Trail Through Time

Trail Through Time. To the Headwaters. First Peoples utilized the valley for over 11,000 years before the arrival of Lewis and Clark, and the others that would follow. Trails brought cattle and homesteaders to an agricultural paradise. The military followed, defending settlers, consuming local products and mounting expeditions into the Yellowstone. The railroad brought material goods and tied the region to the national economy. , , Over 11,000 years ago The First Peoples moving into North America across an ice age land bridge came to this area to hunt., 1803 - President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Captains Lewis and Clark to lead an expedition in search of a Northwest Passage. They reached the Headwaters of the Missouri River on July 25, 1805., 1806 - Returning from the Pacific Ocean on July 13, 1806, Capt. Clark and his party rode through the Gallatin Valley with 50 horses enroute to the Yellowstone River., 1808 - The streams of the beaver-rich Gallatin Valley lay at the heart of the fur trade industry., 1833 - William Clark publishes his map of the Gallatin Valley and Yellowstone River that will be known as the Clark Maximillian Map., 1860s - Homesteaders followed gold discoveries, blazing trails, bringing cattle and raiding crops., 1862 - A hub of economic endeavor grew around the settlement of Bozeman., 1867 - From Fort Ellis military expeditions surveyed and explored the marvels that would become Yellowstone National Park., Today - Visitors follow the same route through this landscape on Interstate 90.