Wyoming Forts

American Forts: West

WYOMING

Last Update: 01/JULY/2007

Compiled by Phil and Pete Payette - Š2007 American Forts Network

Camp Medicine Butte
(1885 - 1887), Evanston
A Federal encampment that protected the Union Pacific Railroad and the mail routes from anti-Chinese rioters.

Fort Bridger (State Historic Site)
(1843 - 1878, 1880 - 1890), Fort Bridger
Originally a log stockaded trading post on the Oregon Trail built by Jim Bridger and Luis Vásquez. The Mormons "captured" and used it from 1853 to 1857. It was rebuilt in 1855. The Mormons burned the fort during trouble with the US Army in 1857, and the Federals then took over the ruins and rebuilt it in 1858 to protect the Pony Express and Overland routes. It was rebuilt with stone and logs, with two bastions on opposite corners, with barracks and Officers' quarters. CA and NV Volunteers took over the post in 1862. Re-occupied in 1880 after the Ute Uprising and the Meeker Massacre. Many of the buildings have been restored. The museum is in a restored barracks. Nearby the Jim Bridger Trading Post has been reconstructed.
Another website from RutNut.com | Another website from GhostTowns.com

Camp Scott
(1857 - 1858), near Fort Bridger
Winter quarters for the Federal Army of Utah as they arrived to take over Fort Bridger. Located on the Black's Fork of the Green River, about two miles from Fort Bridger.

Fort Supply
(1853 - 1857), Robertson
A Mormon stockaded fort built after they took over Fort Bridger, to supply wagon trains headed to Salt Lake City. It was burned by the Mormons during trouble with the US Army. It was never rebuilt. A marker is at the site one mile west and one mile south of town.
(thanks to Jerry Blanz for providing correct location)

Camp Wingfield
(1857), near Granger
A Federal encampment on Hams Fork.

Rock Springs Station
(1860's), Rock Springs
A fortified stage station on the Overland Trail. A marker is on Springs Drive under the I-81 overpass.

Camp Pilot Butte
(1885 - 1899), Rock Springs
A Federal camp established to restore order after anti-Chinese race riots. Also known as Camp at Rock Springs. The former post was then used as a religious school.

Salt Wells Station
(1860's), south of Superior
A fortified stage station on the Overland Trail along Bitter Creek.

Point of Rocks Station
(1860's), Point of Rocks
A fortified stage station on the Overland Trail. Ruins remain.

Black Butte Station
(1860's), near Bitter Creek
A fortified stage station on the Overland Trail. Located 14 miles west of Big Pond Station, and five miles west of Black Butte. Owned by the Black Butte Coal Company, which can provide a guided tour of the ruins.

Big Pond Station
(1860's), Bitter Creek
A fortified stage station on the Overland Trail. Located 12 miles west of Fort LaClede along Bitter Creek.

Fort LaClede
(1863 - 1869), south of Table Rock
Only ruins remain of the civilian fort and the adjacent stage station on the Overland Trail along Bitter Creek. It is currently fenced-off. The fort once included a gun tower and rifle pits on a nearby hill.
(thanks to Elizabeth Larson for info)

Dug Springs Station
(1860's), south of Table Rock
A fortified stage station on the Overland Trail near Middle Barrel Springs Canyon. Some remains.

Duck Lake Station
(1860's), south of Table Rock
A fortified stage station on the Overland Trail. No remains.

Washakie Station
(1860's), south of Red Desert
A fortified stage station on the Overland Trail. Ruins remain.
(NOTE: not to be confused with Fort Washakie listed below)

Sulpher Springs Station
(1860's), north of Baggs
A fortified stage station on the Overland Trail on Muddy Creek.

Pine Grove Station
(1860's), south of Rawlins
A fortified stage station on the Overland Trail at Miller Hill. No remains.

Camp Bridger Pass
(1867), south of Sinclair
An Army encampment at Bridger Pass protecting the Overland Route.

Fort Fred Steele (State Historic Site)
(1868 - 1886), Fort Steele
Built to protect Union Pacific Railroad workers and to replace the abandoned Bozeman Trail forts. After the fort was abandoned, locals took up residence here. Only a powder magazine and ruins remain. The railroad now cuts through the site.

Fort Halleck
(1862 - 1866), Whiskey Gap
Built to protect the Overland Trail and the telegraph line from attacking Indians. Located west of Elk Mountain, the site and several remaining structures are now owned by the Quealy Ranch.

Rock Creek Station
(1860 - unknown), Arlington
A blockhouse station on the Overland Trail. It still remains on Main Street.

