Smoky Hill Trail : Research Material
Primary Sources
Barney, Libeus. Letters of the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. Talisman Press, 1959.
Bell, William A. New Tracks in North America. Reprint, Albuqueque: Horn and Wallace, Publishers, 1965.
Davis, Theodore. "A Stage Ride to Colorado". Harper's New Monthly Magazine. 35 (July, 1867).
Fitch, Jullian R. Report. printed in "Fort Wallace and its Relation to the Frontier", by Mrs. Frank C. Montgomery. Kansas State Historical Society, 17 (1926-1928).
Greeley, Horace. An Overland Journey from New York to San Fransisco in the Summer of 1859. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, reprint, 1964.
Parker, Samuel Fiske. "The Glorious Orb of Day Has Rose, A Diary of the Smoky Hill Route to Pike's Peak, 1858". Montana, The Magazine of Western History. Vol. 36 No. 2 (Spring, 1986).
Richardson, Albert D. Beyond the Mississippi. Hartford: American Publishing Company, 1867.
Russell, Green. "Report". Rocky Mountain News. Vol. 2, No. 6 (May 30, 1860).
Taylor, Bayard. Colorado, a Summer Trip. Niwot: University of Colorado Press, 1989.
Villard, Henry. "To the Pike's Peak Country in 1859 and Cannibalism on the Smoky Hill Route". The Colorado Magazine. Vol. 8, No. 6 (November, 1931). Denver: The State Historical Society of Colorado.
Secondary Sources
Lee, Wayne C. & Howard Raynesford. Trails of the Smoky Hill. Caldwell Idaho: Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1980.
Long, Margaret. The Smoky Hill Trail. Denver: The W. H. Kistler Publishing Company, 1947.
Root, Frank A. The Overland Stage to California. Glorieta, New Mexico: The Rio Grande Press, Inc., 1970.
The following individuals traveled portions of the Smoky Hill Trail and recorded their events in journals and letters.
Wilbur Fiske Parker, 1858 - Parker traveled from Leavenworth to Denver, starting his trip in October. He traveled the Fort Riley Military Road, ascended the Smoky Hill River, cut southwest to Big Sandy Creek, then turned northwest, hitting Cherry Creek 25 miles southeast of Denver.
Libeus Barney, 1859 - from Vermont, Barney traveled to Leavenworth by railroad and steamship. He traveled on the first stagecoaches of the Leavenworth and Pikes Peak Express Company (L&PPX) on their first run to Denver.
Henry Villard, 1859 - a correspondent for the Cincinnati Daily Commercial, Villard made the second run of the L&PPX. He later became president of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
Albert D. Richardson, 1859 - Richardson traveled the L&PPX stagecoach to Denver. He compiled his extensive 1857 to 1867 travel experiences in his book "Beyond the Mississippi".
Horace Greeley, 1859 - editor of the New York Tribune, Greeley traveled by private conveyance to Manhattan, Kansas, where he joined Richardson on the L&PPX to Denver.
William Green Russell, 1860 - Russell agreed to "survey" a road to Denver for the city of Leavenworth. He followed the military road to Fort Riley, followed the Smoky Hill River to its head waters, then continued west to join the L&PPX into Denver.
Lt. Julian R. Fitch, 1865 - Lt. Fitch was a member of a survey expedition looking for the best route for David Butterfield's Overland Despatch (BOD). From Leavenworth, he followed the military road to Fort Riley, up the Smoky Hill River to its head waters, southwest to Big Sandy Creek, then northwest to Denver.
Theodore Davis, 1865 - Davis was a correspondent for Harper's New Monthly Magazine. He traveled the BOD from Atchison to Denver, taking the firm's "south branch" of the Smoky Hill Trail in Colorado.
Bayard Taylor, 1866 - Taylor was a journalist who specialized in newspaper and magazine articles on his western travels. He traveled by train to Topeka, then took the BOD stagecoach to Denver, his the last coach over the "south branch" of the Smoky Hill Trail in Colorado.
William A. Bell, 1867 - Bell was a member of a surveying expedition for the Kansas Pacific Railroad. He traveled by train to Salina, then followed the BOD route up the Smoky Hill River to Fort Wallace. Here he left the Smoky Hill Trail and began his survey southwest to the Arkansas River.
