Fifty-Niner

The discovery of placer gold deposits along the South Platte River at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in northwestern Kansas Territory by a party of miners led by William Greeneberry "Green" Russell in July 1858 precipitated the Pike's Peak Gold Rush.

The last significant civilian settlement along this route was Manhattan, Kansas, several hundred miles east of the mountains.

There is no record of how many prospective miners died en route to Pikes Peak.

The southern route followed the Santa Fe Trail along the Arkansas River to the vicinity of present-day Pueblo, 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").