Career
He was an early Montana pioneer and helped create the Bozeman Trail through Wyoming Territory into the gold fields of southwest Montana Territory. He helped found his namesake city of Bozeman, Montana in 1864. After his mining claims in Colorado failed, Bozeman traveled to Deer Lodge in western Montana Territory in 1862 to work the gold fields discovered by Granville and James Stuart.
Bozeman joined the January 1863 rush to newly discovered gold in Bannack, Montana but his claims there proved unsuccessful.
Seeing that it would be more profitable to "mine the miners" than to mine for gold. Bozeman settled in the Gallatin Valley at a site "standing right in the gate of the mountains, ready to swallow up all tenderfeet that would reach the territory from the east, with their golden fleeces to be taken care of".
In 1864, he laid out the town of Bozeman, Montana. Its proximity to the trail helped it to grow in succeeding years.
Bozeman was murdered while traveling along the Yellowstone River in April 1867.
Inconsistencies in his story have led historians to suspect that Bozeman was killed by Cover himself.