Fort Laramie Wyoming Tourism

For 56 years, the epic story of America’s western expansion played out on a grand scale at a point in eastern Wyoming where the North Platte and Laramie Rivers meet. Here, Indians, trappers, traders, missionaries, emigrants, gold seekers, soldiers, cowboys and homesteaders would each leave their mark on a place that would become famous in the annals of the American West. That place was Fort Laramie.

Fort Laramie was truly the “crossroads of a nation moving west”. It was first established in 1834 as a small private fur trading post. A few years later, it became an important weigh station for thousands of emigrants who would travel the Oregon, California and Mormon trails. Purchased by the government in 1849, it rapidly grew to become the largest and most important military post on the Northern Plains.

Fort Laramie witnessed rapid advances in communication and transportation technology as stage lines, the Pony Express, and the transcontinental telegraph passed through. Fort Laramie hosted several treaty negotiations with Native Americans, the most famous of which were the Horse Creek Treaty of 1851 and the still controversial and contested Treaty of 1868.

Ultimately, Fort Laramie served as a major base of military operations. Numerous campaigns were launched from the fort against the Northern Plains tribes, fiercely defending their homeland against further incursions and settlement by an ever-expanding nation. As the Indian Wars ended Fort Laramie’s importance diminished. The old post was abandoned and sold at public auction in 1890, slowly deteriorating over the next 48 years it nearly succumbed to the ravages of time.

Fort Laramie became part of the National Park System in 1938. Today visitors to the site can see 11 of the original structures that have been painstakingly restored and refurnished as well as the ruins of numerous other buildings. Located three miles southwest of the Town of Fort Laramie on State Highway 160, you can visit Fort Laramie National Historic Site year-round. The park visitor center is open from 8:00 – 4:30 daily, with extended hours observed during the summer months.