Overland Trail Marker, Carbon County Wyoming

This is the second time recently we've put up an Overland Trail marker here.  The other one was in Albany County.

For some reason, the southerly route of the Overland Trail always takes me by surprise.  It really shouldn't however, as in this part of the state the Union Pacific Railroad isn't far away, and it took the same basic route through here.

For that matter, so did the Lincoln Highway. So obviously, the southern route wasn't a bad one, and it was competitive with the Oregon Trail.

This marker is just north of Saratoga Wyoming.  While I don't know for sure, I suspect the two track visible in this photo is the actual trail.  In many places in Wyoming the trails remain quite visible.

Pioneer Fountain Monument, Denver Colorado.

This 1911 vintage French Beaux Arts sculpture in downtown Denver Colorado marks the end of the Smoke Hill Trail.   This  photograph is less than ideal, but it's a crowded area and I only had a second to take the photo before the scene filled back up.  The Smokey Hill Trail ran from Kansas to this area and is associated with the gold rush of the area as well as pioneers of other types.

The Overland Trail, Albany County Wyoming

These are two markers noting the location, in Albany County, where the Overland Trail passed by the current town of Laramie.

The Overland Trail was a southern bypass, basically, on the Oregon Trail, taking immigrants and travelers considerably further south and therefore also out of the more active areas on the Platte that saw a lot of Indian activity.  The Overland Trail was not safe, but it was less likely to see Indian hostilities.

We tend to think, today, only of the Oregon Trail, but this markers serves to remind us that pioneers took a variety of routes.  This one later was exploited, roughly, by the Union Pacific railroad which took a somewhat analogous route for much of its course. 

This location interestingly features at least three, and maybe four, generations of Wyoming highway historical markers. The large wooden sign is a common one still used by Wyoming today.  A new paper sign with a bar code has been added to this and several other monuments in Albany County, suggesting that the state has some sort of new program going on. 

This area, however, also features an older cement marker.  I'm not terribly familiar with this type, so if anyone can add details about it, I'd appreciate it.  Note the circled K on the monument. 

This cement markers is just off the highway easement and I suspect that it is also associated with the trail.  In much of Wyoming the Oregon Trail is marked with cement markers in its course, and I suspect that this is something similar, but older, for the Overland Trail.

Ft. Sanders, Wyoming.

This is one of the more disappointing items I've posted here, as the location itself is disappointing.  This is the site of the former Ft. Sanders, Wyoming, just outside of Laramie Wyoming

Ft. Sanders isn't a fort we think of much in terms of Frontier, or Wyoming, history.  It was a small post along the Union Pacific, and as such it seemingly figured in the story of the Indian Wars less than some others we'd typically consider.  This doesn't mean it wasn't a significant post in its own way, but it wasn't a major post like Ft. Laramie, nor was it one that was on the ragged edge of the Indian frontier, like Ft. Caspar or Ft. Reno.

And there's very little left of it. As the Wyoming sign commemorating it notes, the mostly wooden post is now mostly gone.  The brick building above was the powder magazine.  I couldn't spot the guard house when I was there, but I understand it to still exist, and to be across the highway, so I'll have to update this entry once I find it.  The sign is somewhat inaccurate as apparently some structures that were on the post were moved into Laramie for private use and still exist, and The Cavalryman Restaurant, depicted in the photograph above, was a post structure.

Green River Rendezvous Site, Sublette County Wyoming.

Really off topic here, and more deserving to be on one of our other blogs such as Today In Wyoing's History, this is the Sublette County Museum Board's marker for the site of the Green River Rendezvous.

Split Rock, Wyoming

The Parting of the Ways

These monuments, within about 100 yards of each other, commemorate the Oregon Trail and the Parting of the Ways, that spot where the Oregon and California Trails diverged.  Unfortunately, as the informational sign makes clear, the monument is in the wrong place.  The actual Parting of the Ways is about ten miles to the west.

Ft. Halleck-Ft. Laramie Road, Rock River Wyoming.

A memorial just north of Rock River Wyoming commemorating the Frontier era Ft. Halleck to Ft. Laramie Road in southern Wyoming.

Bridger Trail, Wyoming

Washakie County Pioneers' Memorial, Worland Wyoming

This memorial in the Washakie County Wyoming Courthouse commemorates the early residents of the county.

Old Trail Town Cemetary, Cody Wyoming

 This is the cemetery at the Old Trail Town in Cody Wyoming. The cemetery includes the graves and markers for several well known frontiersmen.

 This is the marker for John "Liver Eating" Johnson, more popularly known ad "Jeremiah" Johnson due to the film.  Johnson was a cavalryman, mountain man, and in later years, a law man in Wyoming and Montana.  His marker is marked with, in addition to his name and nickname, "No more trails".

 Marker for Jim White, buffalo hunter

Markers for Floyd Stillings, early rodeo cowboy, and William Garlow "Cody", grandchild of Buffalo Bill Cody and attorney in Big Horn County Wyoming.