• 18,000 B.C. Earliest evidence of humans in Wyoming.
  • A.D. 1807 John Colter explores the Yellowstone area, coming as far south as Jackson Hole.
  • 1812 Fur trader Robert Stuart discovers South Pass, the gentlest route across the northern Rockies.
  • 1843 Pioneers begin traveling west on the Oregon Trail through Wyoming.
  • 1848 The U.S. Army moves into Fort Laramie to protect Oregon Trail travelers from Indians.
  • 1852 The first school in the state is founded at Fort Laramie.
  • 1860 The Pony Express begins its run from Missouri to California, through Wyoming.
  • 1867 The Union Pacific Railroad enters Wyoming.
  • 1868 The Treaty of Fort Bridger creates the Shoshone Reservation in northwest Wyoming.
  • 1868 The Territory of Wyoming is created by Congress.
  • 1869 Wyoming Territorial Legislature grants women the right to vote and hold elective office.
  • 1870 Esther H. Morris becomes the nation's first female justice of the peace.
  • 1872 Yellowstone National Park is established as the nation's first national park.
  • 1884 First oil well is drilled in Wyoming.
  • 1886-87 Great blizzard decimates ranches of eastern Wyoming, sending many cattle barons into bankruptcy.
  • 1889 The state constitution is adopted.
  • 1890 Wyoming becomes the nation's 44th state.
  • 1892 The Johnson County War breaks out over a dispute about cattle rustling.
  • 1897 The first Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo is staged.
  • 1906 Devils Tower is established by President Theodore Roosevelt as the country's first national monument.
  • 1910 Buffalo Bill Dam is completed.
  • 1925 Nellie Taylor Ross becomes the nation's first female governor.
  • 1927 Man claiming to be Butch Cassidy visits Wyoming from Washington, suggesting that the outlaw was not killed in Bolivia as was generally believed.
  • 1929 Grand Teton National Park is established, consisting of only the peaks.
  • 1929 Oil thefts discovered on federal land at Teapot Dome, a scandal that rocks the Harding Administration.
  • 1950 National forest and private lands are added to form Grand Teton National Park as it is today.
  • 1965 Minuteman missile sites are completed near Cheyenne.
  • 1973 The Arab oil embargo sends oil prices skyrocketing, instigating a huge oil-drilling boom in Wyoming.
  • 1988 Five fires break out around Yellowstone National Park, blackening approximately one-third of the park.
  • 1996 The National Park Service institutes a voluntary ban on climbing Devils Tower during June to respect American Indian religious ceremonies.
  • 1998 Gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard murdered.
  • 2002 The $10-million National Historic Trails Center opens in Casper.
  • 2004 The state enjoys a nearly $1-billion surplus in its annual budget, thanks to increased drilling and mining activity.
  • 2006 The famed tram at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort closes.
  • 2008 The tram reopens in time for the ski season.

Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.