Featured Topics

Wyoming’s Founding Figures

Indigenous People in Wyoming and the West

Woman Suffrage and Women’s Rights

Bissonette’s LaBonte Creek Post

Joseph Bissonette relocated to LaBonte Creek in 1854, just weeks before the Grattan Fight ignited the First Sioux War. Raided twice and stripped of trade by military restrictions, his least successful post reveals how quickly the North Platte’s independent trading era collapsed.

Read More
Lock and Randolph Company

In 1841, the obscure firm of Lock and Randolph built a log post near Fort Adams on the North Platte, the smallest player in a crowded market. Known mainly from a note about borrowed axes, the venture failed, followed by bankruptcy at Fort Vasquez.

Read More
The Portuguese Houses

In 1834, Antonio Montero built a remote trading post for Crow trade deep in Powder River country. Isolated, harassed by Blackfeet raiders and rival trappers, and undone by a ruinous winter in 1836-37, the Portuguese Houses remain remarkably undisturbed beneath a Johnson County hayfield.

Read More
Ward and Guerrier’s Sand Point Post

Seth Ward and William Guerrier built Sand Point Post at Register Cliff, the first stop west of Fort Laramie, where they pioneered livestock exchange and open-range wintering that launched Wyoming’s cattle industry. It operated for sixteen years, doubling as mail and Pony Express station.

Read More
Ward and Guerrier’s Fort Laramie Post

After the Grattan Fight forced Platte River traders to Fort Laramie in 1855, Seth Ward and William Guerrier built a trading post just across the river. Ward became the fort’s sutler in 1857, anchoring one of the corridor’s most successful trading partnerships until 1863.

Read More
Bissonette’s LaBonte Creek Post
Lock and Randolph Company
The Portuguese Houses
Ward and Guerrier’s Sand Point Post
Ward and Guerrier’s Fort Laramie Post

The Latest from Our Blog

From Casino Nights to Treaty Rights: Inside Tribal Government: Wind River Reservation

In the 1990s, Wyoming charities ran roulette nights while the state told the Northern Arapaho Tribe it could not offer the same games. That fight is one of the stories in Tribal Government: Wind River Reservation, a newly updated guide to Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho government that WyoHistory.org helped bring back into print.

Keep Reading
Book cover with images of a buffalo skull nestled in some native plants with mountains in the horizon; the title text reads, "Tribal Government, Wind River Reservation, by Janet Flynn with contributions by A.W. Baldwin

Education

Explore WyoHistory.org’s education packages, designed for classroom use.

View the Education Page
Map of locations

Interactive Map

Explore Wyoming’s history using our interactive map of articles. 

View the map

Historical Topics

Contributors

Subscribe to the WyoHistory.org Newsletter

The WyoHistory.org monthly newsletter includes updates of new articles on the website, info on history-related events, news about our contributors, etc. Add your name to the list to stay informed about all things history in Wyoming.

Learn More and Sign Up

Like Us on Facebook

Join the discussion about Wyoming history and receive updates when new articles are posted to the website.

Like Us Now

Support WyoHistory.org

We need your support to update the website with new articles and keep our archive of Wyoming history growing. To learn more about how to donate to WyoHistory.org, please reach out to editor@wyohistory.org.