The Cheyenne-Black Hills Trail

The railroad the stone credits came up from Nebraska, not from Cheyenne. The Chicago and North Western's Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley line built about 240 miles from Valentine to Rapid City in 1885 and 1886, and in November 1887 reached Whitewood, the first trains into the northern Black Hills from the east. The Cheyenne road had fought a rival out of Sidney, Nebraska, from the start. The violation the stone names was made law in 1877, when Congress took the Black Hills without the consent of three-quarters of the adult men that the 1868 treaty required.

What the plaque says

The Cheyenne-Black Hills Trail passed near this point between 1876 and 1887. Built to supply the Dakota gold camps, the road was constructed in violation of the Ft. Laramie treaty of 1868 which reserved the Black Hills for Sioux Indians. Stagecoaches and wagons carrying passengers, freight and gold bullion rumbled through nearby Ft. Laramie, an important stopping point along the line, until the arrival of the Chicago and North Western Railroad rendered the route obsolete. Erected by the Wyoming Recreation Commission 1985

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Laramie National Historic Site — 3.3 mi
  Old Bedlam, the officers' quarters of 1849, survived the auction that scattered the rest of the post; an 1875 Army bridge still crosses the river.
• Register Cliff State Historic Site — 6.6 mi
  The first camp out of Fort Laramie, where the oldest date on the rock reads 1829 and three emigrants never left.
• Oregon Trail Ruts State Historic Site — 8.5 mi
  The clearest wagon ruts on the trail, worn by iron tires and cut deeper by travelers who hacked at the ledge to get their wagons over.

More markers nearby

• The Greatest Ride in History — 2.8 mi
• Fort Platte — 3.5 mi
• Old Army Bridge Over the Platte River — 3.6 mi
• Fort Laramie National Historic Site — 3.6 mi