Cheyenne is Wyoming’s most populated city. When the railroad was constructed in 1860, this “Hell-like Settlement at the End of the Railroad” became an important trading centre. For what was to become the federal government, the State Capitol was built and with its golden dome and Corinthian column,s it is similar to its larger counterpart in Washington.
In the middle of the 18th century, French scouts were the first to penetrate this region that was then inhabited by the Arapaho and Shoshone Indians. The cowboys and farmers of the Old West needed to spend their hard earned money and the Cheyenne profited accordingly. A profusion of hotels, saloons and warehouses suddenly appeared.
The Badlands was given its name by the Native Indians due to the inhospitable terrain as they felt threatened by it. Thirty-seven million years of wind, rain and snow transformed this highland into a natural work of art that was inaugurated as a national park in 1978.
Set within the Black Hills, in the state of South Dakota, is one of the most famous landmarks in the United States, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, where four monumental portraits of the most famous American presidents have been carved into the granite and symbolize a kind of spectacular tribute to democracy.
Twenty-five kilometers southwest of Mount Rushmore is another stone image that towers up from the landscape, the Crazy Horse Memorial. Constructed in 1947, it commemorates the famous chief of the Oglala Sioux and its dimensions are even larger than those of Mount Rushmore.
As in former times, the routes of the first pioneers still bring visitors into the far west through overwhelming mountain scenery with grandiose views, Wild West towns, buffalo prairies and vast ranches. Make no mistake about it, America’s Wild West is still wild, a place of natural spectacles and nostalgic adventure!