The Overland Trail (also known as Overland Stage Line ) is a railroad and wagon track in West America during the 19th century. While some routes have been used by explorers and trappers since the 1820s, the Overland Trail was most widely used in the 1860s as an alternative route to the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails via central Wyoming. The famous Overland Trail was used by Ben Holladay's Overland Stage Company to run letters and passengers to Salt Lake City, Utah, through stagecoaches in the early 1860s. Starting from Atchison, Kansas, trail down to Colorado before rolling back to southern Wyoming and rejoining the Oregon Trail at Fort Bridger. The stage was operated until 1869 when the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad eliminated the need for postal service through Thai stagecoach.
Video Overland Trail
Histori
In 1857, the US Post Office Department extended the offer for mail services along what is known as the "southern route" from Memphis, Tennessee, to San Francisco, California, through New Mexico and Arizona. The contract was awarded to the Butterfield Overland Mail Company and the service running until the Civil War began in 1861. Wells Fargo was the principal lender to the company and took control when experiencing financial difficulties in 1859. After the southern route was dissolved, Overland Mail Company moved its operations to the line center between Salt Lake City and Sacramento.
The Chorpenning contract was canceled in 1860 and later awarded to Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company (C.O.C and P.P Express), which runs a stage line between Missouri and Utah along the Oregon Trail. In 1860, C.O.C and P.P Express started the Pony Express, which follows the Oregon and Mormon Tracks to Salt Lake City and the Central Nevada Route to Sacramento. Pony Express only lasted a year before C.O.C and P.P Express went bankrupt and its assets were sold to Ben Holladay. In 1861, Holladay was awarded a Postal Department contract for land mail services between the western end of the railroads in Missouri and Kansas and Salt Lake City. Services from Utah to California are awarded to Overland Mail Company and other stage paths.
The Beginning of the Civil War also forced the US Army to move its regular soldiers from fort and posts along the Oregon Trail to the east and replace them with volunteers. As a result, raids of Native Americans on the road increased. The Army and Holladay wanted to find a safer route to the south. In 1851, Army Topographic Engineer, Captain Howard Stansbury, returned east of an expedition to the Salt Lake Valley, illustrating the route from Fort Bridger through the valleys of Bitter Creek and Laramie Plains to the North Platte River. The Stansbury route is known by trappers and local traders. General William Henry Ashley had crossed Laramie Plains in 1825, John C. Fremont camped near Elk Mountain in 1843 and miners and fishermen headed to California using the Cherokee Trail in the late 1840s. Based on these reports, a newly established trail from Atchison, Kansas, climbs into the South Platte River and attacks the Cherokee Trail though Wyoming to Fort Bridger. The mail service began along the Overland Stage Route on July 1, 1861. Holladay retained a mailing contract on the route until 1866, when it was sold to Wells Fargo. Operation stage continued until 1869, when the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad made the service stage unnecessary.
Over time, increasing emigrant traffic and disguised on the plains and shifting buffaloes pushed Native Americans into southern Wyoming and northern Colorado, causing conflicts on the Overland Trail, especially in the eastern part along the South Platte River and in the west along the Laramie Plain. Attempts to force Native Americans into reservations came to a head during the Colorado War in 1864. Camp Collins, near Fort Collins, Colorado, and Fort Sanders now and Fort Halleck in Wyoming were established to protect tourists against Sioux raids on trails during the 1860s. Stagecoach Station and a 150-mile (240 km) ranch from the South Platte River were burned by Cheyenne, Arapaho and Sioux troops in January and early February 1865. (See Battle of Julesburg.)
Maps Overland Trail
Route
Starting at the end of the Atchison railroad track, the Overland Trail trails other emigrants on the Great Platte River Road along the North Platte River in Kansas and Nebraska. In Julesburg, Colorado, the trail is divided from the others and continues along the South Platte River. Following the same common pathway miners used during Pike's Peak Gold Rush, the trail follows South Platte through the current towns of Sterling, Fort Morgan, and to Latham, the last station in South Platte. Located near the city of Greeley today, Latham is an important retreat and intersection that connects the Overland Trail and a short climb that links the lanes to Denver and the surrounding mining towns. From Latham, stage routes across South Platte to Laporte and strike the Cherokee Trail trail leading north to Wyoming. In 1862, Fort Morgan Cut-Off was established between Fort Morgan and Denver saving three days and 40 miles (64 km) from the previous route and cutting the station between Fort Morgan and Latham.
In Wyoming, the path passes through the Laramie River Valley and around the north side of Elk Mountain. Fort Halleck was founded here in 1862 to protect tourists on the road. Following the same path as the subsequent subway tracks and the modern Interstate 80, this path crosses the Red Desert and follows Bitter Creek through the present Rock Springs, Point of Rocks and Green River towns. From Green River, his trail headed west to the Blacks Fork, following him to Granger where he joined the Emigrant Trails that descended from the South Pass and continued into Fort Bridger. From Fort Bridger, the stage route follows Mormon's trail the rest of the way to Salt Lake City.
Rest
Some modern highways follow the same route as the Overland Trail. Interstate 76 follows the South Platte River to Fort Morgan, Colorado, and USS 34 to between Fort Morgan and Greeley. North Fort Collins, Route 287 US follows the Overland Trail path north to Laramie. The Westland Laramie Overland Trail route was followed by Union Pacific Railroad in 1869 and Lincoln Highway and Interstate 80 in the 20th century.
The remnants of stage stops are scattered throughout Wyoming and northern Colorado including well-preserved buildings in Virginia Dale, Colorado, and Point of Rocks, Wyoming. The trail is sometimes marked with markers and historical markers on which roads cross the highway. The switchback on the route can be clearly seen when on highway 287, just north of Laporte, Colorado, above the current Forks Lumber company, and part of the route to the east of the place is well preserved and easy to see (even though they're crossing private property).
The cabins of Camp Collins army post and stop along the Overland Trail are located in the Heritage Center at Fort Collins Museum and Discovery Science Center. Included is Fort Collins' oldest "Aunt" Stone cabin, which provides food for Camp Collins camp posters and a small hotel and resting place for Overland Trail passengers.
Stop and famous landmark
- Julesburg, Colorado
- North Platte River Crossing - Carbon Area, Wyoming
- Bear River City, Wyoming
- Granger, Wyoming
- Point of Rocks, Wyoming
- Rattlesnake Station - Elmore County, Idaho
- Rock Creek Station and Stricker Homesite - Twin Falls County, Idaho
Overland Trail Museum
The city of Sterling, Colorado, operates the Overland Trail Museum, located on the US 6 route, just east of the South Platte River. Opened in 1936, the museum contains dioramas and artifacts related to the history of the trail and to the town of Sterling.
See also
- Oregon Trail
References
Further reading
- LaSalle, Michael E. Emigrants on the Overland Trail: The Wagon Trains of 1848 (Kirksville: Truman State Press University, 2011. xx, 516 pp.
External links
- Overland Trail Museum
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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