EXHIBITS
Dinosaurs
Fossils
Prehistoric People
Native Americans
Mountain Men
Oregon-California
Trail
Mormon Trail
Pony Express
Cherokee &
Overland Trail
Stagecoaches
Union Pacific
Railroad
John Wesley Powell
Coal & Trona Mining
Oil & Gas Booms
Mormon War of
1857
Chinese
Massacre
U.S. Army in Wyoming
Outlaws & Lawmen
Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
Big Nose George
Cattle Ranching
Sheep Herding
Riverboats
Lincoln Highway
Aviation
Amelia
Earhart
Women's History
Wyoming General Hospital
Nursing
Firemen
Rialto Theater
Home
Entertainment
Wild Horses
Offsite Exhibits
Chinese Dragon
Parade
CHEROKEE & OVERLAND TRAIL
When news of the gold strikes in California arrived in 1849, leader of the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) decided to send a company of men to take part. Because the Cherokees were familiar with the route and on good terms with the Plains Indians, whites from Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri asked if they could travel with them.
The combined groups traveled through Colorado and southern Wyoming on the route now covered by Interstate 25, US Highway 287 and I-80 to Fort Bridger where the Cherokee Trail joined the California Trail. For the next 50 years, the route was the primary way west for Southerners. In the 1860s, the Overland Stagecoach Company followed the same route and, over time, the name of the road became known as the Overland Trail.