Bozeman Trail
For untold years a very ancient network of trails just east of the front of the Rocky Mountains connected Canada and Mexico. Many people called this the "Great North Trail." In the 1860's a shorter route to the gold fields in Montana led to a short cut from the Overland Trail to Virginia City, Montana. This followed portions of the "Great North Trail." It came to be called the Bozeman Trail after John M. Bozeman, a Georgian, who called himself "a speculator." He and John Jacobs attempted to pioneer a shorter route between the Overland Trail and Gallatin, Montana.
1864 was the peak of the emigrant traffic on the Bozeman Trail.
Three forts were built along the trail to protect whites going north. Their names are Fort Phil Kearny, Fort Reno, and Fort C.F. Smith. These forts were closed in 1868 when the white men quit using the trail for several years due to the Treaty of 1868. Then, gold was discovered in the Black Hills and this opened up Indian Territory north of the Platte River.
Some of the better know towns along this trail are Buffalo, Sheridan and Bozeman.