Introduction to History of Wyoming
There is archeological evidence that Indians inhabited what is now Wyoming as early as 11,000 B.C. About 6,000 years ago, the region became a desert, and most of the occupants left. Around 2500 B.C., the climate improved and some Indians returned. They lived mainly by foraging. About 500 A.D., the buffalo became important to the Indians, as a source of food, clothing, and skins for trade. The Indians remained the sole inhabitants of Wyoming until the 19th century. The major tribes at that time were the Shoshoni in the west, the Crow in the north, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho in the southwest.
Important dates in Wyoming1807 John Colter explored the Yellowstone area.1812 Robert Stuart discovered South Pass across the Rocky Mountains.1833 Captain Benjamin L. E. de Bonneville mapped the Wyoming area and discovered oil east of the Wind River Mountains.1834 William Sublette and Robert Campbell established Fort William (later Fort Laramie).1843 Scout Jim Bridger established Fort Bridger.1867 The Union Pacific Railroad entered Wyoming.1868 Congress created the Territory of Wyoming. Its first coal mines began operation in Carbon and Sweetwater counties.1869 The Wyoming territorial legislature gave women the right to vote and hold elective office.1872 Yellowstone became the first national park.1883 Wyoming's first oil well was drilled in the Dallas Field.1890 Wyoming became the 44th state on July 10.1892 The Johnson County War broke out after a dispute over cattle rustling.1906 President Theodore Roosevelt made Devils Tower the first national monument.1910 Engineers completed Shoshone (now Buffalo Bill) Dam.1925 Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first woman governor in the United States.1929 Grand Teton became a national park.1938-1939 Engineers completed Alcova and Seminoe dams.1951-1952 Major uranium deposits were found in several parts of Wyoming.1960 The nation's first operational intercontinental ballistic missile base opened near Cheyenne.1965 Minuteman missile installations were completed near Cheyenne.1988 Fires damaged large areas of Yellowstone National Park.Fur Traders and Wagon Trains
The brothers Francois and Louis Joseph Vérendrye, French-Canadian explorers, may have entered Wyoming in 1743. However, the first recorded exploration was that of John Colter, a former member of the Lewis and Clark expedition. He is thought to have reached what is now Yellowstone Park during 1807–08. Traders and trappers followed and established a flourishing fur trade. Fort Laramie was built in 1834 as a trading post. James Bridger founded Fort Bridger in southwestern Wyoming in 1843.
The fur trade began to decline in the late 1830's, because of overtrapping and a decrease in demand for beaver. At about the same time, wagon trains carrying settlers west began crossing Wyoming. Hundreds of thousands of people passed through the area on their way to the Pacific Northwest over the Oregon Trail, to California over the California and Overland trails, and to the Salt Lake Valley over the Mormon Trail. (
Few of these early settlers remained in Wyoming, mainly because there was better farmland elsewhere. Also there were troubles with the Plains Indians, whose homeland had been disturbed first by the traders and now by the steady stream of prairie schooners. For protection, the federal government ordered army troops to be stationed in forts along the trails. Indian raids continued, however, climaxing in 1866–68 in what is often called Red Cloud's War. (
Territorial Status and Statehood
The major portion of present-day Wyoming had become part of the United States as a result of the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803. A small section in the west was included in the Oregon country, acquired by treaty with Great Britain in 1846. A small area in the south was acquired in 1845 as part of the Texas annexation, while the southwest corner came by cession from Mexico in 1848 after the Mexican War.
The main impetus to settlement came from the railroad. In 1867 the Union Pacific Railroad entered Wyoming, and settlement followed along its route. Discovery of gold at South Pass that year also brought settlers. Cheyenne, the first of the terminal towns, was founded in 1867; two years later it was the capital of the newly formed Territory of Wyoming. One of the first acts of the new territorial legislature was to give women the right to vote; it was the first governmental body in the world to grant women equal voting rights with men.
By 1877 all hostile bands of Indians had been driven from Wyoming, and the remaining Indians had been placed on reservations. During the 1870's, cattle ranching became the territory's most important industry. Sheep raising and general farming followed in importance. For years there was much strife between cattlemen and sheepmen and between cattlemen and farmers over grazing rights. This trouble culminated in the Johnson County, or Rustler, War of 1892, a vigilante action by prominent cattlemen and hired gunmen against farmers and others suspected of rustling. It ended after federal troops were called in to restore order.
Johnson County War. The Johnson County War broke out in 1892 between owners of large ranches and smaller operators. Ranchers and their hired gunfighters killed two men.On July 10, 1890, Wyoming became the 44th state of the Union. Cheyenne remained the capital. The new state government, like the territorial government, granted women the right to vote.
Modern Development
After statehood, farming began to increase with the aid of federal irrigation projects. Cattle and sheep raising, however, continued to be the mainstays of the economy. Although the first oil well had been drilled at Fort Bridger in the 1860's, it was not until 1912 that an oil boom began when vast fields were discovered in central Wyoming. Oil reserves held by the federal government near Casper were involved in the Teapot Dome scandal of the Harding administration. (
Beginning in the 1920's—before the Great Depression began—Wyoming was plagued by economic problems. Agriculture, coal mining, and oil production suffered severe setbacks. Prosperity returned with the increased demand caused by World War II. By mid-century, the production of oil and other mineral resources had surpassed agriculture in importance. Tourism also became a major industry. Rapid development of the Powder River Basin's coal reserves in the late 1970's and in the 1980's provided new growth for Wyoming's economy. During the 1990's, the minerals industry, tourism, and agriculture were the mainstays of the state's economy.
During the 1980s, Wyoming became the state with the lowest population in the U.S., after Alaska passed it. Despite growth during the 1990s, Wyoming still had the lowest state population in 2000.