The Overland Trail (also known as the Overland Stage Line) was a
stagecoach and
wagon trail in the
American West during the
19th century. While portions of the route had been used by explorers and trappers since the 1820s, the Overland Trail was most heavily used in the 1860s as a route alternative to the
Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, and
Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into severa ...
trails through central Wyoming. The Overland Trail was famously used by the Overland Stage Company owned by
Ben Holladay to run mail and passengers to
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
, via stagecoaches in the early 1860s. Starting from
Atchison, Kansas
Atchison is a city and county seat of Atchison County, Kansas, United States, along the Missouri River. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 10,885. The city is named in honor of US Senator David Rice Atchison from Missouri ...
, the trail descended into
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
before looping back up to southern
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...
and rejoining the
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...
at
Fort Bridger
Fort Bridger was originally a 19th-century fur trading outpost established in 1842, on Blacks Fork of the Green River, in what is now Uinta County, Wyoming, United States. It became a vital resupply point for wagon trains on the Oregon Trail, C ...
. The stage line operated until 1869 when the completion of the
First transcontinental railroad eliminated the need for mail service via stagecoach.
History
![Pony Express Map William Henry Jackson](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Pony_Express_Map_William_Henry_Jackson.jpg)
In 1850,
U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers Captain
Howard Stansbury
Howard Stansbury (February 8, 1806 – April 17, 1863) was a major in the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. His most notable achievement was leading a two-year expedition (1849–1851) to survey the Great Salt Lake and its surroundings ...
's expedition was returning east. At
Fort Bridger
Fort Bridger was originally a 19th-century fur trading outpost established in 1842, on Blacks Fork of the Green River, in what is now Uinta County, Wyoming, United States. It became a vital resupply point for wagon trains on the Oregon Trail, C ...
,
Jim Bridger
James Felix "Jim" Bridger (March 17, 1804 – July 17, 1881) was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was known as Old ...
advised Stansbury of a shorter route than the Oregon Trail. According to Erb, Brown and Hughes, "From the
Green River Green River may refer to:
Rivers
Canada
* Green River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Lillooet River
*Green River, a tributary of the Saint John River, also known by its French name of Rivière Verte
*Green River (Ontario), a tributary of ...
this trail went eastward along
Bitter Creek, skirting the
Red Desert to Muddy Creek, following the Muddy Canyon to
Bridger's Pass where the
Continental Divide was crossed, then down Sage Creek crossing the
North Platte River
The North Platte River is a major tributary of the Platte River and is approximately long, counting its many curves.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 21, 2011 In a ...
and dropping down onto the
Laramie Plains." General
William Henry Ashley
William Henry Ashley (c. 1778 – March 26, 1838) was an American miner, land speculator, manufacturer, territorial militia general, politician, frontiersman, fur trader, entrepreneur, hunter, and slave owner. Ashley was best known for being th ...
had crossed the Laramie Plains in 1825, and
John C. Fremont had explored the area near Bridger Pass in 1842, while natives had used this and other trails for years, including the
Cherokee Trail
The Cherokee Trail was a historic overland trail through the present-day U.S. states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming that was used from the late 1840s up through the early 1890s. The route was established in 1849 by a wagon train he ...
as recently as 1849. In 1858, Lieutenant F.T. Bryan made his third expedition over the Bridger Pass route, when a topographical party with engineers determined a roadway that included built bridges, and filled-in gullies.
From 1859, the Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Express operated mail stages from Missouri along the
South Pass Oregon-California trail. The
Chorpenning contract was annulled in 1860 and was subsequently awarded to the
Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company (C.O.C and P.P Express), which ran stage lines between Missouri and Utah along the Oregon Trail. In 1860, the C.O.C and P.P Express started the
Pony Express
The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. It operated from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861, between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pi ...
, which followed the Oregon and Mormon Trails to Salt Lake City and the Central
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
Route to Sacramento. The Pony Express only lasted a year before the C.O.C and P.P Express went bankrupt and the assets were sold to Ben Holladay. In 1861, Holladay was awarded the Postal Department contract for overland mail service between the end of the western terminus of the railroad in
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
and
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...
and Salt Lake City. Service from Utah to
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
was given to the Overland Mail Company and other stage lines. Holladay initially operated along the original South Pass route, but changed the route further south to the Bridger Pass route after Shoshone attacks. This more southerly route would also allow connecting routes to Denver. In 1862, the new route was reconnoitered, and on 21 July 1862, mail coaches began using it.
