The Cheyenne-Ft. Laramie-Deadwood Trail

The stone's two dates bracket the road's working life. The Black Hills rush made it a stage line in 1876, the Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage and Express, which by 1878 Gilmer, Salisbury and Patrick were running north from the corner the stone names, with Concord coaches and an iron-lined treasure coach built in Cheyenne. Railroads ended it; the last coach went in February 1887. The Indians the stone lists among the road's hazards were Lakota and Cheyenne defending the Black Hills, country the 1868 treaty had reserved to them.

What the plaque says

1867 1887 The Cheyenne-Ft. Laramie-Deadwood Trail started from the corner of Capitol Ave. & 16th Street and ran 88 miles north to Ft. Laramie, the most historic Fort in the Rocky Mountain west. In 1876 it was extended to Deadwood and the Black Hills gold fields 266 miles from Cheyenne. Indians, trappers, traders, pack trains, cavalry, freighters, cowboys, and stage coaches traveled this way. Road agents and Indians added to the hazards of the road. Erected by The Historical Landmark Commission of Wyoming 1957

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Wyoming State Capitol — steps away
  A sandstone capitol set to face the Union Pacific depot down one long street, its copper dome gilded in 1900 when the copper tarnished.
• Cheyenne Frontier Days — 1.6 mi
  A railroad agent's excursion scheme for a town with no crop to celebrate, which became a six-hour show in 1897 and the Daddy of 'em All.

More markers nearby

• Mrs. Esther Hobart Morris — steps away
• St. Mark's Episcopal Church — 0.2 mi
• Durant Bell — 0.2 mi
• The Cheyenne Opera House and Territorial Library — 0.3 mi