Approximately eight miles southwest of here, Robert Stuart built the first cabin in the state of Wyoming. The cabin was built in a three day period in early November,1812, at a site on the North Platte River at Bessemer Bend.
Robert Stuart was a member of the John Jacob Astor fur trading company that was under the command of William Price Hunt in 1812. After Astor's ship, the Tonquin, blew up in the Pacific Ocean and killed the crew, news was sent back to Astor via Robert Stuart. His route would take him over the Rockies from the mouth of the Columbia River to St. Louis.
Stuart's cabin was built of stone with a buffalo hide roof. According to his diary, it was 8' wide, 18' long, and 3' high. A hole in the center of the hide roof let the smoke escape. Following a visit by Arapahoes and learning of Crow Indians nearby, Stuart and his party abandoned their camp on December 13, 1812. They proceeded to present day Torrington, near the Wyoming-Nebraska border, where they spent the remainder of the winter.
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