Lander Downtown

Sponsored by Lander Pioneer Museum

• Location: Wyoming
• Travel Type: Walking
• Tour Duration: 1 hour
• Language:

About This Tour
The story of the Lander Valley reflects every major theme in the history of Western America: the Native Americans, the Mountain Men, explorers, Oregon/California Trail Emigrants, cattle drives and cowboys, mining, the United States Army and struggles with Native People, freighting, farming, the railroad, and building a community in the western wilderness.

Lander came to life on the banks of the Popo Agie River in the late 1860s as the midway point between the Wind River Reservation and the Gold Fields in the South Pass area. The only town of any size for a hundred miles in any direction, it was the center of “civilization” in the vast, rugged Wind River basin.
Miners, soldiers, freighters, cowboys, outlaws and Native Americans were part of the rough frontier town, which grew to become a prosperous, settled Victorian community and the county seat of an area the size of the state of Massachusetts.

As you walk the town of Lander’s historic Main Street you will learn about the town known as “where the rails end and the trails begin,” and some of the colorful folks who made this their home. Outlaw Butch Cassidy, author Own Wister, Calamity Jane, Chief Washakie, shrewd businessman and Italian immigrant Eugene Amoretti, and many others.

Tour Sponsors
This tour is sponsored by The Fremont County Pioneer Museum with the help of a generous grant from the Lightner Sams Foundation.

Find More Tours Near You
Want to enjoy more mobile audio tours in the area? Check out Roads Through Wyoming: US-287 or Red Canyon Ranch. To find additional tours in Wyoming and the Mountain West — or wherever your travels may take you — visit TravelStorys.com.

Every place has a story to tell!