The Bozeman Trail

A Brief History of the Bozeman Trail:

The Bozeman Trail began as a gold-rush trail--a shortcut from the main trail on the North Platte River in Wyoming to the gold fields of Montana. The several routes of the Trail overlaid earlier Indian, trader and exploration routes in Wyoming and Montana. While only about 3,500 emigrants traversed the trail in 1864-66, its most significant consequence was that it cut through the last and best hunting grounds of the Northern Plains Indians, and led to military occupation, (Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site), of the region.