Beginning as a Wyoming Centennial project in 1990, archaeologists from Western Wyoming College have worked to uncover the physical remains of 19th century life at Fort Bridger. As the fort evolved from an emigrant supply station to an outpost of Mormon settlement, then to a major military post and finally to a settled agricultural community, the needs of its residents changed and the post's layout was constantly altered as buildings were added, modified, torn down, or moved. Archaeologists have uncovered and stabilized architectural remnants from these successive occupations at the site just south of the museum. A log trading post run by Jim Bridger and his partner Louis Vasquez stood there from 1843 to 1853, and during the Mormon occupation it was enclosed by a massive cobblestone wall completed in 1857. A photograph from 1867 shows the deteriorating Mormon Wall and the earliest army-built structures, with soldiers posing in front of the commissary building. The other buildings inside the Mormon Wall and the wall's remains were eventually removed by the army to make room for the 1880 barracks, which now houses the museum.
