first
transcontinental railroad and the first transcontinental automobile route. It makes sense that
early Wyoming was defined not by settlers so much as by travelers.
What initially attracted Native Americans to this region also attracted traders, trappers,
and immigrants. The North Platte and Sweetwater Rivers created natural passageways
across the land. They provided water and food for both men and livestock and kept the
grasslands well irrigated. Buffalo grazed across the grassy plains with Indians always in
close pursuit. The Shoshone, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Sioux Indians all hunted in the re-
gion.
Fur trappers, known as the Astorians, were the first nonnatives to see South Pass. They
stumbled on this crossing of the Continental Divide during their return trip east to St. Louis.
It was later found again by Thomas Fitzpatrick in 1824 and subsequently used by many
trappers, traders, and mountain men on their journeys west. By the 1840s there were marked
trails that followed rivers through South Pass. But the movement into Wyoming really
picked up after 1843, when a large wagon train left Missouri and arrived in Washington six
months later. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants, following their “manifest destiny” and
in search of gold, religious freedom, or just a better life—passed through Wyoming over
the Oregon Trail. Today Wyoming is home to the longest unchanged portion of the Oregon
Trail.
Fort Laramie in the east and Fort Bridger in the west became important way stations,
allowing travelers to stock up on food and supplies, repair wagons, trade goods, and even
swap their tired livestock for fresh animals. Troops were stationed in the forts to provide
protection from Native Americans.
Initially, the Indians did little to prevent the travelers from crossing the land they used.
Realizing that the wagons were just moving through with no intention of staying, the mi-
grants were not viewed as a threat. But it soon became evident that the migration was taking
a toll on the land as well as their way of life. The grass that sustained the buffalo was being
destroyed by wagons and consumed by livestock. The buffalo themselves were being killed
to make way for cattle grazing land and railroad tracks. The Indians were not ready to give
up their traditional way of life; confrontations ensued, and by the 1860s military stations
were established along the trail. By the time the transcontinental railroad entered Wyoming,
it was evident that the land no longer belonged to the Indians.
