The Forgotten Story Of Camp Carlin Wyoming

You can learn a lot about local history if you look up historic markers. For example, that's where I found out about a place called Camp Carlin, Wyoming. Never heard of it before.

All you will find of it today is a marker that most people drive by. Perhaps someone in the car might wonder what the marker is for, but most people never stop.

This was an important place in its time. It supplied annuity goods for Indian tribes, particularly the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail Agencies.

Camp Carlin or Cheyenne Depot, 1867-1890, was the 2nd largest quartermaster depot in the United States. In Wyoming, it supplied Forts Russell, Sanders, Steele, Bridger, Washakie, Fetterman, Laramie, McKinney, and Phil Kearny; in Nebraska, Forts Sidney, Omaha, and Robinson; in Utah, Fort Douglas; in Idaho, Fort Hall; and in Meeker, Colorado. (Historic Market Database).

The marker is in Cheyenne. You'll find it on Happy Jack Road (State Highway 210) near Carlin Avenue, on the right when traveling west.

It was a quartermaster’s depot that was located at Cheyenne, or more properly, on the Fort Russell reserve about halfway between the city and the fort. Later it was enlarged and renamed “Cheyenne Depot.”

The camp was responsible for millions of dollars worth of supplies that were assembled and shipped, including quartermaster stores, commissary stores, and ordnance and wagon equipment.

Indian expeditions were outfitted at Camp Carlin, the last being the Milk River expedition, which under General Crook went to the relief of Thornburg forces in 1879.

As indian conflichts subsided, the site was abandoned because the necessity for a supply depot disappeared.