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FORT LARAMIE,
NOW WELL INTO ITS SECOND CENTURY
THE ADOBE FORT FORT JOHN
1841-1849
Indian Country
(Wyoming State Archives & Historical Dept.) Robert Murray, and files were found in the vertical files in Sheridan Fulmer Library in the famous Wyoming Room Research search.)
Fort Laramie lies along the valley of the Laramie River, not far from its confluence with the the
Platte. These valleys are deeply entrenched high plain, within sight of the Hartville uplift and the Laramie Range. The region has a middle latitude semi-arid climate, with most of its age annual 12 inches of precipitation falling in ng and early summer. Grasses and forbs cover t of the land, with stands of cedar on rough s and with some pine on the higher ridges of Hartville Uplift.
Numerous artifacts from such noted sites as Gap testify to an occupancy of at least 10,000 s by man. In late prehistoric times the ances- of the Apache Indians occupied the region. and trade around the periphery of the inent upset tribal balances of power through- the land, the Snakes and the Kiowa succesfully occupied the nearby high plains. They were enroute out by the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe early times.
When traders first came to the Fort Laramie , these tribes had already taken up the mobile equestrian buffalo hunter culture, and were well-equipped with metal tools and reasonably well- supplied with firearms and ammunition through intertribal trade.
The first white visitors to the Laramie valley were doubtless the far ranging independent trappers and traders who opened the Rocky Mountain fur trade in the first quarter of the 19th Century. It is for one of these men, Joseph LaRamie,* that the river, the mountains, and the subsequent fort have taken their name.
The fur trade of the United States was well down a long decline at the opening of the Rocky Mountain phase of the business, and the story of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade is the story of a sequence of expedients adopted by the trading companies to extract a maximum of profit per year from a declining business in a marginal region. Throughout the years of most active trade there was a continual shift in emphasis from beaver and other small raw furs toward dependence on a trade in Indian-tanned buffalo robes.
(***Research shows that the name Jacques so often applied to LaRamie is a misnomer—probably given because he was a Frenchman and Jacques a common French name.)
rgin of Indian country, on a little used trail
a spur-line military telegraph.
Starting in 1863, a modest volume of emi- rants began to travel to Montana via the cele- -ited "Bozeman Trail" named for John Bozeman, e of its pioneer promoters. This route passed rough hostile Indian country and stood little
-.nee as a commercial route for it could not compete with the river traffic to Montana for freight. Western politicians sought military opinion for this route to enhance it attractiveness for emigrants.
By 1865, the government had its own reasons r wanting military activity along the Bozeman rail. This was to create a diversion in that region keep the hostile Indians from interfering with e construction of the Union Pacific Railway southern Wyoming.
Fort Laramie served as one prime base for of the Powder River Expedition, led by
Gen. Patrick E. Connor. Though his campaign was rated in its success by supply and manpower roblems, it left a new post, Fort Connor, soon -named Fort Reno, on Powder River, deep in the Indian Country, supplied via Fort Laramie
.
The next year the army expanded its limited of 1866. Carrington's successors, Bvt. Brigadier General Henry W. Wessels and Colonel John E. Smith brought order out of military chaos in the Powder River country and successfully carried out the army's mission there until 1868. In that year the railroad completed through the hostile country, the army withdrew to positions which would contain the hostiles until policy toward them clarified.
Fort Laramie now took on a new role. 90 miles overland from the railroad it now served as an advance base for any possible force to be fielded against the Indians.
To fulfill this role, the post was modernized and expanded steadily from 1868-1876.
Public policy toward the Northern Plains tribes clarified steadily in the period, as settlers closed in all around the region.
The confirmation of gold discoveries in the Black Hills in 1874 came when civilian guide Charlie Reynolds rode into Fort Laramie in August, bearing Colonel Custer's dispatches. Through 1875 and into early 1876 a flood of prospectors and gold camp followers poured into the hills.
Relations with the Sioux steadily deteriorated and attempts to buy the Black Hills area failed.
Laramie County created January 9, 1867 by Dakota Laws was also organized in January of that year. The County seat is Cheyenne. Laramie County was named for Jacques La Ramie, a French-Canadian trapper who was killed by the Indians near what was later known as Fort Laramie. ( which is in Goshen County now).
In July 1858, gold was discovered along the South Platte River in Arapahoe County, Kansas Territory. This discovery precipitated the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. Many residents of the mining region felt disconnected from the remote territorial governments of Kansas and Nebraska, so they voted to form their own Territory of Jefferson on 1859-10-24. The following month, the Jefferson Territorial Legislature organized 12 counties for the new territory including Cheyenne County. Cheyenne County was named for the Cheyenne Nation of Native Americans that lived in the area. Cheyenne County encompassed most of present day Laramie County. The Jefferson Territory never received federal sanction.
On 1868-07-25, the Territory of Wyoming was organized. Laramie County was organized in 1867.
Populated places City, Cheyenne, Towns,Albin.Burns/Pine Bluffs
Census-designated places.Fox Farm-College.Ranchettes,South Greeley.FE Warren AFB Other place,Meriden Laramie county in red.
STORY OF CHEYENNE
The City of Cheyenne had its beginning in 1867, when the Union Pacific Railroad came through on its way to the west coast. The town site was first surveyed by General Grenville Dodge and was named for an Indian tribe that roamed the area (originally called Shey belonging to the tribe of Alogonquian, the largest family of Indians on the North American Continent).
Settlement came so fast that the nickname "Magic City of the Plains" was adopted.
On August 8, 1867, the first charter for the government of the City of Cheyenne was established On August 10, 1867, H. M. Hook was elected mayor. At the time, Cheyenne was situated in the Dakota Territory and had a population of approximately 600 people. Dakota Territory legislature.
On January 5, 1914, the commissioner form of government was formally adopted by the City of Cheyenne. Cheyenne was proclaimed to be "a City of the First Class" organized under the provisions of the State of Wyoming with all the powers and obligations thereto on July 9, 1945.special election was held on June 22, 1971, to determine if the commissioner form of government should be replaced with the mayor-council form. As result of that election, in the fall of 1971, a mayor and nine councilmen were elected to take office on January 3, 1972, under the new form of government.
Presently, the mayor is elected at-large every four years. Three council members are elected from each of three wards on a staggered basis.
City of Cheyenne, Wyoming
2101 O 'Neil Ave.
(307) 637-6200
Hours: 8:00am -5:00pm
Adjacent counties
Goshen County (north-northeast)
Banner County, Nebraska (northeast)
Kimball County, Nebraska (east)
Weld County, Colorado (south)
Larimer County, Colorado
(southwest)Albany County (west)
Platte County (north-northwest)
Updated, STAGE COACH 3 censuses
Laramie, Wyoming
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