Editing Natrona County, Wyoming (section)

==History==
Prior to Wyoming's settlement by European-based populations, the area's stretches played host to nomadic tribes such as [[Cheyenne]], [[Arapaho]], [[Shoshone]], and [[Sioux]].

New York investor [[John Jacob Astor]] established the settlement of [[Astoria, Oregon|Astoria]] on the [[Columbia River]], and sent [[Robert Stuart (explorer)|Robert Stuart]] eastward to blaze a trail and lay the foundation of a string of trading posts. Stuart documented the [[South Pass (Wyoming)|South Pass Route]] through the [[Continental Divide of the Americas|Continental Divide]], near the SW corner of present-day Natrona County. Stuart's company erected the first hut in the area in 1812, near present-day [[Bessemer Bend, Wyoming|Bessemer Bend]].

In 1840, Father [[Pierre-Jean De Smet]] began preaching the [[Gospel|Christian teaching]] to this area's indigenous peoples. He carved his name on Independence Rock and called it ''The Register of the Desert''. Later explorers who inscribed the rock include [[John C. Frémont]] (1843), who explored the country along the [[Platte River|Platte]] and [[Sweetwater River (Wyoming)|Sweetwater]] Rivers.<ref>[http://www.natronacounty-wy.gov/420/History-of-Natrona-County ''History of Natrona County'' (accessed 11 January 2019)]</ref>

The first Euro-American settlement occurred in the [[Casper, Wyoming|Casper]] area in the late 19th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newedc.net/natrona/index.htm|title=Email Validation|website=Newedc.net|access-date=January 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080523114236/http://www.newedc.net/natrona/index.htm|archive-date=May 23, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> Natrona County was created by the legislature of the Wyoming Territory on March 9, 1888, and it was organized in 1890.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/WY_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm|title=Wyoming: Individual County Chronologies|website=Wyoming Atlas of Historical County Boundaries|publisher=The [[Newberry Library]]|editor-last=Long|editor-first=John H.|date=2004|access-date=August 19, 2015}}</ref> The land for Natrona County was annexed from [[Carbon County, Wyoming|Carbon County]].

Natrona County was named for the deposits of [[natron]] found in the area.<ref>{{cite book|last=Urbanek|first=Mae|title=Wyoming Place Names|publisher=Mountain Press Pub. Co.|location=Missoula MT|year=1988|isbn=0-87842-204-8}}</ref> According to George Mitchell, first mayor of Casper and member of the organization commission for Natrona County, the name was first suggested "by my old friend the late Cy Iba, who at one time owned the soda lakes."<ref>{{Cite news|first=Francis|last=Seely-Webb|title=First Mayor Tells of Casper's Youth|url =https://www.newspapers.com/image/348117821/|format=Fee required|work=Casper Star-Tribune|page=140|date=February 15, 1953|access-date=July 22, 2022}}</ref>  In 1909, Natrona County gained land from [[Fremont County, Wyoming|Fremont County]]. The boundaries were adjusted slightly in 1911 and 1931, and at that point the county gained its present outline.