Casper
In 1847, on the Oregon Trail, the Mormons established a ferry at a fording place on the North Platte river. In the 1850s, the ferry was superseded by the Platte Bridge. Casper was founded at the location of the bridge in 1888 with the arrival of the railroad. It expanded with the discovery of oil at Salt Creek in 1890, followed by the Teapot Dome and Big Muddy finds. In 1948, wells in the Lost Soldier field of Sweetwater county brought another boom.
Casper is an old oil boom-town and there are still many oil-affiliated industries. There is open-pit uranium mining nearby, as well as gas and coal production. The city has wool and livestock markets, meatpacking plants, varied manufacturing and a growing tourist industry.
Points of interest
- The restored Old Fort Caspar Museum (whose name is spelled like that because of a clerk's error).
- The federally funded and operated National Historic Trails Interpretive Center.
- Nicolaysen Art Museum.
- Tate Geological Museum at Casper College.
- Werner Wildlife Museum.
- Wyoming Veterans Memorial Museum.
- The Science Zone.
- Historic Bishop Home.
Casper is a gateway to the nearby Central Wyoming Fairgrounds and Casper Mount, which is 2,440 m (8,000 feet) high.
Other sights in the surrounding area include the spectacular eroded area of Hell's Half Acre, Independence Rock and a petrified forest.
Accommodation and restaurants are available in Casper. The city sits on the North Platte River in the eastern part of Wyoming, 2,500 km west of Washington D.C. It is a rail, distribution, processing and trade center in a farming, ranching and mineral-rich area.
Images
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