The Bozeman Trail was an overland route in the Western United States, connecting the gold rush territory of southern Montana to the Oregon Trail in eastern Wyoming. Its most important period was from 1863 to 1868. Despite the fact that the major part of the route in Wyoming used by all Bozeman Trail travelers in 1864 was pioneered by Allen Hurlbut, it was named after John Bozeman. Many miles of the Bozeman Trail in present Montana followed the tracks of Bridger Trail, opened by Jim Bridger in 1864.
Bozeman Trail, Fort C.F. Smith, Fort Phil Kearny and Fort Reno and relevant Indian territories of 1851. All three military forts along the Bozeman Trail were located in Crow Indian treaty territory, which had been invaded by buffalo hunting Lakotas.
Bozeman Trail marker, Wyoming, 2003
The Oregon Trail was a 2,170-mile (3,490 km) east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kansas and nearly all of what are now the states of Nebraska and Wyoming. The western half of the trail spanned most of the current states of Idaho and Oregon.
The first Fort Laramie as it looked prior to 1840. Painting from memory by Alfred Jacob Miller
Breaking up Camp at Sunrise, by Alfred Jacob Miller
Trail ruts near Guernsey, Wyoming
Our Camp, by Alfred Jacob Miller