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 The Bonanza or Bozeman TrailPosted by:  ZenPanda
N 45° 49.781 W 109° 57.861
12T E 580438 N 5075645
The Bonanza or Bozeman Trail connected western Montana to the Oregon Trail at Laramie, Wyoming.
Waymark Code: WM2T26
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 12/16/2007
Views: 30
In the 1860s there wasn't a ranch in this country from Bismark to Bozeman from the Platte River to Canada. To whites it was considered land "fit only to raise Indians" and while some of them were hoping for a crop failure, the majority were indifferent. They didn't care how much the tribes fought amongst themselves. They were like the old-timer whos wife was battling a grizzly bear. He said he never had seen a fight where he took so little interest in the outcome.
Then the white man's greed asserted itself and he looked for a shortcut from the Oregon trail at Laramie, Wyoming to the gold diggin's of western Montana. The Bonanza or Bozeman Trail across Indian hunting grounds was the result. It forded the Yellowstone near here,coming from the southeast. I was a trail soaked with the blood of warriors, soldiers and immigrants. Thousands of Sioux warriors, primarily under Red Cloud, bolstered by hundreds of Cheyennes and some Arapahos, fought the trail for six years and forced its closure by the government in 1868.
Describe the area and history:
You cannot really see much besides ranches now.
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Visit Instructions:
Please describe your visit- The good, the bad & the ugly. :)
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