Welcome to Bosco's Italian Restaurant, online.

Here's some history on Casper, Wyoming, our home town:

Centuries before the coming of the pioneers, the Platte River Valley was used by Native Americans. Used by early fur traders in 1812, the route became the major access point to the central Rockies after 1841. This major “Highway of the West” was used by wagon trains on the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails for over 30 years.

From the 1840s through the 1860s, the trail along the Platte River, which included the Fort Casper area, was in a very real way the “main street of the continent.” The area was of tactical and commercial importance during the peak years of emigration. The trail paralleled the North Platte River in eastern Wyoming, with most of its traffic on the south bank.

Crossing the Platte River involved considerable with the seasonal high water that usually coincided with the arrival of the largest numbers of wagon trains. Beginning in 1847, the Mormon Ferry, the Missouri Ferry, then the Richard and Guinard bridges all offered safe crossing of the river for a price.
By 1862, the wagon train emigration to the west had passed and the Overland Stage Company moved the stage route from the North Platte River Valley to the southern part of Wyoming and the new “Overland” route. The telegraph line now became the prime factor in the maintenance and protection of the old route. Transcontinental communication was considered a matter of prime national interest during the second year of the Civil War. As regular troops were withdrawn from Fort Laramie and Fort Bridger for service back east, they were replaced by volunteer units from Ohio. By October of 1862, the Platte Bridge Station was a one company post.

After 3 years of peaceful boredom, the troops stationed along the “singing wire” began to see Indian hostility erupt following the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado. Additional troops arrived at the Platte Bridge Station by early summer 1865.

Platte Bridge Station was officially renamed Fort Casper in November of 1865, in honor of Lt. Collins of the 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, who was killed with four enlisted men trying to escort a wagon train to the Platte Bridge Station.

The staff at Bosco’s hopes you enjoy your stay in Casper and invites you to visit again.

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