Trails of the Smoky Hill : From Coronado to the Cow Towns

First it was Coronado in 1540; then came Vilasur, Bourgmont, Pike and Fremont. Among all of these, explorers found the Smoky Hill valley to be among the richest buffalo pastures on the continent. When gold was found in Cherry Creek and the miners and settlers soon learned that the Smoky Hill River and the trails that ran along it provided the shortest path to Denver and thus the gold in the Rockies. The resulting conflict between native people wanting to protect their hunting grounds and the encroaching white men became the stuff of legend.