Jacques La Ramie

The stone gives one cause of death and admits it is a guess. Accounts of Jacques La Ramée, a voyageur born in Québec in 1784, have him slipping through river ice, found dead in a cabin, stuffed under a beaver dam, or killed by rival trappers; the story of an Arapaho attack rests on one alleged witness, Pierre Lesperance, and the Arapaho denied it. The year wanders from 1819 to 1821. What survived was the name, written on early maps as La Ramie's Fork before it became one word.

What the plaque says

In honor of Jacques La Ramie free trapper, who came to this region around 1815 and met an unknown fate, probably at the hands of Indians, about 1820, on one of the rivers bearing his name between which this monument stands. Tradition says he was an honest, just, and courageous leader and trader. His name is perpetuated by three Laramie rivers, Ft. Laramie, the Laramie Plains, Laramie Peak, Laramie City and Laramie County Erected by the Historical Landmark Commission, of Wyoming. 1941

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Oregon Trail Ruts State Historic Site — 13 mi
  The clearest wagon ruts on the trail, worn by iron tires and cut deeper by travelers who hacked at the ledge to get their wagons over.
• Register Cliff State Historic Site — 14 mi
  The first camp out of Fort Laramie, where the oldest date on the rock reads 1829 and three emigrants never left.
• Fort Laramie National Historic Site — 20 mi
  Old Bedlam, the officers' quarters of 1849, survived the auction that scattered the rest of the post; an 1875 Army bridge still crosses the river.

More markers nearby

• Laramie Peak — 8.4 mi
• The Oregon Trail — 12 mi
• Rifle Pit Hill — 12 mi
• Oregon Trail — 13 mi