The plan was to travel northwest and hit the Oregon Trail where they would head due west. They anticipated arriving half way, at Fort John on the Laramie River, by summer. They had already made plans there to trade their horses for fresh ones and to restock at the Trading Post. Their estimate was accurate and, on July 4, 1849, they arrived at what they thought should be Fort John. There was a boisterous celebration going on, complete with firing of guns. A new sign over the front of the old fort, which was undergoing some major remodeling, declared, “Fort Laramie, US ARMY POST, established 1849. So much commotion was going on inside, with the celebrating and construction work, that the group was forced to leave their wagons and horses outside. Captain Garrett instructed the blacksmit
