Woodruff Cabin Site
🏆🏆🏆🏆 Pioneer Homestead — Site of one of Wyoming’s earliest homestead cabins — representing the homesteaders who settled Wyoming’s open range
Woodruff Cabin Site preserves the location of one of Wyoming’s early homestead cabins — representing the thousands of homesteaders who settled the open range under the Homestead Act of 1862. The Homestead Act offered 160 acres of free land to anyone who would live on it and improve it for 5 years — it was the largest transfer of public land in US history, distributing 270 million acres (10% of the entire US!). Wyoming’s harsh climate and short growing season made homesteading especially challenging — many claims were abandoned. Wyoming remains the least populated state, with just 577,000 people across nearly 98,000 square miles.
Visitor Information
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Location | Wyoming |
| Entry Fee | Free |
| Act | 1862 Homestead — 270M acres free! |
| WY | 577K people — LEAST populated state! |
About Woodruff Cabin
Woodruff Cabin Site in Uinta County marks where frontiersman Ezra Woodruff established one of the first permanent non-Native settlements in the Green River Valley in 1853. Woodruff operated a ferry crossing and trading post serving Oregon Trail emigrants. The site represents the transition from transient trail traffic to permanent Euro-American settlement in southwestern Wyoming.
Things to Do
Visiting the cabin site, viewing interpretive markers, fishing in the nearby Green River, and exploring the frontier settlement history of the Oregon Trail corridor.
Insider Tips
Pioneer shelter: The Woodruff Cabin represents early settlement in Wyoming — isolated homesteaders facing harsh winters, drought, and isolation. Pro tip: Wyoming’s population density (5.8 people per square mile) is the second-lowest in the US — only Alaska has fewer people per square mile. Equality State: Wyoming was the first territory to grant women the right to vote (1869) — earning its nickname.
Best Time to Visit
Summer: Best access. Year-round: Site marker. Fall: Autumn setting. Spring: Green sagebrush.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Wyoming give women the vote first?
Wyoming Territory granted women’s suffrage in 1869 — 51 years before the 19th Amendment. Motivations were mixed: genuine progressive beliefs, attracting women settlers, and political strategy. When Wyoming applied for statehood (1890), Congress threatened to block it unless suffrage was repealed. The territorial legislature famously replied: “We will remain out of the Union one hundred years rather than come in without the women.” Wyoming joined with suffrage intact.
