Bozeman Trail Marker - Campbell County, Wyoming - Wagon Roads and Trails on Waymarking.com

The Bozeman Trail split off from the Oregon Trail near modern-day Glenrock, Wyoming, and roughly followed the present corridor of I-25 and I-90 to the goldfields in southwestern Montana (specifically the area of Virginia City). The trail was largely established over preexisting Native American, trader, and trapper trails. The Bozeman Trail became the shortest route to the Montana gold country, and was used between 1863 and 1868. In 1868, after the signing of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, the Powder River Basin lands were returned to Native American ownership and the U.S. Army forts along the trail were burned down. The trail was revived in 1876 during the Greta Sioux War of 1876 (aka Black Hills War), and was used as a military and freight route into the 20th Century.

Road of Trail Name: Bozeman Trail State: Wyoming County: Campbell Historical Significance: The Bozeman Trail became the shortest route to the Montana goldfields in the 1860s, providing a more direct route across the Powder River Basin to the Yellowstone River drainage. Previously, people travelling to the goldfields would have had to either taken a steamboat to Fort Benton on the Missouri River before travelling another 250 miles southwest, or travel on the Oregon Trail to Fort Hall in Idaho Territory before going an additional 275 miles to the gold producing region of southwest Montana. Years in use: ~30 How you discovered it: I noticed this historical marker while driving across the Powder River Basin on State Highway 387. Book on Wagon Road or Trial: The Bozeman Trail (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) by Grace Raymond Hebard and E.A. Brininstool; University of Nebraska Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780803272491 Website Explination: https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/brief-history-bozeman-trail Why?: The Bozeman Trail provided a shortcut to the goldfields in the Virginia City area of southwestern Montana in the 1860s. It was primarily used as a military transportation route between 1866 and 1868 until the signing of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. It was again used as a military trail and freight route during the Great Sioux War of 1876 and on into the 20th Century. Directions: From the junction of State Highway 50 and State Highway 387, travel westerly on State Highway 387 for 7.75 miles to find the marker on the left (south) side of the highway at a paved pull-off.

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