Fort Sanders
(1866 - 1882), Laramie
Originally known as Fort John Buford. It was established for the protection of the railroad workers and the Overland Trail. Calamity Jane was stationed here in 1871. A stone guardhouse and magazine remain, but most of the site is now a golf course, with the highway bisecting the area. Located two miles south of town, east of the Laramie River.

Camp Walbach
(1858 - 1859), near Federal
Built to protect the Cheyenne Pass crossing. Site located four miles west of town on Lodgepole Creek.

Fort David A. Russell
(Francis E. Warren Air Force Base)
(1867 - 1948/present), Cheyenne
Built to protect Union Pacific Railroad workers. Located three miles west of town on the north bank of Crow Creek, it was originally named Post on Crow Creek. Became a Regular Army mobilization center during WWI. The fort changed its name in 1930 to Fort Francis E. Warren, with the old name transferred to the post in Marfa, Texas. The Air Force took command in 1948. A museum is on the Air Force base. Many of the brick structures remain from the 1880's and 1890's. It remains an active military base.

Camp Carlin
(1867 - 1890), Cheyenne
Called Cheyenne Depot or Quartermaster Depot at Cheyenne beginning in 1871. Located midway between Fort Russell and the town.

Camp O. O. Howard
(1885), near Pine Bluffs
A temporary Army encampment.

Fort Bernard
(1845 - 1846), Lingle
An independent fur trade post. It was destroyed by fire. The site was later occupied from 1849 - 1868 by an unprotected trading post operated by James Bordeaux.

Fort Platte
(1841 - 1847), Fort Laramie
A competing trading post to Fort Laramie, located across the river. Sold by Lancaster Lupton in 1842 to Sybille, Adams and Co., and they in turn sold it in 1845 to Pratte, Cabanne and Co. Sold in 1847 to the American Fur Co. who then demolished it.

Fort Laramie (National Historic Site)
(1834 - 1890), Fort Laramie
Originally named Fort William, a wooden stockaded trading post built in 1834 by the Rocky Mountain Fur Co. and located on the Oregon Trail. It was sold to the American Fur Co. in 1836 (another website). It was rebuilt into an adobe fort in 1841 and renamed Fort John. The U.S. Army purchased the fort in 1849 to guard the Oregon and other trails and mail routes. Its official name remained Fort John. However, almost everyone continued to use the popular name Fort Laramie. The Army replaced the older structures by 1862 with newer construction. The fort was eventually abandoned in 1890. This was the first permanent trading post in the state. 21 buildings and some ruins remain. Restored buildings include a guardhouse, hospital, Officers' quarters, cavalry barracks, and sutler's store (1849), which is the oldest building in the state. Fort Laramie Historical Association

Camp Payne
(1858), near Fort Laramie
A temporary Army post located north of Fort Laramie along the stage line.

Camp Bitter Cottonwood
(1856), Wendover
A temporary Army encampment at Cottonwood Creek.

Fort Robinson
(unknown dates), Wendover
A Federal fort located on the North Platte River at Cottonwood Creek.
(info provided by Marshall Sitrin)

Camp Hat Creek
(1876 - 1877), Hat Creek
Built to protect the Cheyenne-Deadwood Trail to the Black Hills goldmines. Some buildings still remain.
(info provided by Watson Parker of the Council on America's Military Past)

Camp Marshall
(1862 - 1866), near Douglas
Originally called Detachment at La Bonte Station until 1863 when rebuilt as a stockade. Built to guard a telegraph station on the Oregon Trail. Located 10 miles south of town on the North Platte River at the mouth of La Bonte Creek.

Camp Elkins
(1892), near Fort Fetterman
A temporary encampment during the "Johnson County War", a subpost of Fort Niobrara, NE.

Fort Fetterman (State Historic Site)
(1867 - 1882), near Orpha
Replaced Fort Caspar. Located on La Prele Creek near the junction of the Oregon and Bozeman Trails. It was abandoned by the Army in 1882 but ranchers and wagon trains continued to use the fort until 1886. Two original buildings remain. A museum is in the Officers' quarters.

Fort Caspar
(1855 - 1859, 1862 - 1867), Casper
Located on the south-side of the North Platte River at the emmigrant crossing known as Camp Platte since 1840, later known as Mormon Ferry from 1847 to 1858, then as Platte Bridge. The military post was first known as Camp Platte River, Fort Clay and Camp Davis until 1858, then renamed Platte Bridge Station until 1865. Built to help protect the Oregon Trail and a telegraph line. Attacked by Indians in 1865. Rebuilt and enlarged in 1866, it was then abandoned and replaced by Fort Fetterman. The buildings and bridge were burned by the Indians immediately afterward. The fort was reconstructed in the 1930's, with a museum on site. (An early clerical error changed the spelling of the town.)

