Transportation

One fine summer morning in 1871, the sailboat Annie launched from the north shore of Yellowstone Lake—the first known boat to traverse its waters. Read more about this exciting chapter of the epic Hayden Geological Survey in Jett B. Conner’s article, The Annie.

One of three major roads across the mountain West, the Cherokee Trail ran from the Cherokee Nation—present Oklahoma—to the California gold fields. It served as a principal route for people from the South to lands of their dreams—and it crossed what’s now Wyoming on the way.

Hundreds of Cheyenne warriors charging a group of U.S. soldiers along a creek named Bonepile fulfills several Hollywood clichés. But these events on a hot August morning in 1865, 10 miles south of present Gillette, Wyoming, were very, very real.

Attracting tens of thousands of visitors annually, the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center opened in Casper in August 2002. Keeping history and memory alive, the center also serves school groups and offers interpretive exhibits, guest speakers, re-enactors and special events targeting people of all ages and interests.

Contrary to legend, the sole purpose of the Pony Express was to secure a $1 million U.S. Mail subsidy by showing mail could be delivered on time between Missouri and California—even through winter. But in the contest between the Pony Express and Wyoming winter, winter won.

After World War I, people in America’s fast-growing, car-purchasing middle class could afford pleasure trips and began sending home picture postcards. The cards reveal a great deal about the attitudes, class and prejudices of their senders and vendors, and hint at what Wyoming people wanted the world to see.

Connecticut-born Edward Gillette came west 1878, eager for excitement. His expertise as a surveyor led eventually to his leading the party that located the Burlington Railroad route through northeast Wyoming. Though Gillette, Wyo., was named for him, he finally settled in Sheridan to a life of successful business and public service.

U.S. Census taker James Clopper counted 366 people with military connections at Fort Laramie in 1860, and another 300 civilians outside fort boundaries. It weas a diverse group: Soldiers, Indians, traders and freighters lived there; stagecoaches carrying people and mail, westbound young families and a few handcart-pulling Mormons were all passing through.

A major route for emigrants, freighters, the military, stagecoaches and mail, the Overland Trail across present southern Wyoming saw heavy traffic in the 1850s and 1860s. At different stations along the way, coach drivers obtained fresh horses, the wives of station masters fed dusty travelers and soldiers fought attacking warriors.

A ford, ferry and stage station made up bustling little Green River Station, where the Oregon/California/Mormon Trail crossed the Green River—part of Green River County, Utah until Wyoming became a territory. Serving emigrants, passengers, freighters and the Pony Express, the station died after the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869.