[5] In 1859, the Pike's Peak Gold Rush prompted increased exploration of the westward path from the Missouri River through the dangerously vast Kansas Territory prairie.
Emigration by gold prospectors was enticed greatly by a deluge of newspaper articles with wild claims of efficiency and natural provisions of the Smoky Hill Trail.
Many who attempted the Smoky Hill Trail got repeatedly lost from it or found no natural provisions, contrary to the published reports and guidebooks, culminating in one infamous case of cannibalism.
The Rocky Mountain News said "for the benefit of speculators and lot owners, in prospective towns along the line of travel, has been tried once over this fated Smoky Hell route with only too lamentable success, and its instigators stand to-day, in the sight of Heaven, guilty of manslaughter, to say the least".
[7] In 1867, the Comanche and the Kiowa, and in 1868, the Sioux and the Arapaho signed treaties withdrawing their opposition to the construction of a railroad along the Smoky Hill River.