Like other emigrant trails in the West, the Bozeman Trail followed a route previously used by traders, trappers, and Native Americans. John Bozeman and John Jacobs officially opened it to emigrants in 1863. The 500-mile trail cut travel from Fort Laramie to the Montana gold mines by half and provided adequate water and food, but it crossed the hunting grounds of the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho and violated the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty, which had promised the Powder River Basin to Native Americans. Red Cloud led Sioux warriors against emigrants using the trail, and the United States answered in 1865 and 1866 by building military forts along it. Although emigrant travel declined sharply after 1866, Native American hostilities continued, and the forts remained open until 1868, when a new Fort Laramie Treaty restored Native American possession of the Powder River lands. Within six years, however, gold discoveries in the Black Hills brought renewed conflict, and Native Americans ultimately lost control of the lands crossed by the trail. The route continued in use as a military and freight road and by local travelers into the 20th century.