The Fort Phil Kearny Sawmill

The Fort Fred Steele sawmill had traveled thousands of miles by rail and wagon prior to its arrival and installation here, along the North Platte River. The Lane and Bodley 15 horsepower steam-driven sawmill began its journey through the military forts of Wyoming at Fort Stephen Kearny, located in Nebraska. In the summer of 1866, Colonel Henry B. Carrington requisitioned and hauled the sawmill by wagon to northeast Wyoming where it was used to cut 1.5 million log feet of lumber used in the construction of Fort Phil Kearny. A sister sawmill was burned by Indians during these turbulent times along the Piney Creeks when open warfare between the soldiers and the warriors of the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne tribes contested the use of the Bozeman Trail. By 1868 the matter was settled, forts along the Bozeman Trail were abandoned and the sawmills were transferred to the new forts being built on the wayside of the recently constructed trans-continental railroad. This sawmill began this new journey first by wagon when it was transferred first to Fort Fetterman, and then across the Laramie Range to the railhead at Rock Creek. Then it was transported by rail to this location and again began building homes, offices, storage houses, and defensive structures for the new garrison and its mission of protecting the railroad.

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Show me all markers in:  Sinclair, WY  |  Carbon County  |  82334  |  Wyoming  |  United States of America

Town of Ft. Steele
Carbon Timber Company
Railroad and River
Brownsville and Benton
Bridge Tender's House
Image of Fort Fred Steele
Rock Springs Massacre
Major General Philippe Regis de Trobriand
Major Thomas Tipton Thornburgh
Thornburgh's Command

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