In 1815, a young French Canadian named Jacques La Ramee came to what’s now southeastern Wyoming, eager to get in on the exploding market for beaver pelts to supply the demand for fashionable hats – the Rocky Mountain version of the gold rush. He became an enterprising trapper, working the rivers mostly on his own. Just five years later, he died a mysterious death. He gave a name to a river, a mountain peak, a military post, and a city – Laramie, Wyoming.

 

 

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