The City of Casper has announced that the Fort Caspar Museum preservation project has entered phase one of its log repair phases. This project, totaling $1,520,500, is supported by a $723,500 Save America’s Treasures grant, which is a federal grant administered by the Department of Interior and the National Park Service, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Preservation Efforts

The Phase 1 log repair work focuses on the officers’ quarters and the blacksmith shop. Crews will replace sill logs, the foundational logs at the base of each structure, along with any other logs that have deteriorated beyond preservation. According to Fort Casper Museum Supervisor Steve Gainer, “Sill logs are particularly vulnerable to moisture damage and are essential to the structural integrity of historic log buildings.”

Phase 1 is expected to be completed by mid-September 2026, pending weather and site conditions. Phase 2 will address the Mess Hall, the Commissary, and, if the schedule allows, Sutler’s Store. As in Phase 1, work will focus on replacing sill logs and other logs requiring repair. Phase 2 is expected to be completed by early December 2026.

Before log work began, crews completed two weeks of critical site preparation work, including removing soil and grading to ensure water drains away from the structures. Gainer noted that the drainage work addressed one of the primary causes of log deterioration at historic sites and set the foundation for the structural repairs ahead.

Fort Caspar Museum is a City of Casper facility located at the site of the historic Platte Bridge Station, the scene of a significant 1865 military conflict along the Oregon Trail corridor. The museum interprets the site’s Civil War-era military history, the history of overland emigration, and the history of the Indigenous nations of the Northern Plains.

Original reporting: Oil City News (Casper WY) — read the source article.