Wyoming Fact & Fiction
February 7, 2022
Today, I will go way back
in Wyoming history to talk about Captain Benjamin Bonneville. Bonneville might
be best remembered because of the tales told of him by Washington Irving. Although
romanced and glorified, that book published in 1837 – The Adventures of Captain
Bonneville, made Bonneville famous. It is a good thing because Bonneville
started with leave from the Army but overstayed his time in the west by a
couple of years. After a bit of an oral reprimand, the Army reinstated
Bonneville to his rank and position in the military after his three-year
wandering sabbatical.
So what did Bonneville
do? He found his way with one hundred and ten men and twenty-eight wagons over
south-pass first traversed by the Ashley party six years earlier. This passage
of so many men and wagons opened up what would soon become the Oregon Trail –
the new gateway to the west coast. Bonneville traveled from Independence,
Missouri, crossed the Little Blue in Nebraska, followed the Platte to the
Sweetwater, and then led his men through south pass to the Green River. On the
Green, he met Lucien Fontenelle of the American Fur Company and built Fort
Bonneville. That fort near present-day Pinedale was completed by early August
in 1832. It did not take long for heavy winter snows to cause Bonneville and
his men to abandon the fort for a more mild location. The fort was so short-lasting
that it was later dubbed Bonneville’s Folly or Fort Nonsense. Although nothing
remains of the fort today, the site is marked and on the National Register of
Historic Places.
Wyoming Trivia – two
questions today
Q1 – Washington Irving might be
famous in the west for writing his tales of Captain Bonneville, but he is best
known for writing two of the most famous short stories in literary history. Can
you name one or both?
Q2 – Before Captain Bonneville
reached Green River, there had already been seven mountain man rendezvous in
the area. What, located in the town of Pinedale today, celebrates those early
Wyoming times?
Answers
Q1 – Rip Van Winkle
(1819) & The legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820)
Q2 – The Museum of the Mountain
Man
Here is the link to all of my books on
Amazon
Today’s photos were taken last week in
and around my little town of Guernsey and all taken while on one of my many daily
walks.
See you next week!
