FORT LARAMIE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

In the midst of the vast desert meadows, which deploy at a loss of sight, stands the former Fort Fort, Fort Laramie. If you want to live a little bit of Western history, it's an interesting step, but know that the site is very isolated and necessarily involves a detour. A small walk to the Visitor Center will give you a good overview of the various buildings to visit and the history of the fort. The site played a strategic role in the development of the region first as a fur trading post and then as a military fort.

In 1834, fur traders Robert Campbell and William Sublette established Fort William, a tiny beaver fur station. But beaver economics is already declining and the future seems to turn to buffalo trade with the Amerindians. The aging fort is replaced by a new structure called Fort John, and takes a second breath. But in 1849, the army proposed repurchasing Fort John to establish a military presence. The site develops quickly and houses houses, shops, stables and military buildings. The fort's mission is to ensure a presence in the territory to protect waves of migrants crossing the region to join Utah, Oregon or California. Soldiers who care, among other things, to protect the populations of possible Indian tribes attacks. The Lakota and Cheyennes live in the region. While cohabitation occurs relatively well at the beginning between migrants and Aboriginal people, it deteriorates with the increasingly frequent installation of migrants on native land and famine that pushes them to attack convoys in search of victuals. Fort Laramie then plays a key role in the relationship between the army and the natives. Treaties for the creation of reserves are signed, and then when one of these treaties is flouted the fort becomes a base camp in the army during the Indian wars. At the time, the fort was composed of more than 200 buildings, today there are 12 sites and some ruins. You can explore the soldiers barracks, the store, the independent houses of the gradients, walk along the Laramie River with views of the tipis that remind the ancient Amerindian camps.