Fort Platte was once situated on the right bank of the Platte River in the tongue of land between the Platte and Laramie Rivers and about 3/4 mile above the junction. It was built about 1840 for it receives no notice from Wislizenus in 1839 but was visited by Sage in 1841. In 1842, Fremont noted that it belonged to Sybille Adams & Company but by 1843 it belonged to Pratte, Cabanne & Co. It probably only lasted a few years.
Source: WPA
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In his History of Wyoming, I.S. Bartlett comments:
"The names Adams, John and Platte have also been attributed to Fort Laramie, but they are simply other trading posts in that vicinity and were independent establishments. Investigation shows that they were not located at the point where Fort Laramie stood and were not transferred with the old trading post when it was sold to the Government ...
To establish the separate identity of Forts Adams, John and Platte it is sufficient to say Fort Adams is described by Fremont as being two miles from Fort Laramie; that Fort John was built several miles away in 1839 and abandoned in 1846 and Fort Platte, three miles distant on the Platte was not built until 1840."
Source: Trenholm, Footprints
Fort Platte, 1840 (?)-1848 (?), located on the right bank of Platte River between Platte and Laramie Rivers. In competition with Fort Laramie. Fremont mentioned it.
Source: Trenholm and Carley
In 1834, Robert Campbell and William Sublette founded a trading post on the Laramie River about a mile and a half above its junction with the North Platte River. They named it Fort William. In 1835 they sold out to a syndicate of trappers, who shortly afterward sold it to the American Fur Company. A post called Fort Platte is believed to have been built by rival trappers in 1841, about a mile and a half from Fort William and nearer the confluence of the Laramie and Platte Rivers. The owners of Fort William then enlarged the original fort and furnished it with bastions, blockhouses and loopholes. The rebuilt structure was named Fort John for John B. Sarpy, an officer of the company.
Source: Wyoming Guide
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