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Smoky Hill Trail Historic Marker

23890 E. Smoky Hill Road
Aurora, Colorado 80016

Mapped location of Smoky Hill Trail Historic Marker

Smoky Hill Trail Historic Marker

Travelers setting out for the goldfields of Colorado had few choices when planning the route they would follow. The Smoky Hill Trail, the shortest route to Denver from Kansas, ran roughly along with parts of what is today Smoky Hill Road. The route, used from the 1850s until 1870, had a 22-mile section known as the "Starvation Trail" due to the lack of food and water along the way. Archaeological evidence found near this marker indicates that native peoples occupied the area approximately 850 years before the first European American immigrants arrived.