[
According to Erb, Brown and Hughes, "Stations were located approximately every 10 to 15 miles apart and stocked with the finest horses, mules, tack and coaches. The larger places, called Home Stations, located approximately every 50 miles, where the driver's route ended, were built to accommodate travelers with meals and overnight lodging, and had a telegraph station. The smaller, or swing stations, built on one-quarter to one-half acre plots, just provided fresh teams for the coaches."][
Holladay retained the mail contract on the route until 1866, when it was sold to ]Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...
. Stage operations continued until 1869, when the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad
A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...
made stage service unnecessary.
Over time, increasing emigrant traffic and homesteading in the plains and shifting buffalo herds forced Native American tribes into southern Wyoming and northern Colorado, leading to conflicts on the Overland Trail, especially in the eastern portion along the South Platte River
The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/ Mountain West. It ...
and in the western portion along the Laramie Plains. Attempts to force the Native Americans onto a reservation came to a head during the Colorado War
The Colorado War was an Indian War fought in 1864 and 1865 between the Southern Cheyenne, Arapaho, and allied Brulé and Oglala Sioux (or Lakota) peoples versus the U.S. army, Colorado militia, and white settlers in Colorado Territory and ad ...
in 1864. Camp Collins, near present-day Fort Collins, Colorado, and Fort Sanders and Fort Halleck in Wyoming were established to protect travelers against Sioux raids on the trail during the 1860s. Stagecoach stations and ranches along of the South Platte River were burned down by an army of Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...
, Arapaho
The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota.
By the 1850s, Arapaho ba ...
, and Sioux in January and early February 1865. (See Battle of Julesburg
The Battle of Julesburg took place on January 7, 1865 near Julesburg, Colorado between 1,000 Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Lakota Indians and about 60 soldiers of the U.S. army and 40 to 50 civilians. The Indians defeated the soldiers and over the next ...
.)
Route
According to Erb, Brown, and Hughes, "Holladay's Mail and Stage route extended from Atchison, Kansas
Atchison is a city and county seat of Atchison County, Kansas, United States, along the Missouri River. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 10,885. The city is named in honor of US Senator David Rice Atchison from Missouri ...
to Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
and California. As the trail entered the northeast corner of Colorado along the South Platte River
The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/ Mountain West. It ...
at Old Julesburg, it departed from the Oregon-California trail, which continued on north to the North Platte and Ft. Laramie and over South Pass, while the new mail route continued to the west and became known as the Overland Stage and Mail Line, or simply the Overland Trail."[
Stations along the route, proceeding east to west, included Julesburg, Antelope, Spring Hill, Dennison's, Valley, Kelley's, Beaver Creek, Bijou, Fremont's Orchard, Eagle's Nest, Latham, Laporte, Bonner, Cherokee or Stonewall, Virginia Dale, Willow Springs, Big Laramie, Little Laramie, Cooper Creek, Rock Creek, Medicine Bow, elk Mountain (Fort Halleck), Pass Creek, North Platte, Sage Creek, Pine Grove, Bridger's Pass, Sulphur Springs, Washakie, Duck Lake, Dug Springs, LaClede, Big Pond, Black Buttes, Point of Rocks, Salt Wells, Rock Springs, Green River, Lone Tree, Ham's Fork, Church Buttes, Millerville, and Fort Bridger. Stations north from Denver to Laporte included Childs or Churches, Boones, St. Vrain, Little Thompson, Big Thompson, and Spring Creek. Stations north from Denver to Latham included Pierson's, Fort Lupton, and Big Bend.][
The Walbach cut-off was heavily traveled by emigrants in the 1850s, avoiding the dip down south into Colorado and back north. It originated near Julesburg and followed ]Lodgepole Creek
Lodgepole Creek is a tributary of the South Platte River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 25, 2011 in the U.S. states of Wyoming, Nebraska a ...
