Diaries - Letters

A GUIDE FOR SCHOLAR AND TRAVELER

The Bozeman Trail began as a gold-rush trail--a shortcut from the main trail on the North Platte River 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 Powder River Basin, the last and best hunting grounds of the Northern Plains Indians, and led to military occupation of the region and ultimately resulted in the Indian wars on the Northern Plains. After emigrant use ceased, the Trail served as a military road to the forts until it was abandoned in 1868 following the Fort Laramie Treaty. It was used again in 1876 by the forces of General George C. Crook, and shortly after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the route was opened and used by settlers.

--Susan Badger Doyle

SPONSORED BY THE
FORT PHIL KEARNY / BOZEMAN TRAIL ASSOCIATION

...COMMITTED TO PUBLIC EDUCATION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF PRESERVATION, DEVELOPMENT AND PROMOTION OF HISTORIC SITES ALONG THE BOZEMAN TRAIL.

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