We took off in the jeep this morning having decided we would
travel the back roads from Wheatland to Fort Laramie. The drive was much more interesting then it
would have been driving over on the Hwy.
We were both surprised at the size of Fort Laramie. I’m not sure about
Jim but I was expecting the TV version of a fort, surrounded by spiked
poles. This place was more like a small
town, spread out with all sorts of buildings.
It had buildings for officers, barracks for the enlisted men, store
houses, a jail, and even a bar. All that
remained of many of the buildings was the adobe shell. The Bachelor Officer’s quarters, known as Bedlam
has been restored and is the oldest standing building in Wyoming.
We spent four hours touring the area. The only thing we did not take a close look
at was the remains of a hotel that was built shortly after the fort was
abandoned. It sat on a hill next to the fort, but unfortunately we ran out of
time before the area was due to close for the night. One of the plaques we saw at the fort was in
memory of a horse that had carried his rider 236 miles, in sub zero weather, in two days and upon arrival at the fort the
horse had dropped dead from exhaustion. They made such a hurried ride to seek
reinforcements for a battle being fought at Fort Phil Kearney, following the
Fetterman Massacre.
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