Ice Slough, Fremont County, Wyoming

The Ice Slough, or what I used to always hear people around here refer it by, the "Icey Slough".

Little Sandy Crossing, Sweetwater County, Wyoming.

This is a State of Wyoming monument to the Little Sandy Crossing in Sweetwater County, near Farson.   

Pony Express Monuments, Farson Wyoming

One of the disadvantages of taking these photos the way I do, on a catch as catch can basis, is that you get some truly lousy photographs that way. Weather and light conditions can simply be against you. But, on the passing by basis I take these, there's not much I can do about that as a rule.  I've driven past these monuments to the Pony Express at Farson a few times, but this is the first time I had time to stop and take a picture.  Unfortunately these late afternoon, sub zero photographs, are not good, and there isn't much I could do about it.

While you could never tell from this bad light photograph, this 2003 monument to the Pony Express shows to riders greeting each other on a starry night.  The winter snow has obscured, and dirtied, the monument.  If I have a  chance to photograph it again in morning light, I will.  The top of the monument says "East meets West".

This is an older State of Wyoming monument to the Pony Express which also notes the Big Sandy Station that was once on this location.

This monument to the Big Sandy Station was dedicated at the same time, and by the same donors, as the East Meets West monument. For some reason, this one looks just as clean as when it was dedicated, while the East Meets West monument does not.

Sweetwater Station, Freemont County Wyoming.

There's a highway rest station on top of Beaver Rim at Sweetwater Station that I've stopped in a million times, but I've never photographed it before.  Probably because there's always been a lot of people there and I felt self conscious about it.  Anyhow, the other day I went through and it was just me, so I took these photos with my Iphone.

The photos here will be left large so that the details on the signs can be read.  I didn't do a very good job of photographing them while there, but it was relatively early in the day and light conditions were not idea.

This is a converging location on the trail and a lot of different things are significant about the spot.  It's a significant Oregon Trial spot in and of itself.  It was also the location of an Army post, protecting the trail, during the 1860s.  Lt. Caspar Collins, who lost his life famously leading a mixed company at the Battle of Platte Bridge Station, was stationed at Sweetwater Station.

Mormon Pioneer Memorial, Lyman Wyoming.

This is a Mormon Pioneer Memorial at the rest stop in Lyman, Wyoming.  It was obviously originally a private memorial and was likely moved to its current location after the rest stop was built and Interstate 80 altered the original path of the Lincoln Highway.

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.

Henry B. Joy Memorial, Interstate 80, Albany County Wyoming.

This is a monument to one of the founders of the Lincoln Highway, located along its successor, Interstate 80.  The art deco memorial was created in 1938, the "L" cement markers are markers for the Lincoln Highway that can be found here and there along its route.

While this blog started out with war memorials, it's covered quite a few trail markers over the years, and indeed I will now be adding that as a category here, meaning I have to go back and edit quite a few old posts.  This marker, however, is only the second one I've posted on any of my blogs to highways, the other being the Black and Yellow Road near Gillette.

This marker is quite elaborate and very nice, being both a suitable marker for the Lincoln Highway and a nice example of an art deco piece of art.

Wyoming has also commemorated the highway, the noted individual, and the marker, with its own highway sign.

All of this is located at the same rest stop on Albany County that the Lincoln Memorial is located at.  Of note, this marker was moved from its original location, which might have been one that was preferred by the individual commemorated by the marker.

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.

Abraham Lincoln Memorial, Interstate 80, Wyoming

This is the very large bronze of Abraham Lincoln located on Interstate 80 just east of Laramie, Wyoming.  Interstate 80 is located on what was once the Lincoln Highway, hence explaining the very large bronze, which is otherwise somewhat unusual for a Wyoming monument.

Split Rock, Wyoming