Trailblazers John Bozeman and John Jacobs opened the Bozeman Trail in 1864 as a shortcut between the Overland Road and the newly discovered Montana gold fields. The trail began near present Casper Wyoming and ended just over the Baseman Pass in Gallatin Valley. While some of the emigrants left the trail at present Livingston and went up the Yellowstone River to Emigrant Gulch, most continued over the pass and traveled over Norris Hill to Bannack and Virginia City.

The road over Norris Hill already existed when it was used in 1864 as an extension of the Bozeman Trail from Bozeman and the Gallatin Valley to Virginia City. Heavy Bozeman Trail traffic continued on this road in 1865 and 1866. Although Indian resistance to the trail in the Powder River country forced the closer of it to emigrants after the 1866 travel season, the Bozeman to Virginia City portion of the road continued to be a major thoroughfare. Agricultural products produced by Gallatin Valley farmers, ranchers and mill owners found a lucrative market in the gold camps of southwestern Montana. Today’s U.S. Highway 287 remains an important route in southwestern Montana.

The old Bozeman Trail extension to Virginia City is still visible to the west of this highway.