There were few places to pull of and get pictures in the lovely canyon through which I-84 traversed the Wasatch Mountains but, immediately upon reaching Echo and I-80 there was a rest stop. I've already posted the photos from that little stop. Beautiful vertical canyon walls of pockmarked red sandstone were lit by the 9 AM sun. After that, there was the high and dry plains of southern Wyoming through which the occasional ridge of old, old eroded sills and volcanic rock poked their jagged edges skywards. That and the deep canyons of existing and/or dried up streams and rivers where the water had carved its channel.
Then we came to Fort Bridger on the banks of the Green River and "Business Route I-80" and the state historic site there. We stopped.
There's a fee to get in but a nice large parking lot for trailers and motor homes made it inviting. We paid our fee and parked.
Directly we noticed a sign for the Lincoln Highway and the "Orange and Black Cabins."
The Lincoln Highway
First transcontinental highwayStarted in the 19-teens, the highway grew as did the highway system. Then the Great Depression hit and there were numerous make-work projects including the WPA. With folks traveling to find work, inexpensive roadside cabins were needed. The government stepped up to build some of the first "tourist cabins" or "motor hotels" in the country.
Manager's quarters
1930s "motel"You can still see the remnants of these along some of the old US highways. After WWII the number and quality of privately owned motels exploded.
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Fort Bridger, as reconstructed, is the facility that existed after the Civil War. The fort itself was first established in the 1830s by fur trapper/trader Jim Bridger and a small piece of that history is still present on the banks
of the river. In the 1840s and 50s the early fort served as a way station for folks on the Oregon and Mormon Trails.
The Carter family served as suppliers to the army at Fort Bridger (even then, the government undersupplied the military!), the individual soldiers and even the Pony Express during its only year in operation (1860-1861). All the while, the Carters followed in Jim Bridger's business footsteps catering to the needs of those traveling the wagon routes west. This made them quite wealthy and important resulting in the family patriarch becoming Judge Carter.
Freight Wagon used to haul goods circa 1860
Carter's Sutler's store adjacent to Fort Bridger
Ice HouseJudge Carter had four daughters and two sons. TO further their education--and that of other children at Fort Bridger, he had a schoolhouse constructed--Wyoming's first.
Wyoming's first schoolhouse (attached to the milk shed)After the Civil War, there were still concerns about the safety of the travelers along the trails west, but Chief Washakie of the Shoshone recognized the need to adapt and change and work with the multitude of whites coming into the area so danger was minimal in and around Fort Bridger. This was something of a cushiony post and it showed in the structures that remained when the fort was dismantled in the 1890s.
The Commanding Officer's QuartersThe above building was moved closer to the highway after the fort closed and became a hotel. It was privately purchased, dismantled and stored to later be moved back to its original site.
The 2nd in Command's Quarters
And example of the shared quarters for single officers.
The bandstand.
The Parade GroundsEarlier structures were constructed out of limestone slabs and white-washed adobe. (See Carter's store and the Milk Shed above for more examples.)
Current Museum and Gift Shop
Supply and Stockade circa 1860sAnd that about wraps up our visit to Ft. Collins.
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