Thousands of pioneers journeyed over 1,000 miles to reach this point. Illness and death were common. Everywhere along the trail people died and were buried.
It is estimated that one out of ten emigrants who started on the trail died before . . . — — Map (db m95503) HM
Located in central Wyoming's North Platte River Valley, Alcova Reservoir plays an important role in water conservation, irrigation, and hydroelectric generation. Alcova Reservoir was originally proposed in 1904 as part of a series of irrigation . . . — — Map (db m95576) HM
The Legend of Devil’s Gate
American Indian legend says a powerful evil spirit in the form of a tremendous beast with enormous tusks ravaged the Sweetwater Valley, preventing the Indians from hunting and camping. A holy man told the . . . — — Map (db m95488) HM
From here to Split Rock, a day's journey west, the Oregon Trail followed two routes; one close to the Sweetwater River, and the other a little further from it but more direct.
Capt. Howard Stansbury commented August 1, 1852:
"...Frost . . . — — Map (db m95515) HM
The grave of F.R. Fulkerson was noted by forty-niner J.G. Bruff on July 26, 1849, as he traveled through what he termed "Pass of the Rattle-Snake Mountain to the left of Devil's Gate." The survival of the large granite boulder used as the Fulkerson . . . — — Map (db m66997) HM
Fremont Canyon was named after General John Charles Fremont, who explored the canyon in 1842 when he was a Lieutenant in the Army. Pathfinder Dam located three miles upstream was also named for the explorer known as the "Pathfinder" who was . . . — — Map (db m95573) HM
Fremont Canyon Power Plant is located behind this door at the end of a 1,692 foot (516m) tunnel. Water used to power the plant's two hydraulic turbines is received from Pathfinder Reservoir through a 3 mile (4.8km) long tunnel and is discharged into . . . — — Map (db m179435) HM
This isolated mass of granite sprawls over 27 acres next to the meandering Sweetwater River. More than a mile in circumference, Independence Rock is 700 feet wide and 1,900 feet long. Its highest point, 136 feet above the rolling prairie, stands as . . . — — Map (db m153264) HM
Thousands who traveled the Oregon Trail in central Wyoming were unaware that they were the beneficiaries of a long series of geological events. The granite peaks around you are mountains that rose, sank and then were buried in sand and ashy . . . — — Map (db m62149) HM
Probably discovered by returning Astorians, 1812. Given its name by emigrants who celebrated Independence Day here July 4, 1825. Capt. Bonneville passed here with first wagons 1832. Whitman and Spalding, missionaries with their wives stopped here . . . — — Map (db m95548) HM
Two miles to the northwest nestled at the foot of the Sweetwater Rocks, lies Martin's Cove. Here Captain Edward Martin's exhausted company of Mormon handcart emigrants sought shelter from a severe early winter storm in 1856. The Martin Company, low . . . — — Map (db m95501) HM
Survivors of Captain Edward Martin's Handcart Company of Mormon emigrants from England to Utah were rescued here in perishing condition about Nov. 12, 1856. Delayed in starting and hampered by inferior carts it was overtaken by an early winter. . . . — — Map (db m95487) HM
It is believed that William Sublette named this landmark Independence Rock during an Independence Day celebration here on July 4, 1830. Sublette, a fur trapper and mountain man, had stopped at the site while leading an expedition to the Wind River . . . — — Map (db m154136) HM
Pathfinder Dam represents the earliest attempts by the United States government to develop the nation’s great river basins for irrigation, water storage, power production and recreation. The Federal Reclamation Act of 1902 authorized the Reclamation . . . — — Map (db m95578) HM
Of all our magnificent big game animals, only the pronghorn antelope cannot be traced back to Eurasia. Other big game animals are believed to have migrated to the continent via the now sunken Bering land mass located between Siberia and Alaska. . . . — — Map (db m95479) HM
In front of you is the Sun Ranch, one of the first large open range ranches in Wyoming. The original ranch building, which today makes up part of the Mormon Handcart Visitor Center, was constructed in 1872.
Tom de Beau Soleil (a French Canadian . . . — — Map (db m95502) HM
The Oregon Trail passed over the ridge to the east of Devil's Gate. Good grass, water and the shelter of the hills made this a popular campsite.
Explorer Brevet-Captain John C. Fremont, 1842:
"In about three miles, we reached the . . . — — Map (db m95504) HM
In 1852 an estimated 50,000 pioneers passed Independence Rock on their way west. Among this number was the family of 21-year-old Ezra Meeker, recently of Eddyville, Iowa, but natives of Indiana. Meeker, his wife Eliza, and their infant son, arrived . . . — — Map (db m95546) HM
An important landform like Independence Rock is protected and preserved only through the efforts of many people and organizations. Not all attempts at preservation and commemoration are acceptable by current standards, however, and some actions left . . . — — Map (db m95551) HM
