CASPER

city, seat (1890) of Natrona county, east-central Wyoming, U.S., on the North Platte River. It originated around Fort Caspar at the site of a pioneer crossing on the Oregon Trail and the Pony Express route. The fort, now restored, was named for Lieutenant Caspar Collins, slain by Indians while trying to rescue a stranded wagon train. Founded in 1888 as a tent town prior to the arrival of the Chicago and North Western Railway, Casper was the misspelling of the railroad clerk who filed the plat. In the 1890s the Salt Creek Oil Field, just north, gave the town its start in the oil business. The oil fields include Teapot Dome, centre of the scandal that rocked the administration of President Warren G. Harding in 1922. Casper's economy is based on the production of oil and natural gas and the manufacture of oil-field equipment, augmented by mining (uranium, coal, bentonite) and cattle and sheep raising. The city is the trading centre for a large hinterland and is the seat of Casper College (1945). Casper Mountain Park and Medicine Bow National Forest are to the southeast. The Central Wyoming Fair and Rodeo is held in August. Memorabilia of frontier days are displayed at the Old Fort Caspar Museum. Inc. town, 1889; city, 1917. Pop. (1991 est.) city, 47,402; Casper MSA, 62,089.