Sand Creek (Wyoming)

Last updated
Sand Creek [1]
Sand Creek NNL.jpg
Physical characteristics
Main source Laramie Mountains
40°49′46″N105°47′04″W / 40.82944°N 105.78444°W / 40.82944; -105.78444
River mouth Confluence with Laramie
7,185 ft (2,190 m)
41°12′56″N105°43′52″W / 41.21556°N 105.73111°W / 41.21556; -105.73111 Coordinates: 41°12′56″N105°43′52″W / 41.21556°N 105.73111°W / 41.21556; -105.73111
Designated 1984

Sand Creek is a stream noted for the "most spectacular examples of cross-bedded sandstone and topple blocks in North America". [2] Sand Creek flows from the Laramie Mountains in Larimer County, Colorado into Albany County, Wyoming where it joins the Laramie River. [1]

Laramie Mountains

The Laramie Mountains are a range of moderately high peaks on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S states of Wyoming and Colorado. The range is the northernmost extension of the line of the ranges along the eastern side of the Rockies, and in particular of the higher peaks of the Front Range directly to the south. North of the range, the gap between the Laramie range and the Bighorn Mountains provided the route for historical trails, such as the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, and the Pony Express.

Larimer County, Colorado county in Colorado, United States

Larimer County is one of the 64 counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2010 census, the population was 299,630. The county seat and most populous city is Fort Collins. The county was named for William Larimer, Jr., the founder of Denver.

Albany County, Wyoming county in Wyoming, United States

Albany County is a county in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 36,299. Its county seat is Laramie, the site of the University of Wyoming. Its south border lies on the northern Colorado state line.

Contents

The area where Sand Creek crosses the border between Colorado and Wyoming( 40°59′49″N105°46′14″W / 40.99694°N 105.77056°W / 40.99694; -105.77056 ) was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1984. [2]

National Natural Landmark national natural areas program in the United States

The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best examples of biological and geological features in both public and private ownership. The program was established on May 18, 1962, by United States Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall.

See also

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Laramie, Wyoming City in Wyoming, United States

Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 30,816 at the 2010 census. Located on the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming, the city is west of Cheyenne, at the junction of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 287.

Sand Creek massacre massacre of a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho people in the American Indian Wars

The Sand Creek massacre was a massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho people by the U.S. Army in the American Indian Wars that occurred on November 29, 1864, when a 675-man force of Colorado U.S. Volunteer Cavalry under the command of U.S. Army Colonel John Chivington attacked and destroyed a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho people in southeastern Colorado Territory, killing and mutilating an estimated 70–500 Native Americans, about two-thirds of whom were women and children. The location has been designated the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site and is administered by the National Park Service.

North Platte River major tributary of the Platte River

The North Platte River is a major tributary of the Platte River and is approximately 716 miles (1,152 km) long, counting its many curves. In a straight line, it travels about 550 miles (890 km), along its course through the U.S. states of Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska.

Laramie River river in the United States of America

The Laramie River is a tributary of the North Platte River, approximately 280 miles (450 km) long, in the U.S. states of Colorado and Wyoming. The river was named for Jacques La Ramie, a fur trapper who visited the area in the early 19th century. Laramie County, Wyoming, the city of Laramie, and other geographical entities in the region have "Laramie" in their names.

Chugwater Creek

Chugwater Creek is a tributary of the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming in the United States. The stream rises northeast of Laramie, in the Laramie Mountains in eastern Albany County and flows 92.6 miles (149 km). It flows northeast, emerges from the mountains and flows past Chugwater, where it turns north-northwest, and flows past Slater. Chugwater Creek joins the Laramie approximately 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Wheatland.

Sand Creek may refer to a location in the United States:

Cherokee Trail

The Cherokee Trail was a historic overland trail through the present-day U.S. states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming that was used from the late 1840s up through the early 1890s. The route was established in 1849 by a wagon train headed to the gold fields in California. Among the members of the expedition were a group of Cherokee. When the train formed in Indian Territory, Lewis Evans of Evansville, Arkansas, was elected Captain. Thus, this expedition is sometimes written as the Evans/Cherokee Train.

