- Fifty-Niner
The Fifty-Niners were the estimated 100,000Fact|date = March 2008 gold seekers who streamed into the
Pike's Peak Country of westernKansas Territory and southwesternNebraska Territory in1859 . The discovery of placer gold deposits along theSouth Platte River at the foot of theRocky Mountains in northwesternKansas Territory by a party of miners lead by William Greeneberry "Green" Russell in July1858 precipitated thePike's Peak Gold Rush .Many Fifty-Niners took the "Smoky Hill Trail" west through
Kansas Territory up theKansas River valley. The last significant civilian settlement along this route wasManhattan, Kansas , several hundred miles short of the mountains. Between there and the mountains the Fifty-Niners had to cross the unmarked plains, often getting lost, and sometimes confrontingPlains Indians . There is no record of how many prospective miners died en route toPikes Peak , but the casualties were numerous.Fact|date = March 2008The northern, or Platte River, route followed the Platte River through Nebraska along the
Oregon Trail , then angled down along theSouth Platte River to the gold region.The southern route followed the
Santa Fe Trail along theArkansas River to the vicinity of present-dayPueblo, Colorado , then north up Fountain Creek to the gold fields.Among the most famous of the Fifty-Niners were
Buffalo Bill Cody and millionaire miner Horace A. W. Tabor (although Tabor didn't make his fortune until the subsequent "Colorado Silver Boom ").No gold was found near Pikes Peak, but it was the first visible
landmark for those traveling west across theHigh Plains . This gave rise to the slogan, "Pike's Peak or Bust ."External links
* [http://www.kshs.org/publicat/khq/1959/59_2_gower.htm Kansas Historical Quarterly: "Smoky Hill Route"]
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