Canyons and the southward curve of the North Platte west of this site forced emigrant wagon trains to cross to the north side of the river somewhere between present Glenrock and Casper, a region generally known as the Upper Platte Crossing. Before this bridge was built, the crossing was usually made by dangerous and expensive ferries, most famously the Mormon Ferry, which at different times was located three to six miles west of here. In the winter of 1852-1853, John Richard, his brother Joseph, and Joseph Bissonette began building the bridge that stood here for thirteen years, and it was completed in time for the Oregon and California emigrations of 1853. On June 9, 1853, Oregon emigrant John Murray called it a substantial structure with eight wood-framed piers filled and sunk with rock, heavy braces supporting the reaches, railed sides, and a planked bottom; he wrote that it was about 150 yards long, reached the north side at a high rock bank, and had Indian lodges, trading houses, and a blacksmith shop at each end, with another trading post a mile above where horses and mules were sold or traded. In 1859 Louis Guinard built another bridge across the Platte six miles west, where the military post Platte Bridge Station was established, and Richard soon bought Guinard's Bridge and operated stores at both places. In 1864 Richard's Bridge was the departure point for the four large trains that opened the Bozeman Trail. At the end of the 1864 travel season Richard closed his trading post there and moved everything to his store at Platte Bridge Station. In 1865 he sold his operations and left the area, and early in 1866 the army dismantled Richard's Bridge and hauled its timber to the upper bridge post, newly named Fort Caspar, where it was used as firewood and building materials.