Fort Seminoe
(1852 - 1860's), near Lamont
A trading post established by Charles Lajuenesse (Seminoe) on the Oregon Trail near Muddy Gap. The Mormons used this post as a place of refuge in 1856 while they were caught in an early blizzard at Horse Creek, located to the east of Independence Rock. The site has recently been excavated by the Mormon Church.

Portuguese Houses
(1834 - 1840), near Kaycee
Located at the confluence of the North and South forks of the Powder River 12 miles east of town. Sometimes referred to as Fort Antonio (Montero). This was a complex of cabins surrounded by a palisade. Abandoned due to a large influx of competitive fur-trappers.

Fort Reno
(1865 - 1868), near Sussex
Originally named Fort Connor and used as a supply base during Brig. General Conner's Powder River Campaign. Rebuilt in 1866 into a stockaded log fort with blockhouses and renamed. It was abandoned in accordance with a peace treaty with the Indians, and almost immediately burned by them. Mounds of soil trace the outlines of the fort, located on the west bank of the Powder River along the Bozeman Trail. A monument is at the site, located 11 miles north of town.
(correct location provided by Jeff Barnes)

Fort McKinney
(1876 - 1894), Buffalo
Originally located three miles south of the former Fort Reno, on the north bank of the Powder River, and called Cantonment Reno or New Fort Reno (2). Due to unhealthful conditions the post was moved in 1877 to its present location three miles west of town on Clear Creek, and renamed. The former site remained garrisoned, however, known as McKinney Depot or Reno Station. The post became the State Soldiers and Sailors Home in 1905.

Camp Bettens
(1892 - 1895, intermittent), Arvada
After its initial occupation during the "Johnson County War", this post was reoccupied every summer as a subpost of Fort Robinson, NE. Site located on the Powder River north of town.

Camp Devin
(1878), Crook County
A temporary Federal post originally located on the Little Missouri River south of Alzada, MT, then relocated to Oak Creek on the south-side of the Belle Fourche River, north of Aladdin, before it was abandoned.

Fort Phil Kearny (State Historic Site)
(1866 - 1868), near Story
Built to protect the Bozeman Trail. It was first known as Fort Carrington and New Fort Reno (1), originally intended to replace Fort Reno. Almost continuously attacked by Indians, the stockaded fort was abandoned in accordance with a peace treaty with the Indians. The Cheyenne burned it down soon afterward. Reconstructed stockade and Officers' quarters on site.

Fort Mackenzie
(1899 - 1918), Sheridan
A training camp during the Spanish-American War and World War I. Now a Veterans Administration Hospital, with about 75 of the original buildings remaining.

Fort Yellowstone
(Yellowstone National Park)
(1886 - 1918), Mammoth Hot Springs
Located on Beaver Creek, it was established to protect the National Park from poachers and vandals. Originally called Camp Sheridan until 1891 when permanent structures were erected. The last of Camp Sheridan's original buildings burned down in 1964. The remaining buildings of Fort Yellowstone serve the Park's administration staff. The walking tour begins at the Albright Visitor Center.

Camp on the Snake River
(1879 - 1883), near Jackson ?
A Federal encampment on the Snake River.

Fort Bonneville
(1832), Daniel
An independent trading post built by Capt. Benjamin Bonneville on Horse Creek that was abandoned a few months after it was built. It was a square stockade with two blockhouses in diagonal corners. Rival traders called it Fort Nonsense and Bonneville's Folly.

Fort Washakie
(Wind River Indian Reservation)
(1869 - 1909), Fort Washakie
Built to protect the reservation created for the friendly Shoshonis in 1868. It also guarded nearby mining settlements. It was originally located in Lander and known as Camp Auger as a subpost of Fort Bridger, and then renamed Camp Brown in 1870 as an independent post. The post was moved in 1871 to its present location when the Indian Agency moved. The fort was renamed in 1878 after Shoshoni Chief Washakie, who was buried near here in 1900. Since 1909 the fort itself has been used as the Shoshoni Indian Agency. A few of the military buildings remain.

Fort McGraw
(1857 - 1858), Lander
Originally named Fort Thompson, built as winter quarters for the troops building a wagon road to Oregon to bypass Utah and the Mormons. Site located two miles northeast of town.

Camp Stambaugh
(1870 - 1878), Atlantic City
Built to protect miners. Located in Smith's Gulch, three miles east of town.

NEED MORE INFO: Fort McHenry (date ? and location ?), Fort Piney (date ? and location ?), both possibly trading posts. Federal Camp Pelouse River (1858) (location ?).
Stockade Creek in eastern Weston County. Fortress Mountain in Park County. Fortification Creek in northern Johnson County.