In 1834, Robert Campbell and William Sublette founded a trading post on the Laramie River about a mile and a half above its junction with the North Platte River. They named it Fort William. In 1835 they sold out to a syndicate of trappers, who shortly afterward sold it to the American Fur Company. A post called Fort Platte is believed to have been built by rival trappers in 1841, about a mile and a half from Fort William and nearer the confluence of the Laramie and Platte Rivers. The owners of Fort William then enlarged the original fort and furnished it with bastions, blockhouses and loopholes. The rebuilt structure was named Fort John for John B. Sarpy, an officer of the company. For a time, the names Fort William and Fort John were used interchangeably for the post; then, it is said, a shipping clerk by mistake marked a box 'Fort Laramie' instead of 'Fort John on the Laramie.' Robert Campbell thought the new name a good one and adopted it immediately. When the Government, on Fremont's recommendation, bought and garrisoned Fort Laramie in 1849, it was already known as a major stopping place on the great Western trails and as the center of a mountain and plains region, hundreds of miles in extent. It was abandoned in 1890 as a military post. (Wyoming Guide)
Other Names:
Fort William, Fort John, Fort Laramie National Historic Site
County:
Goshen
Feature Category:
Manmade Features
More Reading:
Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office. Fort Laramie. WyoHistory.org
