Today we had no onerous tasks to perform so we were free to go exploring. We started the tour by driving almost two blocks from our campground to the entrance to Fort Bridger Historic Site. We parted with $4 a head ($2 for Wyoming residents) and pulled into the parking lot. Very close is a building used as a trading post in the 1880s. There was a young kid dressed up as a period soldier inside the building and he seemed quite sharp about both the history of the site and the contents of the store. Back in the day, apparently the store sold everything from nails to crank-operated butter churns. They had some old guns, some very well-crafted casework to hold goods and even sold nice beaver hats.
Once beaver hats and other fur items went out of vogue in the fashion industry, the death knell was sounded for trade in pelts. Jim Bridger, explorer and original trading post operator, got in trouble for providing his clients, Indians, with guns and booze which made numerous people angry. Bridger got out of retail marketing and went back to having fun. The US Army and the Pony Express and Mormons all added to the original trading post and some tried to burn it down although they weren’t entirely successful. At one time, there was a detachment of some 2500 soldiers here during some unpleasantness with the Mormons.
It was a tough place to survive in the 19th century. An Army group headed for Fort Bridger lost 600 cattle in one night due to the -16 degree temperatures and lack of fodder. Mormon zealots also attacked the column during winter, burning up supplies and leaving the soldiers with inappropriate cold weather gear and shelter.
We made a stop in the post museum which has some neat exhibits in it. They also offer some short videos of historical stuff which you can see while sitting in their nice little theater. They also have a small store in the museum and Peggy found some stuff she liked called Chipmunk Poo and something else called Moose Poop which she felt compelled to purchase. In fairness, she also found some nice jewelry and some small decorative items to spice up our mundane trailer interior decorating.
After finishing up at the Fort, we decided to go see the ghost town of Piedmont which is located about 10 miles west on I-80 and 15 miles down a dirt road. There are 3 complete and 1 mostly destroyed charcoal kilns there that were made back when the railroad was coming through this part of the world. There are also the remains of about a dozen old structures like barns and small houses that don’t look like they will survive for too much longer. The terrain around Piedmont seems to have plenty of water and lush grass, gently rolling hills covered with sage and no electricity. It looks like a lot of people live spread out across the land, mostly in trailers and not within sight of each other. We spotted deer, pronghorns, two big brown hawks, yellow-headed blackbirds, red-winged blackbirds, Canadian geese, barn swallows near water, yellow-bellied marmots and prairie dogs along the dirt road to and from Piedmont.
We took a loop through Evanston and as soon as we got on I-80 eastbound, we spotted Bear River State Park and got right back off the freeway. They have some very large bison and elk here, penned in big pastures with very sturdy fences augmented by the repelling effects of DC voltage. There was a bull bison there that looked about the same size as a car and in another pasture they have a seven-point bull elk whose rack requires about the same size as the rest of his body. Both of them were magnificent specimens.
After ogling the wildlife in Bear River, we jumped back on I-80 and drove about 30 miles east to Fort Bridger. The scenery around here is beautiful, the weather has been quite nice and the people we have spoken with have all been very pleasant. I would not make this a primary destination but I certainly would enjoy coming back here. Tomorrow we will go a bit west until we pick up the connector to US-89. From there we stay northbound on 89 until we get close to Glacier National Park in northern Montana. Fortunately, 89 passes through The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone on the way north.
We took some photos at Fort Bridger, Piedmont and in Evanston’s Bear River State Park and you can see some of them if you click here