Bozeman, << BOHZ muhn, >> Trail, was a route that travelers of the 1860’s used to reach gold fields in Montana and Idaho. It covered about 600 miles (970 kilometers) between what are now Fort Laramie, Wyo., and Virginia City, Mont. The trail was named for John M. Bozeman, who started it in 1863.
People traveling west along the Bozeman Trail headed northwest from Fort Laramie. They crossed the Powder River and traveled along the eastern and northern edges of the Bighorn Mountains. Then they went west across the Bighorn and Yellowstone rivers and through Bozeman Pass. They crossed the Gallatin River and soon turned south to Virginia City. The Sioux Indians fought to close the trail because it crossed their main hunting lands. They continually attacked travelers along the trail. The army built forts in an attempt to keep the trail open for miners. But after battles with the Sioux in 1866 and 1867, the United States government removed the forts. It closed the trail in 1868. In 1877, Texas ranchers began to use it to move their cattle into Montana and Wyoming.
