Why did I hate history in school and find it so fascinating now???
We spent the day in the Casper,Wyoming area. The National Historic Trails center is there. Between 1840 and 1869, approximately 500,000 emigrants traveled through Casper on three different trails—the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail and the California Trail. They migrated for different reasons: free land, religious freedom, and free gold.
They all crossed the North Platte river at this location. We got to sit in a covered wagon and experience crossing the river. What fun!
A fourth trail is also commemorated—the Pony Express which operated from April 1860 through October 1861, becoming obsolete when the telegraph was completed.
Along the Oregon Trail near Casper is Independence Rock, a large granite monolith. If the wagon trains reached the rock by Independence Day they would likely cross before the first snows. It literally was the half way point on their 2000 mile journey to Oregon. Most of that 2000 miles was done on foot!! Surely hardy, brave people.
We walked around the entire rock. People climb to the top, but we didn’t risk it.
Many people carved their names as they passed by and are still visible today. Here’s one from 1852.
When we got to Laramie, we went to the Friday farmers market. There were native Americans performing. The woman performed the hoop dance. She was wearing a red dress to honor the hundreds of Native American women who had gone missing and who are overlooked.
So the history part of our trip is behind us—on to golf and hiking. The Aspens should be beautiful.
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