Laramie


The town of Laramie, Wyoming was founded by the Union Pacific Railway. The town site was chosen by surveyors for the Union Pacific line in about 1864 and lots in the town were sold in 1868. The Union Pacific tracks reached Laramie in May 1868, and the 93 miles of track to Benton, the next town west, opened in August 1868.

So travelers headed east or west from Laramie would have taken the Union Pacific Railway from the beginning of Laramie. And the Union Pacific Railway also build major facilities in Laramie and would have been a major employer.

Thus it is a little strange to see characters taking stagecoaches from or to Laramie in various episodes of television shows set in 19th century Laramie, such as Laramie (1959-1963) or Lawman (1958-1962).

The Laramie episode "The Long riders" 25 October 1960, ended at the stage depot in Laramie with Andy taking a stage to Denver to return to school there. And it seems to me that the trip from Laramie to Denver would have gone faster if Andy took a train east and then another train south, and then a third train west to Denver or as far as the railroad to Denver reached, instead of taking a slow stagecoach.

In fact the citizens of Denver financed the building of a railroad line to connect Denver with the transcontinental railroad. The Denver Pacific line from Cheyenne, Wyoming to Denver opened with the first train on June 24, 1870, and the Kansas Pacific railroad reached west to Denver in August 1870.

So Andy could have taken the train to Denver any time after June, 1870. But maybe Slim Sherman would have sent Andy to Denver by stagecoach out of loyalty to the stagecoach company. Slim Sherman's ranch was also a stage station on a route of the probably fictional Great Central Overland Mail Company.

And I have to think that any stage line to Laramie, Wyoming would probably have to have a totally different route than the railroads in order to avoid competing with them.

And of course since the railroad had a station in Laramie as well as a roundhouse and other facilities one would expect that there were be frequent mentions of the railroad in various episodes of Laramie and Lawman, even though I haven't seen any in those episodes i have seen.

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Interesting historical information; however, the show was made primarily for entertainment, and at that it succeeds brilliantly. It's a few notches above its contemporary tv westerns in its writing, direction, acting, cinematography, and lighting. The entire cast is terrific. I'm re-watching it now for the first time in nearly sixty years, and I look forward to each episode.

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