Location
c/o Ft. Bridger
P.O. Box 35
Ft. Bridger, WY 82933
(307)782-3842 (Office)
Linda Newman-Byers, Superintendent
Site Facilities
Interstate 80 (exit 24, Leroy Road); ten miles south of I-80.
Brief History
Built by Moses Byrne in 1869 to supply charcoal for the iron smelting industry in Utah, these conical limestone kilns measure 30 feet across and 30 feet high. Only three of the original 40 kilns remain. It was estimated that during 1873, the kilns could produce 100,000 bushels of charcoal. Most of the charcoal was sent to Utah on the UP railroad. Wood burned in the kilns came from the nearby Uinta Mountains. The ghost of Piedmont is nearby, as is the Byrne family cemetery.
The first fort in Wyoming was started as a fur trade post in 1834, known as Fort John. Located near the Laramie River, it had become Fort Laramie by 1849 when the military took control. The fort's grounds just west of the town of Fort Laramie in southeast Wyoming have an open parade ground surrounded by military-era buildings. One structure, Old Bedlam, is the oldest standing building in the State of Wyoming. At or near Fort Laramie, fur traders, overland emigrants, the frontier army and Indians gathered as they came to trade, work and meet. read more
In 1894, some 800,000 head of wild, longhorn cattle from Texas were moved along the trail into the territories of Wyoming and Montana to stock the open ranges. read more
