Historic Governors' Mansion

Fort Laramie was a significant 19th century trading post and diplomatic site located at the confluence of the Laramie River and the North Platte River in the upper Platte River Valley in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Wyoming. It was founded in the 1830s to service the overland fur trade during the middle 19th century. It sat at the bottom of the long climb leading to the best and lowest crossing point at South Pass into western descending valleys and so was a primary stopping point on the Oregon Trail. Along with Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River, the trading post and its supporting industries and businesses were the most significant economic hub of commerce in the region. Fort William was a private fur trading post founded by William Sublette and his partner Robert Campbell in 1834. In the spring of 1835, Sublette sold the fort to Thomas Fitzpatrick, a local fur trader. After the Rendezvous of 1836, it was sold to the American Fur Company. Starting as early as the fall of 1840, the American Fur Company began competing with the newly established Fort Platte, built by L.P. Lupton. In response, the American Fur Company hired laborers from Santa Fe to construct an adobe fort to replace Fort William. This fort was named Fort John, after John Sarpy, a partner of the American Fur Company. In 1849, United States Army purchased the fort to protect the many wagon trains of migrant travelers on the Oregon Trail, and hence the subsidiary co-located northern emigrant trails which split off further west such as the California and Mormon trails. The middle reaches of the Mormon trail stayed on the north banks of the Platte and North Platte River and merged with the other emigrant trails heading west over the continental divide from Fort John-Laramie. The name Fort Laramie came into gradual use, likely as a convenient shortening of Fort John at the Laramie River. The remaining structures are preserved as the Fort Laramie National Historic Site by the National Park Service.
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