Between 1846 and 1869, thousands of Mormon immigrants crossed the Great Plains on their way to sanctuary in the Great Basin of the Rocky Mountains. The main route ran through Nebraska along the Platte River, but a cholera epidemic in the fall of 1853 led many immigrants to seek a new pathway west. Mormon wagon and handcart companies traveled from Westport, Missouri, along the Santa Fe Trail to the 110-Mile Creek crossing, then across the prairie into Geary County and Fort Riley and north to reconnect with the main route. Heavily used by Mormon wagon trains in 1854, this route descended diagonally down Grant Ridge just south of Interstate 70, crossed Marshall Army Air Field, forded the Kansas River, crossed the Main Post portion of Fort Riley, passed the rimrock area behind the post headquarters, and then ascended Custer Hill. After the Mormons abandoned it, the trail was heavily used by the military, settlers, and freighters. Its northern segment became known as the Fort Kearney Road in 1858, and it was one of the first connecting routes between the Santa Fe and Oregon trails and a main artery of settlement and commerce in territorial Kansas.