On July 14, 1806, Captain William Clark, accompanied by 11 members of the expedition party, camped about a mile east of here on the flat at the mouth of Kelly Canyon. The next day, Sacajawea guided the party up the canyon on an old buffalo trail to a pass at the summit of the Gallatin Range. In 1863, after failing to open the Bozeman Trail, John Bozeman and a small party on horseback traveled west over this pass when they returned to Montana. The men in the party named the pass for Bozeman. The pass became the route of the Bozeman Trail when it was opened in 1864. Most Bridger Trail travelers went through Bridger Pass several miles to the north.
From Bozeman Pass, the Bozeman Trail crossed the head of Moffit Canyon to Kelly Canyon. The trail descended Kelly Canyon and entered the Gallatin Valley at the site of Fort Ellis. As they approached the town of Bozeman, diarists enthusiastically recorded seeing the first fences, plowed fields and cabins since leaving the eastern settlements. Today the lower three miles of Kelly Canyon Road follows the historic Bozeman Trail as it winds its way down from the summit to the Gallatin Valley.
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.