 I'm standing near the site of the first cabin in Wyoming. On a cold wintry day like today, it's hard to imagine how pioneers survived in their primitive shelters. Robert Stewart built a cabin on the site at the confluence of the Platte River and Poison Spider Creek in November of 1812. Stewart and his travel companions were traders and trappers with the Pacific Fur Company founded by John Jacob Astor. The Astorians, as they were called, had reached the North Platte Valley traveling backwards on the Oregon Trail. They were on their way from Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon to St. Louis. They had been dispatched to inform Astor of the loss of Tonkwin, the ship he had sent to build the fort and open the fur trade in the northwest. While traveling through southern Idaho, Stewart was informed by a Shoshone guide of a shorter trace to the south for crossing the Rocky Mountains. This was the first time a European was made aware of South Pass after having all their horses stolen and to avoid Indian encounters. Stewart led his party on an estimated 417-mile detour through western Wyoming. The men survived on a limited supply of wild game as they traveled up and down the Salt, Grays, Teton, and Hoback rivers. Stewart described the country as more fit for goats than men. The party eventually crossed the Green and the dry sandy rivers and reached South Pass in October of 1812, the first year Peans to traverse the area. They continued along the Sweetwater and Platte River until they reached this site where they built a cabin of rock and buffalo hides, but they stayed only a few days. Nervous about Indian encounters, they pushed on to camp for the winter near present-day Torrington. From the University of Wyoming Extension, I'm Mae Smith, Exploring the Nature of Wyoming.