Ft. Fred Steele, Carbon County Wyoming

In the past, I haven't tended to post fort entries here, but for net related technical reasons, I'm going to, even though these arguably belong on one of my other blogs.  I'll probably cross link this thread in.

These are photographs of Ft. Fred Steele, a location that I've sometimes thought is the bleakest historical site in Wyoming.

One of the few remaining structures at Ft. Steele, the powder magazine.  It no doubt is still there as it is a stone structure.

The reason that the post was built, the Union Pacific, is still there.

Ft. Steele is what I'd regard as fitting into the Fourth Generation of Wyoming frontier forts, although I've never seen it described that way, or anyone other than me use that term.   By my way of defining them, the First Generation are those very early, pre Civil War, frontier post that very much predated the railroads, such as Ft. Laramie.  The Second Generation would be those established during the Civil War in an effort to protect the trail and telegraph system during that period during which the Regular Army was largely withdrawn from the Frontier and state units took over. The Third Generation would be those posts like Ft. Phil Kearney that were built immediately after the Civil War for the same purpose.  Contemporaneously with those were posts like Ft. Steele that were built to protect the Union Pacific Railroad.  As they were in rail contact with the rest of the United States they can't really be compared to posts like Ft. Phil Kearney, Ft. C. F. Smith or Ft. Caspar, as they were built for a different purpose and much less remote by their nature.

What the post was like, when it was active.

A number of well known Wyoming figures spent time at Ft. Saunders.

Ft. Sanders, after it was abandoned, remained a significant railhead and therefore the area became the center of a huge sheep industry. Quite a few markers at the post commemorate the ranching history of the area, rather than the military history.

One of the current denizens of the post.

Suttlers store, from a distance.

Union Pacific Bridge Tenders House at the post.

Current Union Pacific bridge.

Some structure from the post, but I don't know what it is.

The main part of the post's grounds.

Soldiers from this post are most famously associated with an action against the Utes in Utah, rather than an action in Wyoming.  This shows the high mobility of the Frontier Army as Utah is quite a distance away, although not so much by rail.

This 1914 vintage highway marker was on the old Lincoln Highway, which apparently ran north of the tracks rather than considerably south of them, like the current Interstate Highway does today.

About 88 people or so were buried at this post, however only 60 some graves were later relocated when the Army undertook to remove and consolidate frontier graves.  Logic would dictate, therefore, that some graves likely remain.

Unusual civilian headstone noting that this individual had served with a provisional Confederate unit at some point that had been raised in California.  I'm not aware of any such unit, although it must have existed.  The marker must be quite recent.

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.

Is this spot too busy?

Recently I was in Albany County and I stopped by a rest stop, just to visit the Lincoln Memorial, and found that the stop is jammed packed with memorials.

It has, of course, the Lincoln Memorial:

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.

 It also has the Henry B. Joy Lincoln Highway Memorial:

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.

And it has been designated the Purple Heart Trail:

Purple Heart Trail Memorial, Interstate 80, Albany County, Wyoming.
 

This monument is placed at the same rest stop that the Lincoln Memorial and the Lincoln Highway Memorial featured below are located.  It's obviously in honor of those who have been wounded in action, and therefore eligible to receive the Purple Heart.

 And it also features a marker honoring ranching in Albany and Laramie Counties:

"Ranching from the high point" marker, Albany County, Wyoming.
 

This is a marker dedicated to agriculture in Albany and Laramie Counties, Wyoming.  It's located at  the same rest stop that features the Lincoln Memorial, the Purple Heart Trail marker, and the Henry Bourne Joy marker.

The final paragraph of this marker is quite true and highly significant.  In this region of the country, environmentalist like to take pot shots at ranchers all the time, but if they weren't here, the wild spaces wouldn't be here either.

Does this seem like a bit much?

All of these monuments are fine, but in one single place?  There was even one I didn't photograph. It's darned right crowded.

The Henry B. Joy monument, I'd note, was originally over by Rawlins, at a spot that Henry B. Joy liked.  Maybe they should have left it near there.  Maybe the Purple Heart Trail marker could be closer to Cheyenne?  Anyway you look at it, this is a lot of markers in a concentrated amount of space.  It risks diminishing them all, or so it seems to me.

Purple Heart Trail Memorial, Interstate 80, Albany County, Wyoming.

This monument is placed at the same rest stop that the Lincoln Memorial and the Lincoln Highway Memorial featured below are located.  It's obviously in honor of those who have been wounded in action, and therefore eligible to receive the Purple Heart.

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.