Cherokee Trail: Encyclopedia - Cherokee Trail

Cherokee Trail

The Cherokee Trail was a historic trail in the present-day U.S. states of Colorado and Wyoming that was used from the late 1840s up through the early 1860s. The route was established in 1848 along the base of the Rocky Mountains by a group of Cherokee on their way from Oklahoma to California to search for settlement lands for their tribe. The trail was later used by other Cherokee as well as European settlers to drive cattle along the base of the mountains. The route of the trail ran northward from the Santa Fe Trail on the Arkansas River, along the base of the Front Range into the valley of the South Platte River to present-day Laporte in Larimer County. From Laporte, it ascended the North Fork Cache la Poudre River to the Laramie Plains in southeastern Wyoming, then went westward to join the historic route of the Emigrant Trail. The community of Cherokee Park in Larimer County is named for a historic encampment of the Cherokee during the 1849 return from California along the same route.

The initial Cherokee expedition along the trail was a principal factor in the later exploitation of gold in the area during the 1859 Colorado Gold Rush. The Cherokee discovered traces of placer gold in creeks of the South Platte. William Green Russell, a Georgian with ties to the Cherokee who had prospected in California during the California Gold Rush, heard stories of the gold and organized the first prospecting expedition to the region in 1858.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Cherokee Trail", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki