In 1864, frequent hostile actions along the Bozeman Trail created the need for an alternate route to the goldfields of western Montana. During the Civil War, Jim Bridger, a trapper, explorer, trader, hunter, scout, and guide, led miners north from the area now called Fort Caspar. The trail ran northwesterly through the southern Big Horn Mountains, across the Big Horn Basin, crossed the Shoshone River, entered Montana through what was known as Pryor Gap, and finally rejoined the Bozeman Trail. By reducing the threat of hostile actions against emigrants heading north, the Bridger Trail became an important route in the settlement of the Northwest. It crossed the Big Horn River approximately 12 miles southwest of this location, near the present community of Heiber, and then passed very close by as it paralleled the Big Horn River on its way north.