The Oregon Trail

The bend the stone points to is where Robert Stuart and six other Astorians, homeward bound from the Columbia after crossing South Pass, built a winter cabin in November 1812. Stuart set it down as eight feet wide and eighteen long; a later account gives it stone walls and a buffalo-hide roof. They did not stay. A party of Arapaho found them in December, and with Crow reported nearby the men abandoned the hut on December 13 and went on down the North Platte to winter near present Torrington.

What the plaque says

The Oregon Trail 1841 Oregon Trail approximately four miles north. On bend of North Platte visible to the north Robert Stuart in 1812 erected the first white man's cabin in Wyoming. Erected by the Historical Landmark Commission of Wyoming. 1943

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Caspar Museum — 9.7 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

• Red Buttes — 1.9 mi
• Battle of Red Buttes — 6.3 mi
• Oregon Trail — 9.7 mi
• The Pony Express — 9.7 mi