The "Mormon" Ferry

The thirteen on this plate is a count. The Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association was organized in September 1930, with the church leader George Albert Smith at its head, to find and mark the Latter-day Saint trail, and it went on to set more than a hundred monuments between Nauvoo and Utah and across the West. Smith came to Casper for this one's dedication on July 17, 1932. The association no longer exists; the Sons of Utah Pioneers now look after its numbered markers.

What the plaque says

No 13 Erected 1932 The "Mormon" Ferry First commercial ferry on Platte River was established 1/2 mile south of here in June 1847 by "Mormon" pioneers on their way to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. Brigham Young directed nine men to remain to operate the ferry. They were Thomas Grover, Captain, John S. Higbee, Luke S. Johnson, Appleton M. Harmon, Edmund Ellsworth, Francis M. Pomeroy, William Empey, James Davenport and Benjamin F. Stewart. The first passengers were Missourians bound for Oregon. The ferry was made of two large cottonwood canoes fastened by crosspieces and covered with slabs. It was operated with oars. Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association, Natrona County Historical Society and Citizens of Wyoming

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Caspar Museum — 0.6 mi
  The crossing before the fort: the Mormon ferry of 1847 and Guinard's toll bridge of 1859, rebuilt beside the 1936 log station.

More markers nearby

• Oregon Trail — steps away
• Oregon Trail Memorial — 0.6 mi
• The Pony Express — 0.6 mi
• Oregon Trail — 0.6 mi