Boxeman Trail

In the early 1860s, travelers seeking to leave the Oregon Trail for the newly discovered gold fields in Montana had only one choice: the difficult and dangerous Salt Lake Trail.

In Bannock, Mont., John M. Bozeman, a miner from Georgia via Pike? Peak, saw the difficulties faced by the freighters who supplied the miners. He watched tobacco sell for $50 a plug and thought he had a better idea. Rather than break his back in the heat and cold, he had only to map out a better route, get some financial backing, and erect a toll both every 40 miles.

Bozeman did succeed in mapping out an alternative route that would eventually bear his name ·although the toll booths never materialized. It had plenty of grass and water, no steep grades, and only one difficult river to ford. Unfortunately, it ran right through the heart of Sioux and Cheyenne Indian country in Montana and present-day Wyoming.

The very first wagon train that Bozeman attempted to guide was met by a large party of hostile Indians and chased back to Fort Casper. The advent of the Civil War dramatically increased the country? need for hard currency, and the government stepped in to aid the miners. A series of forts were built and regulations passed governing the use of the trail. The regulations were ignored and the forts were undermanned.

Fort Kearny in northern Wyoming existed in a veritable state of siege by a host of Indians. On one occasion, a party of troops that had ventured too far from the fort was saved only by the timely appearance of a large, well armed wagon train. In 1866 a party of wood-gatherers from Fort Kearny was attacked by Indians, and Captain William J. Fetterman was sent with an 80 man detachment to relieve them. In violation of express orders from the post commander, Fetterman pursued the Indians into the high country where the entire detachment was massacred. The 119 defenders left inside the fort were besieged by 1,000s of Sioux and Cheyenne, and only the courageous 236 mile ride of John ?ortugee· Phillips to Fort Laramie saved their lives.

Bozeman himself was killed by Black Feet in 1867, and the trail forts were vacated shortly thereafter.

However, the miners up in Bannock and Virginia City now had an even bigger problem ·how to get their gold out. Nobody knows how much gold was taken out of the Montana gold fields, because most of it was smuggled out. It was the only way to get it past the bandits. It is estimated that 200 miners from the Montana camps were murdered by outlaws in the first season alone. As late as 1870 the owner of the Black Friday Mine was masquerading as a potato farmer so he could ship his gold out under the spuds. Many miners smuggled their gold out in pack trains under the pretext of going out on prospecting expeditions. Some tried to float their gold down the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers only to wreck on the deadly rapids down river. Many banded together to brave the hazards of the Bozeman Trail ·some lived, some died.

Miners killed on the Salt Lake Trail were generally done in by robbers who wanted their gold. Miners killed on the Bozeman Trail were generally killed by Indians who were more interested in horses and rifles than useless sacks of metal dust. A lot of that metal dust is still out there.

The Bozeman left the Oregon Trail at Douglas and crossed the North Platte by ferry at Shawnee Creek north of Cedar Hills, then headed northeast. The next present-day town in its path was Buffalo, but its route can be traced on the map by abandoned forts and locations of Indian engagements. From Buffalo to Sheridan it followed Highway 87 where it picks up a Wyoming Road to Dayton. It comes back to 87 briefly at the Montana line and swings west towards Fort Smith. There is still gold out there. Nobody knows how much, but it? there. Even without the booths Bozeman imagined, his road exacted its toll.

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