Fort Casper, Wyoming

After having lived in Wyoming for thirty five years, and after spending a lot of time in Casper, one would think we had already visited Fort Casper. One would be wrong and so while waiting for our rv appointment we decided to treat Casper like any new place and do the new visitor routine.

So as Renita was feeling better we drove all of two blocks to Fort Casper and its associated museum. Before entering it reminded me of Fort Bridger and sure enough it and Fort Laramie were built to provide protection for the Pony Express and the settlers traveling along the Oregon Trail.

Entering and paying the three dollar fee, we studied the artifacts that had been dug here and the nice display of Native American arrowheads and tools, The beaded items were mostly of Arapahoe manufacture and really quite good. The crowning jewel of the collection was a red beaded cape, at least that’s what I felt was the highlight.

There was also a good display of the mining in the area, and we both were surprised to learn that copper and silver mines had been worked on Casper Mountain. The jade map even held a surprise for us as it showed jade as being found on the north side of river from Sweetwater Station, (a place we have not yet prospected but hope to this summer).

Heading outside we saw the Fort had been reconstructed and while the round nails were evident the Fort was built following drawings made by the original commander. So it was a pleasant journey as we strolled and viewed the rooms. At the end of the Fort was a section of the Platte River Bridge and it kind of surprised me as to the extensive bridge that had once stood there.

All in all it was a nice two hour journey teaching us some history of our state, history that we hadn’t known or had forgotten. Check it out if you are in the area. Clear skies