FORT LARAMIE: CROSSROADS OF THE WEST
(The Old Army Press, $24.95). The drama of life in what is possibly the most famous military post in the history of the American West is presented in this video account of Fort Laramie, in southeastern Wyoming. Located at the confluence of the North Platte and Laramie Rivers, near the present town of Torrington, Fort Laramie became one of the largest military posts on the Western frontier. The video chronicles its establishment by the Army in 1849, when the site was purchased from the American Fur Company for $4,000; its role on the route followed by more than 50,000 immigrants annually who traveled the Oregon and Mormon Trails between 1849 and ’51; and its place as an important stagecoach and Pony Express stop before the completion of the transcontinental telegraph lines in 1861.