National Historic Trails and Fort Caspar

We went to this strange looking building on a hill looking down on Casper called the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center, run by the Bureau of Land Management, a division of the Government of the Interior - the same branch that runs the National Park Service. When you first see this building which can be seen throughout most of Casper, there is a blue section of the building that stands out. As you walk inside you are walking along a wall of blue tile, then you discover you are walking along the representation of the North Platte River. Casper served as the convergence of the Mormon Trail, the Bozeman Trail, the Oregon Trail, and the California Trail/Gold Rush Trail for pioneers heading west from 1840s on. And on top of that, the Pony Express had a station here at Fort Caspar of which was a military post to protect the pioneers from Indians. The Center was very informative and well done. One of the coolest things we did inside this Center was sit in a covered wagon and it simulated riding across the North Platte River, it bumped, swayed from side to side, had a trail hand in front telling us to stay inside if it tips over, you really felt that you were in this wagon. Another simulator ride was sitting in a stage coach and having it move along, seeing buffalo grazing, seeing broken down wagon train, stopping at posts. We had no concept of the historical value of Casper when we came here, knowing this was a convenient town to stay while visiting Sandra and Phil but now we wish we could have spent more time. We would have driven to some of the points of interest like Independence Rock where pioneers carved their names into this huge rock outcropping as they moved forward toward the South Pass in Western Wyoming. Or gone looking for the actual ruts left behind from all the wagons. Or gone to see the South Pass which is legendary even back when Lewis and Clark almost perished in the winter of 1805 trying to find a faster route over the Bitterroot Range when all along the Crow, Shoshones and other tribes knew of a much easier gateway through the mountains some 400 miles south (South Pass). Or taken one of the auto tours which leads you through some of the historic sights of the trails and Pony Express stations. Or gone to the Hole In The Wall where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid hid out. So much to see!

Wyoming is beautiful, wild, and yet very appealing. This town of Casper is named for Lt. Caspar Collins who was from Ohio and as a young man traveled with his father's Ohio Volunteer Calvary unit to Wyoming to establish forts for protection and trading posts. A telegraph office was set up in the fort, the first one in the area. His father went on to Colorado and Caspar stayed on getting his enlistment into the Ohio Volunteer Calvary, ultimately loosing his life in an Indian ambush in 1865 while escorting an Army supply train. His father? Guess what town is named after him and we are visiting next? Fort Collins. Small world. When Casper was incorporated into a town, the spelling was changed to Casper by accident and it was never corrected. It is easy to get around in Casper, with a population of over 55,000 and elevation of over 5100 feet (mile high!) we did not need our GPS to figure out where things were. Modern history as to discovery of oil and Amoco and Standard Oil coming in with the boom then bust then stabilizing back again. The N. Platte River? They say that it was at least 5 times as wide as it is now, 5 dams were constructed upstream and today the river is quite tame, narrow, but it still has a tremendous current. Here's a picture of the river right here at our campground which is on the Fort Caspar grounds. Want to come back here someday - we really enjoyed this visit. We move tomorrow to Loveland, Colorado which is right next to Fort Collins. We will visit with relatives, hopefully go to Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park and what ever else we find.