page_title: Fort Laramie National Historic Site
section_title: The fur trade
hierarchical_section_title: Fort Laramie National Historic Site / History / The fur trade
caption_attribution_description: English: Fort John (later site of Fort Laramie) on the Oregon Trail was originally built of logs in 1834, then rebuilt in adobe in 1841. This digital reconstruction from a NPS/CyArk project is based on archaeological data, descriptions, and illustrations from the period when the Fort still stood. It shows the south and east facades of the high-walled Fort John, which as a private trading post was fortified to prevent theft rather than out of fear of an attack. Fort John fell into disuse following the military takeover of the Fort in 1849 and disappeared from records by 1860.
context_page_description: Fort Laramie was a significant 19th-century trading post, diplomatic site, and military installation located at the confluence of the Laramie and the North Platte rivers. They joined in the upper Platte River Valley in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Wyoming. The fort was founded as a private trading post in the 1830s to service the overland fur trade; in 1849, it was purchased by the United States Army. It was located east of the long climb leading to the best and lowest crossing point of the Rocky Mountains at South Pass and became a popular stopping point for migrants 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 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, which still had a virtual monopoly on the western fur trade.
context_section_description: The original fort was constructed in the 1830s, probably in 1833–1834 by William Sublette. The overland fur trade was still prosperous.
  The fort was located near the confluence of two rivers, so it commanded a broad plain with water on two sides; these formed a partial natural moat. In addition, the nearby confluence of the North Platte's waters had a ford easily used by travelers on what later became the northern overland emigrant trails following the North Platte River west from Nebraska. With the opening of the Mormon Trail on the north bank of the Platte and North Platte, the fort was a junction for westbound travelers. It was an anchor roughly a quarter of the way to either California or Oregon on the famous Oregon Trail. To the west, the common trail leaving Fort John-Laramie later spins off to the Mormon and California trails further west along the road to the Rogue River Valley. The main trail passed northwest to Oregon's Willamette Valley and Oregon City.
  One of the early principal owner-trappers was William Sublette, and the fort was called Fort William before being sold to the American Fur Company in 1841. (John Jacob Astor, the founder, had left his company a decade before.) The name was changed to Fort John after John B. Sarpy, a partner in the company. The 1846 treaties established relatively stable western territories after viable routes west had become well published. By the time the westward migration along the Oregon Trail had markedly increased, the U.S. Army had become tenants in the fort as well. The fort was located along the Laramie River just south of its mouth onto the North Platte River.
  On the opposite bank, the town of Fort Laramie, developed. (Both were later renamed to match the river's eponym.)
  Geographically the site is situated just east of the steeper foothills terrain to the west (sometimes called "High Plains") that ascends to the east side of the Rocky Mountains proper. This ascent was among the few roadways accessible by the wagons pioneers used to the west. It passed through the Continental divide and reached the west slopes of the Rockies along a network of river valleys connecting to the far west via South Pass near the head waters of the North Platte. The strategic site on the eastern plains also had large grazing areas, where migrants could rest their draft animals before tackling the mountains. People could set up camps, do laundry, and heal before beginning anew the rigors of the westward trail.
  In 1845 the nearby Fort Bernard was established about 8 miles (13 km) east, farther down the North Platte River, in hopes of getting some of the growing Emigrant Trail trade with western bound wagon trains. This much smaller fort undersold the Laramie operation. It offered a connection south via a crude mule-train road to the Santa Fe Trail via Colorado. Fort Bernard burnt down in 1866, and was never rebuilt. Only a few years later the transcontinental railway joined the two American sea coasts and train travel largely replaced the overland travel along the Emigrant Trails.
caption: Fort John (Fort Laramie) was originally built of logs in 1834, then rebuilt in adobe in 1841. This digital reconstruction from a National Park Service/CyArk project is based on archaeological data, descriptions, and illustrations from the period when the Fort still stood. It shows the south and east facades of the high-walled Fort John. As a private trading post it was fortified chiefly to prevent theft of the valuable furs. The name Fort John fell into disuse following the military takeover of the Fort in 1849, and disappeared from records by 1860.
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