USA Wyoming - The History : USA  

USA Wyoming - The History - Travel guide

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USA Wyoming - The History

The History

The Crow hunted the lush grasslands of northeastern Wyoming until they were pushed westward into the mountains by the Sioux. The Sioux and other tribes were greatly troubled by the increasing numbers of explorers and settlers who entered the region after the Civil War, especially after the opening of the Bozeman Trail in 1864. In the early 1860s, Indians forced stagecoaches to use the more southerly Overland Trail. Conflicts with the Sioux were especially common in the Powder River valley. But Native Americans had been largely subdued by the late 1870s. The Arapaho were placed on the Wind River Reservation, while their former enemies, the Shoshone, moved their herds to grasslands throughout Wyoming. Learn more about Wyoming Native Americans.

French trappers and explorers may have reached the area in the middle to late 18th century. The first documented visit was by a U.S. citizen and fur trapper, John Colter, who passed through Montana with the Lewis and Clark expedition, then returned to explore the Yellowstone country in 1807. The overland party crossed through Teton Pass in 1811 en route to found Astoria, Oregon. Robert Stuart returned from Astoria and pioneered the Oregon Trail through Wyoming in 1812-13. The first permanent trading post (Fort Laramie) was built in 1834. Brigham Young led the first party of Mormons across Wyoming in 1847, and thousands of people crossed Wyoming’s mountain passes as part of the California gold rush of 1849. The first heavy influx of settlers were lured to the region by the discovery of gold at South Pass in 1867. The greatest encouragement was probably the completion of the Wyoming portion of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1868.

Portions of what is now Wyoming were at one time claimed by Spain, France, and England, though none of them established much of a presence there.

The U.S. acquired Wyoming in five steps: 1) The Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803. 2) The Treaty of 1819 with Spain. 3) Cession by the republic of Texas in 1836 and partition from Texas after it was annexed in 1845. Western Wyoming was obtained by 4) The 1846 Oregon Treaty with Great Britain, and 5) The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican War.

Carved out of portions of Dakota, Utah, and Idaho territories, Wyoming became the 44th State to Unite under America on July 10, 1890.