The Cherokee Trail was pioneered as a route westward during the great migrations of the mid-1800s. It stretches approximately 900 miles from Fort Gibson/Tahlequah, Oklahoma, through Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming, ultimately connecting with the main California Trail at Fort Bridger, Wyoming.
Named for the Cherokee Nation, this trail stands as the only major goldseeker and emigrant trail in the American West to bear the name of a Native American people. Its pioneering story involves Cherokee emigrants, goldseekers bound for California, and countless families seeking a new life in the West.
Despite being largely overlooked by historians for many years — due to a relative scarcity of diaries and primary source documentation — research by Jack and Pat Fletcher has demonstrated that the Cherokee Trail was a well-traveled, significant route that deserves its place in the historical record alongside the Oregon Trail and other famous westward paths.
Content for this page will be expanded with detailed historical accounts. Please check back for the full story of those who pioneered this remarkable trail.