Fort Bridger

The day was bright, windy and much colder than anytime on this adventure.  We sadly had to leave our beautiful boondock site and head out for the next leg of our adventure. We are going to Fort Bridger today. In the city center of Kemmerer, Wyoming we saw the “mother store” (store number 1) of the JCPenney retail empire. A small shrine that is still open for business as indicated on the Father’s Day sale sign in the front window. Who knew? A quick stop for coffee and gas launched another day of exciting exploration.

The first order of business was breakfast at the Cowboy Cafe in Lyman, WY. Dubious outside and in but a great stop. The reading rack had numerous shooting magazines, Rush Limbaugh Letters, Farm and Ranch, and other cowboy literature. The clientele was as diverse as the menu. In one corner there were 3 Wyoming State Troopers. Next to our table was a mountain man looking local who topped off coffees, bussed dirty dishes, and struck up conversations with anyone willing to listen. There was a rough looking “lady” who appeared to be a shepherd or at least a sheep dog trainer judging by the number of whistles on a lanyard around her neck. A biker covered in tattoos including the Texas flag and state of Texas on his neck. Also sharing breakfast with the “mountain man” and sheepdog lady was another regular who appeared to be a local rancher. Dressed for the range that through the many years has hobbled him to using a cane he doggedly headed slowly out to meet the day.  Eating my two eggs over medium, hash browns all served with a buffalo patty I felt pretty normal.

At Fort Bridger it was too cold and windy to get out so we decided to make a driving loop in order to visit some other historical sites and let el sol take the chill off the day before we returned to the fort. 

The first stop was at Fort Supply to the south. Here the Mormons attempted to establish a trading post to bypass Fort Bridger with mixed results. Mr. Young ordered Fort Supply and Fort Bridger burned in advance of the federal troops sent by President James Buchanan in 1857 to install the new governor of the Utah territory.

Next stop was at Piedmont Coal Kilns state historic site. Twelve miles away over a dirt road through open range covered in sagebrush, wildflowers, scattered cattle and a lone herder’s wagon. The road would snake out into the distance as the K2R2 topped each ridge. Coming around the corner of one of the ridges there appeared from a distance to be four giant beehives. Each one capable of holding 30 cords of wood that would subsequently be rendered into charcoal. These were abandoned as the Union Pacific line was moved north leaving the Kilns and a now decrepit Ghost town.

Now back at Fort Bridger we were able to take a tour of the site. Here fortunes were made supplying the many overlanders headed westward and trading with the Indians. The fort traded hands many times from Jim Bridger and his partner to the Mormons, From the Mormons to the US army, from the army to civilians and finally from the civilians to the state of Wyoming. The Lincoln Highway from Chicago to California stirred the fort to life again with some of the first travel hotels here at the fort called the “The Black and Orange Cabins” designed to accommodate the new horseless carriages around 1909.

We shoved off to Afton, Wyoming to a small cabin in the woods by a stream to rest up for our big dig tomorrow at the fossil quarries near Kemmerer, Wyoming. Stay tuned!