With the onset of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush in 1858, an ancient American Indian trail along the river known as the Smoky Hill Trail provided the shortest, fastest route west across Kansas. Beginning in 1865, the trail served as the route for the short-lived Butterfield Overland Despatch. To protect travelers, the U.S. Army established several forts along the trail, including Fort Downer, Fort Harker, Fort Hays, Fort Monument, and Fort Wallace. Before American colonization, the land along the Smoky Hill River was favored hunting ground for the Plains Indians. 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. The Kansas Pacific Railway was completed in 1870, rendering the Smoky Hill Trail obsolete.