According to the Wyoming Historical Society, on July 16, 1938, Fort Laramie was declared a National Monument. On July 17, 1877, Yale paleontologist O.C. Marsh received news from two Union Pacific Railroad workers that they had discovered what turned out to be dinosaur bones outside of Como – this discovery kicked off Wyoming’s first “dinosaur rush.”
On that same day four years later, famous Western trapper, mountain explorer, and businessman Jim Bridger died in Westport, Missouri.
On July 19th, 1867, Fort Fetterman was established on the Platte River near present-day Douglas, where the Bozeman Trail broke north from the Oregon Trail. Also on July 19th, but in 1885, a young author named Owen Wister caught a two-hour snooze on the counter of the general store in Medicine Bow while waiting for a train. His bestselling novel “The Virginian,” opens with a similar scene.
On July 20, 1942, traffic regulations for Cheyenne Frontier Days were announced.