Laramie

The board says his Boomerang, and the pronoun fits. Bill Nye named the paper for his gray mule, he said, because he never knew where it was going to strike. Started in 1881 for backers who wanted a Republican daily, the Boomerang soon left a shoe store for the loft of a livery stable at Third and Garfield, where a sign at the foot of the stairs told callers to twist the gray mule's tail and take the elevator. A local historian allows that, with Nye, even the mule is not beyond doubt.

What the plaque says

Laramie Founded in 1868 upon the arrival of the Union Pacific Railroad, Laramie was named after the fur trader Jacques La Ramie. The first female Jurors served here in 1870 after Wyoming Territory in 1869, for the first time in history, gave women full rights of suffrage. Humorist Bill Nye founded his Boomerang newspaper in 1881, and the University of Wyoming opened its doors in 1887. At the south edge of the city lie the ruins of Fort Sanders, 1866-1882. West of the city can be seen the first intermountain ranch (1869) and the ruts left by Ben Holladay's stage coaches on the old Overland Trail.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Vedauwoo — 15 mi
  Knobs of 1.4-billion-year-old granite between Laramie and Cheyenne, rough as sandpaper and famous among climbers for its wide cracks.

More markers nearby

• First Woman Jury — 0.7 mi
• Fort Sanders — 1.9 mi
• Old Overland Trail — 7.1 mi
• Henry B. Joy Monument — 9.3 mi