Lodgepole Creek river in the United States of America

Lodgepole Creek is a tributary of the South Platte River, approximately 278 miles (447 km) long, in the U.S. states of Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado. Lodgepole Creek drains a basin in the interior of a low plateau which lies between the South Platte Basin and the North Platte Basin in the southeastern corner of Wyoming, the southern edge of the Nebraska Panhandle and several small portions of northeastern Colorado. As its name implies, Lodgepole Creek is a very small stream; for nearly all of its length it flows through the semiarid High Plains. The Lodgepole Creek Valley has been a major transportation route for over 100 years; the line of the original transcontinental railroad, the Lincoln Highway/U.S. Highway 30 and Interstate 80 all run along the stream for much of its length.

Tie Siding, Wyoming Unincorporated community in Wyoming, United States

Tie Siding is a tiny unincorporated community in far southeastern Albany County, in southeastern Wyoming, United States, approximately eighteen miles south of Laramie, and eight miles north of the Colorado border. It is located at latitude 41.080N and longitude -105.506W, at an elevation of 7,694 ft. The population is very small, and Tie Siding was not counted as a census-designated place in the 2010 Census.

Old Roach is a ghost town in northwestern Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Once a company logging town, occupied roughly between 1923 and 1938, it lies in northern Colorado near the Wyoming border.

Allen L. Cook Spring Creek Preserve is a 4,700-acre (19 km2) nature reserve considered to be the richest cache of undisturbed dinosaur fossils in North America. It is located near the village of Rock River, Wyoming some 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Laramie. The Preserve contains the outcrops of the Morrison, Sundance, and Cloverly formations.

Cheyenne County was a county of the extralegal United States Territory of Jefferson that existed from November 28, 1859, until February 28, 1861.

The Little Laramie River, often referred to simply as the Little Laramie, is one of the largest tributaries of the Laramie River, flowing 45.7 miles (73.5 km) in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The Little Laramie is formed by the merger of three smaller streams, the North Fork, the Middle Fork and the South Fork of the Little Laramie. The drainage basin of the tributaries of the Little Laramie River includes much of the eastern half of the Snowy Range as well as all steams flowing through the Centennial Valley. After leaving the base of the Snowy Range, the small river flows northeast, eventually emptying into the Laramie River.

Crow Creek is a 153-mile-long (246 km) waterway of southeastern Wyoming and northern Colorado. Crow Creek is formed by the merger of the South Fork of Crow Creek with the Middle fork of Crow Creek, with the quick addition of the North Fork of Crow Creek about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) downstream. All the major tributaries of Crow Creek begin in the Laramie Range and flow eastward. The headwaters of the North Fork are dammed to form North Crow reservoir, which supplies the city of Cheyenne. The middle fork is also dammed forming Granite and Crystal reservoirs, also supplying water for Cheyenne. The South Fork is the only unobstructed section and flows most of the year but not all the way to Cheyenne. Other tributaries of Crow Creek below the reservoirs are Sand Creek, Spring Creek and Brush Creek, none of which flow year round. Crow Creek continues in an eastward direction passing through the city of Cheyenne, and then heads east and south into Colorado where it eventually meets the South Platte River.

Index of Wyoming-related articles

The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the U.S. state of Wyoming.

The Overland Trail was a stagecoach and wagon trail in the American West during the 19th century. While portions of the route had been used by explorers and trappers since the 1820s, the Overland Trail was most heavily used in the 1860s as an alternative route to the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails through central Wyoming. The Overland Trail was famously used by the Overland Stage Company owned by Ben Holladay to run mail and passengers to Salt Lake City, Utah, via stagecoaches in the early 1860s. Starting from Atchison, Kansas, the trail descended into Colorado before looping back up to southern Wyoming and rejoining the Oregon Trail at Fort Bridger. The stage line operated until 1869 when the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad eliminated the need for mail service via Thais' stagecoach.

Several sections of the Bozeman Trail in Wyoming are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Typically there are sections of trail that are concentrated at geographic features such as fords or crossings of divides, where the trail consolidates from a broad swath of parallel, poorly defined paths to a small area where remnants of the trail are visible.

References

  1. 1 2 "Sand Creek". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved 2011-01-26.
  2. 1 2 "National Registry of Natural Landmarks" (PDF). National Park Service. June 2009. p. 109. Retrieved 2011-08-04.

"Sand Creek National Natural Landmark". National Park Service.