The Cherokee Trail

I have been reading "The Contested Plains" by author Elliott West, and came across descriptions of the CHEROKEE TRAIL beginning on page 100. I did not recall hearing about this trail previously and began looking for more information.

According to Wikipedia, The Cherokee Trail, called the "Trappers' Trail," in Colorado was a historic trail through the present-day U.S. states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana that was used from the late 1840s up through the early 1890s. The route was established in 1849 by a wagon train headed to the gold fields in California. Among the members of the expedition were a group of Cherokee. In 1849. lieutenant Abraham Buford escorting the mail from Santa Fe to the east turned south at McPherson, Kansas to follow the recently blazed Evans/Cherokee Trail to Fort Gibson, Oklahoma connected with another trail to nearby Fort Smith, Arkansas. Starting in 1850 the trail was used continuously by gold seekers, emigrants and cattle drovers from Arkansas, Texas, Missouri, and the Cherokee Nation. In all, approximately 35,000 or 10% of western emigrants traveled along the route.

Another excellent source of information is the Pioneering The Trail web site, which includes detailed maps. This trail began in the vicinity of Tahlequah in the Indian Territory and: traveling on the highlands between the Verdigris and Caney Rivers...... crossed the Walnut River at present El Dorado........ struck the Santa Fe Trail at Running Turkey Creek east of McPherson......Proceeding west along the Santa Fe Trail...... went to Bents Fort (CO). Leaving the Santa Fe Trail.......continued west up the Arkansas River to Pueblo.

The Cherokee Trail certainly adds another interesting dimension to the prairie trails of the Great Plains.