CASPER, Wyoming — In the latter half of the 1800s, those migrating west across the United States usually traveled through Wyoming, passing through or close to what is now the city of Casper.
The new Casper Wyoming Temple — set to be dedicated tomorrow, Sunday, Nov. 24, by Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — stands not far from the North Platte River and a spot where pioneers and travelers ferried across the water. The temple district stretches from parts of South Dakota and Nebraska to Central Wyoming and Lakota Nation territory — all places that played a role in the historic settling of the American West.
Some 60,000 plus members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled west on the trail within a mile from the temple. Some of them were in the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies, who were trapped by an early and devastating snowstorm in 1856.