OMAHA TO CHEYENNE. 465 



Platte, coming from the south, sweeps in a long 

 curve about it ; and just at the base of this Laramie 

 range nestles the so-called " Magic City,'' Cheyenne, 

 the capital of Wyoming. 



White men first explored this region in 1743, and in 

 1744, when Sieur de la Verendrye and his sons came 

 down from Canada, lured by the then unexplored 

 Kocky Mountains. But the region was fearfully 

 wild. Not only was the face of Nature most strange, 

 but the whole tract was overrun by belligerent 

 savages. 



In 1804 a few brave white men began hunting 

 beaver there. But it was many long years before 

 civilization took possession of the spot. Not indeed 

 until miij.^^o- was begun on the summit of the Rocky 

 Mountains in Dakota. 



Then the fact of railroad construction brought great 

 crowds to the North Platte country, crowds composed 

 of two diametrically opposed elements, namely w^orkers 

 and loafers. These two elements joined hands for 

 once, strange as it may seem, and together they settled 

 Cheyenne. They located it near several military posts, 

 and just as close to Denver as they could get it, and 

 still keep it in Wyoming. At Denver was a bank. 

 They wanted to be near that institution, and so came 

 within one hundred and six miles of it. Such were a 

 settler's ideas of propinquity! 



Several items contributed to making this young 

 settlement a success. The most important of these 

 items was that, in 1867, the Union Pacific Railroad 

 Company began to locate its shops there. That was 

 rarely fine bait for mechanics. Tne coal and iroD 

 mines in the suburbs proved good bait for miners. 



