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====== Casper ======

**Casper, Wyoming** is the home city of Josh "KingCobraJFS" Saunders and is the principal location for much of the content that takes place in the Cobraverse. The second largest city in the state after Cheyenne, Casper has strong ties to the oil and gas industry, railroads, and "cowboy culture".

Casper is a city and the county seat of Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the second largest city in the state, according to the 2020 U.S. Census, with a population of 55,293. Only Cheyenne, the state capital, is larger. Casper is nicknamed "The Oil City" and has a long history of oil boomtown and cowboy culture, dating back to the development of the nearby Salt Creek Oil Field. In 2010, Casper was named the highest-ranked family-friendly small city in the West, and ranked eighth overall in the nation in Forbes magazine's list of "the best small cities to raise a family".

Casper is located in east-central Wyoming at the foot of Casper Mountain, the north end of the Laramie Mountain Range, and along the North Platte River.

===== History =====

The city was established east of the former site of Fort Caspar, which was built during the mid-19th century mass migration of land seekers along the Oregon, California and Mormon trails. The area was the location of several ferries that offered passage across the North Platte River in the early 1840s. In 1859, Louis Guinard built a bridge and trading post near the original ferry locations.

==== Buildings at Fort Caspar ====
The government soon posted a military garrison nearby to protect telegraph and mail service. It was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William O. Collins. American Indian attacks increased after the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado in 1864, bringing more troops to the post, which was by now called Platte Bridge Station. In July 1865, Lieutenant Caspar Collins (the son of Colonel Collins) was killed near the post by a group of Indian warriors. Three months later the garrison was renamed Fort Caspar after Lieutenant Collins. In 1867, the troops were ordered to abandon Fort Caspar in favor of Fort Fetterman downstream on the North Platte along the Bozeman Trail.

The town of Casper itself was founded well after the fort had been closed.Template:When The city was founded by developers as an anticipated stopping point during the expansion of the Wyoming Central Railway; it was an early commercial rival to Bessemer and Douglas, Wyoming. The lack of a railhead doomed Bessemer in favor of Casper. Douglas, also a railhead, survives to the present day. The presence of a railhead made Casper the starting off point for the "invaders" in the Johnson County War. The special chartered train carrying the men up from Texas stopped at Casper. The town is named "Casper", instead of "Caspar", honoring the memory of Fort Caspar and Lt. Caspar Collins, due to a typo that occurred when the town's name was officially registered.

A site a few miles east was planned to be the original site of Casper, where a homesteader named Joshua Stroud lived prior to a station of the Chicago and North Western Railway being built. The site was laid out by the Pioneer Town Site Company in 1888 and was known as Strouds.

The city received a significant number of visitors during the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, due to its position along the path of totality.

===== Demographics =====

As of the census of 2010, there were 55,316 people, 22,794 households, and 14,237 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,056.4 inhabitants per square mile (794.0/km2). There were 24,536 housing units at an average density of 912.1 per square mile (352.2/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 92.3% White, 1.0% African American, 0.9% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 2.3% from other races, and 2.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 7.4% of the population.

There were 22,794 households, of which 31.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.1% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.5% were non-families. Of all households 30.3% were made up of individuals, and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.95.

The median age in the city was 36 years. 23.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 26.7% were from 25 to 44; 26.4% were from 45 to 64; and 12.9% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.7% male and 50.3% female.

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