, across the Laramie Mountains, and Laramie Plains, before joining the Overland Trail at the Little Laramie Station. Camp Walbach was located along the trail where it entered the Laramie Mountains.[
]
Remnants
Several modern highways follow the same route as the Overland Trail. Interstate 76
Interstate 76 may refer to:
Interstate Highways in the United States
* Interstate 76 (Colorado–Nebraska)
* Interstate 76 (Ohio–New Jersey), running through Pennsylvania
Video gaming
* ''Interstate '76
''Interstate '76'' is a vehicular ...
follows the South Platte River to Fort Morgan, Colorado
Fort Morgan is the home rule municipality city that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Morgan County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 11,597 at the 2020 United States Census. Fort Morgan is the principal ...
, and U.S. Route 34 goes between Fort Morgan and Greeley. North of Fort Collins, U.S. Route 287 follows the path of the Overland Trail north to Laramie. West of Laramie the Overland Trail route was closely followed by the Union Pacific Railroad in 1869 and the Lincoln Highway
The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental highway in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 1913 ...
and Interstate 80 in the 20th century.
Remains of stage stops are scattered throughout Wyoming and northern Colorado including well preserved buildings at Virginia Dale, Colorado
Virginia Dale is a tiny unincorporated community located in northwestern Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Virginia Dale is situated in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on U.S. Highway 287, approximately 45 mi (72 km) nor ...
and Point of Rocks, Wyoming
Point of Rocks is an unincorporated community in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States. As of the 2000 census, Point of Rocks had a total population of three, when it was a census-designated place (CDP).
Geography
According to the United S ...
. The trail is occasionally marked with markers and historical signs where the trail crosses a highway. Switchbacks on the route can be clearly seen when on highway 287, just north of the town of Laporte, Colorado, above the present day Forks Lumber company, and portions of the route just east of that spot are well preserved and easily seen (although they are crossing through private property).
Cabins from Camp Collins an army post and stop along the Overland Trail are located at the Heritage Center at the Fort Collins Museum and Discovery Science Center
Fort Collins Museum of Discovery is an all-ages, science, history and cultural museum established in 2008 through a public-private partnership between the City of Fort Collins' Fort Collins Museum and nonprofit Discovery Science Center. The museu ...
. Included is the oldest cabin of Fort Collins "Auntie" Stone, who provided food to Camp Collins post officers and a small hotel and resting spot for Overland Trail passengers.
Stage stops and notable landmarks
* Julesburg, Colorado
Julesburg is the statutory town that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Sedgwick County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,225 at the 2010 United States Census.
It is close to the Nebraska border.
History
T ...
* North Platte River Crossing – Carbon County, Wyoming
* Bear River City, Wyoming
* Granger, Wyoming
Granger is a town along Blacks Fork near the western edge of Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States.} The population was 139 at the 2010 census. It is located near the confluence of the Blacks Fork and the Hams Fork rivers. The geography o ...
* Point of Rocks, Wyoming
Point of Rocks is an unincorporated community in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States. As of the 2000 census, Point of Rocks had a total population of three, when it was a census-designated place (CDP).
Geography
According to the United S ...
* Rattlesnake Station – Elmore County, Idaho
* Rock Creek Station and Stricker Homesite
Rock Creek Station and Stricker Homesite is a historical site operated by the Idaho State Historical Society. It includes the Stricker Store and Farm, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Two previously importa ...
– Twin Falls County, Idaho
Overland Trail Museum
The city of Sterling, Colorado, operates the Overland Trail Museum, located on US route 6, just east of the South Platte River
The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/ Mountain West. It ...
.[City of Sterlin]
Overland Trail Museum
/ref> Opened in 1936, the museum contains dioramas and artifacts that relate to the history of the trail and to the city of Sterling.
See also
* Fort Morgan Cut-Off
The Fort Morgan Cut-Off of the ''Overland Stage Company'' (formerly the '' Central Overland, California, and Pike's Peak Express Company'') passed through Adams County, Colorado. It was established in September 1862 as an offshoot of the Overland ...
* Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...
References
Further reading
* LaSalle, Michael E. ''Emigrants on the Overland Trail: The Wagon Trains of 1848'' (Kirksville: Truman State University Press, 2011. xx, 516 pp.
External links
{{commons
Overland Trail Museum
1860s in the United States
Historic trails and roads in Colorado
Historic trails and roads in Kansas
Historic trails and roads in Utah
Historic trails and roads in Wyoming
Wells Fargo