Fort Bonneville, Historic fur trading fort in Sublette County, Wyoming
Fort Bonneville was a 100-foot-square palisade of 12-inch cottonwood logs, 15 feet high, with blockhouses on opposite diagonal corners, built on the Green River in 1832. No structure remains; the site is marked by an inscribed boulder placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Captain Benjamin Bonneville's party crossed the South Pass with 110 men and about 20 wagons and completed the stockade on the Green River on August 9, 1832. Heavy fall snows led Bonneville to abandon the site, which became known as Bonneville's Folly or Fort Nonsense. He wintered on the Salmon River in Idaho, and the Green River site served as a rendezvous until the party returned east in 1835.
The fort's brief life gave the site its nicknames, Bonneville's Folly and Fort Nonsense, after heavy fall snows in 1832 led Captain Benjamin Bonneville to abandon it. The stockade on the Green River then served as a fur-trade rendezvous until his party returned east in 1835. Today a boulder inscribed by the Daughters of the American Revolution marks the spot.
The site sits along State Highway 354 near Daniel, Wyoming, with a historical marker identifying the location. Access is straightforward from the highway, but visitors should wear sturdy shoes and bring weather protection since the ground is exposed and can be muddy or dusty.
The site is marked only by an inscribed boulder placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution; no structure remains. The stockade itself was a 100-foot square palisade of 12-inch cottonwood logs, 15 feet high, with blockhouses on opposite diagonal corners.
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