The Mormon Trail

Between 1846 and 1869, thousands of Mormon immigrants traversed the Great Plains enroute to sanctuary in the Great Basin of the Rocky Mountains. The main route ran through Nebraska, paralleling the Platte River.

A cholera epidemic in the fall of 1853 caused the bulk of the immigrants to seek a new pathway west. Mormon wagon and handcart companies traveled from Westport, Missouri, down the Santa Fe Trail to 110-Mile Creek crossing, then across the prairie into Geary County and Fort Riley and on north to link up with the main Mormon route.

Used heavily by Mormon wagon trains in 1854, the route descended diagonally down the face of Grant Ridge just south of Interstate 70, crossed Marshall Army Air Field and forded the Kansas River. It then crossed the Main Post portion of Fort Riley and crested the rimrock area behind the post headquarters. From there the trail ascended Custer Hill.

The trail was used heavily by the military, settlers and freighters after the Mormons abandoned the route. The northern segment became known as the Fort Kearney Road in 1858.

This trail was one of the first connecting routes between the Santa Fe and Oregon trails and was a main artery of settlement and commerce in territorial Kansas.