Six states border Wyoming, and so there are at least six Welcome to Wyoming signs to take photos of, if you're the type of traveler who likes to collect those types of shots!
The states are Colorado to the south, Utah to the south and southeast, Idaho to the west, Montana to the northwest and north, South Dakota to the northeast, and Nebraska to the southeast.
US-85 runs north/south through Wyoming and Colorado. On the border between these two states, the Welcome to Wyoming sign is on the right hand side of US-85, just as you pass the exit for the Den and Borderline on the Colorado side of the border.
 |
| Sand Creek Massacre Trail sign framed beneath the Welcome to Wyoming sign |
Bucking horse and rider
But who are that horse and rider? Depending on the source, the horse is either Steamboat or Deadman. Or a horse named Red Wing. The rider? It's either "Stub" Farlow on Deadman, or Clayton Danks on Steamboat, or Chester Colton on Red Wing. Or it's a composite of all three!
"Forever West"
Wyoming's Division of Travel and Tourism office has used several slogans over the years. The "Forever West" slogan has been in use since 2009.
Sand Creek Massacre Heritage Trail
And what's that brown sign in the center? It's the Sand Creek Massacre Heritage Trail.
There are a few signs on Greeley Highway, starting with this one once you enter Wyoming, and with a couple more in Cheyenne.
The Sand Creek Massacre took place near Fort Lyon, Colorado on 29 November, 1864. US Army Colonel Chivington and 700 cavalry troops attacked a peaceful group of Native Americans consisting of Cheyenne and Arapaho. About 130 of these were killed - more than 100 of them women and children, and their bodies defiled.
The survivors straggled from Colorado into Wyoming, eventually arriving at the Wind River Reservation.
In 2000, this tragedy was commemorated when the massacre site was made into a National Historic Site and placed under the supervision of the National Park Service. The route that the survivors took to get to the Wind River Reservation was sign-posted with the brown "historic point" signs. (http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/trails-center-hosts-sand-creek-massacre-exhibit/article_4fe52b86-031c-11df-97d0-001cc4c002e0.html)
After this massacre many Native American warriors from the various tribes banded together to fight against the white man, which eventually culminated in essentially their last hurrah twelve years later, the Battle of Little Big Horn in which General George Custer was killed, on 25-26 June, 1876.
To read more about the Sand Creek Massacre and the establishment of the historic site, check out:
http://wyoshpo.state.wy.us/pdf/SandCreekBrochure.pdf
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/horrific-sand-creek-massacre-will-be-forgotten-no-more-180953403/?no-ist
