Wyoming State Law Library

The University of Wyoming was founded in 1886, four years prior to statehood. Provisions of the 1862 Morrill Act, also known as the Land Grant College Act, allowed for the teaching of agriculture, mechanic arts, and military tactics but also included literary and scientific studies. With statehood in 1890, the constitution confirmed the establishment of the university, that all students, regardless of gender or race, could attend, and that the cost...

John F. Patterson founded Pinedale in 1904 after proposing the establishment of a town along Pine Creek in western Wyoming. Patterson offered to build and stock a general store if local ranchers Charles Petersen and Robert Graham would donate five acres each for the site. Petersen and Graham agreed to this plan, a surveyor was hired, and Pinedale --named after the post office on Petersen's ranch --was officially established. Free town lots were offered...

Archival photographs help trace the history and development of Fort Laramie, Wyoming, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Nestled in a valley at the confluence of the Green River and Bitter Creek, the town of Green River is situated among some of the most famous and beautiful rock formations in the West. This stunning backdrop was the jumping-off point for John Wesley Powell's famous river explorations. The city's story is intertwined with the arteries of westward expansion. The Colorado River system, the Cherokee and Overland Trails, the Union Pacific Railroad, the...