Appendix I 



trading, and providing food. It does not appear that the native 

 populations immediately recognized any threat from the small 

 numbers of westward-bound emigrants, although they were 

 in effect trespassing on tribal lands. Chief Washakie and his 

 Shoshonis and eastern Snakes were particularly well known 

 for their kindness and assistance to emigrant parties. 



"The swelling of the emigration numbers during the 

 California Gold Rush period may have marked the real 

 beginning of ill feeling and open hostile acts. The large number 

 or emigrants disturbed game herd movements upon which 

 the Indian depended. Livestock overgrazed the range, and 

 travelers cut ail available wood within the trail corridor. As 

 emigrant numbers increased, the odds of confrontations 

 between the emigrant and Indian steadily increased. The 

 paying of tributes by the travelers to cross tribal lands was 

 a common practice that was highly resented by the emigrants. 

 The cavalier attitude of some of the emigrants toward the Indian 

 and incidents of begging and thievery on the Indians' part 

 undoubtedly exacerbated the problem. 



"The Laramie Treaty of 1851 represented a belated stop- 

 gap measure to avoid violence. The terms of the treaty paid 

 the participating tribes an annuity of $50,000 a year in goods. 

 In return, the tribes recognized the right of the United States 

 to establish roads and posts in their territories. Rough tribal 

 boundaries were also established to prevent fighting among 

 the tribes. 



"An incident which resulted in the Grattan Massacre 

 graphically represents the pattern of reprisal which brought 

 on the Indian wars of the 1860s and 1870s. It developed from 

 a dispute over the killing of an emigrant's cow near Fort 

 Laramie. When the impetuous Lieutenant Grattan was sent 

 into a large Brule' Sioux village to arrest the culprit, he and 

 29 soldiers were killed along with Chief Conquering Bear. The 

 military responded with the Harney Campaign in 1856 and 

 its indiscriminate attack on a camp of Brule' Sioux on the 

 Blue River near Ash Hollow, Nebraska. Knowing little of Plains 

 Indian culture, most military commanders sought revenge on 

 any available group of Indians. Once established, this pattern 

 of reprisal was applied by both sides, resulting in the killing 

 of innocent emigrants and Indians. 



"The most dangerous portion of the Oregon Trail, contrary 

 to popular myth, was not the plains but the region west of 

 South Pass. Several serious attacks occurred along the Snake 

 River in Idaho and the Applegate trail in northern California 

 and southern Oregon. Estimates of casualties compiled by 

 John Unruh for the period between 1840 and 1860 show that 

 the . An emigrant was much more likely to die from disease, 

 being run over by a wagon, from accidental shooting, from 

 being trampled in stampedes, or drowning while fording rivers. 



"By the 1860s, the Indian problem had worsened and open 

 warfare erupted on the Plains. Ben Halladay moved his 

 stageline south in order to avoid Indian attacks, but his new 

 route was also raided. The most sustained period of attacks 

 occurred in 1865, when the Sioux and Cheyenne retaliated 

 for the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado. Red Cloud's War 

 in the Powder River country and the hostilities along the 

 Bozeman Trail have already been discussed. At the Battle of 

 Platte River Bridge on July 26, 1865, Lieutenant Caspar Collins 

 and a detachment of soldiers were surrounded and killed by 

 Indians near the bridge crossing on the Platte River Bridge. 

 In the same year, the transcontinental telegraph line was moved 

 southward from the Oregon Trail to the Overland Trail due 

 to constant Indian destruction of the line. However, it was 

 kept open from Fort Bridger to the South Pass mining area. 

 By 1876, military pressure and forced treaties had removed 

 Indian populations, hostile or otherwise, from the vicinity of 

 the Oregon Trail corridor in Wyoming. 



"The great westward migration along the Oregon Trail clearly 

 helped to precipitate the Indian Wars of the 1860s and 1870s. 

 The United States government had made no serious 

 preparations for dealing with the indigenous peoples of the 

 West during the early stages of the migration. The mood of 

 the country at the time was expressed by the policy of Manifest 

 Destiny— the Indians had no right to these lands and stood 

 in the way of the expansion of the American empire. The 

 military arrived on the scene too late and too few in number 

 to protect the emigrant or the aggrieved Indians. A young 

 America was too impatient to take the time to peacefully solve 

 these complex problems. Instead, the nation resorted to force 

 and the reservation system to extinguish Indian claims. This 

 is the negative impact of the great 19th century westward 

 migration on the history of the United States and the 

 indigenous populations in the environs of the Oregon Trail. 



"Most of the emigrants who crossed what would become 

 Wyoming Territory regarded the country as a series of 

 obstacles to be overcome in order to reach more attractive 

 destinations in the Salt Lake Valley, Oregon, and California. 

 Wyoming's climate did not appear to be suited to farming 

 pursuits. However, two events took place at the same time 

 as the construction of the transcontinental railroad across the 

 mountains and prairies of southern Wyoming which helped 

 to change those views. The railroad provided the needed 

 impetus for the development of the fledgling cattle industry 

 in Wyoming, which had heretofore been limited to a small 

 number of road ranches serving the emigrant traffic. The Texas 

 Trail drives northward during and after the Civil War provided 

 the cattle, Wyoming supplied the grazing land to fatten the 

 beef, and the railroad provided the means of transportation 

 to eastern markets. Wyoming was soon recognized as a great 

 grassland empire ideally suited for pastoral pursuits. As a 

 result, great trail drives were also organized from points west 

 where substantial herds had already been established, and 

 the stock was driven eastward over the Oregon Trail to 

 Wyoming. 



"The second phenomena was the discovery in 1867 of gold 

 deposits near South Pass along the Oregon Trail. Hundreds 

 of 49ers traveled eastward to try their hand in the newly 

 discovered fields. When those emigrants traveling westward 

 on the Oregon Trail began to recognize the economic potential 

 of the intervening territories such as Wyoming, Colorado, and 

 Montana, and some stopped short of the old goals on the 

 West Coast. 



"The earliest record of mining in the South Pass era dates 

 from 1842, when gold was discovered by a Georgian traveling 

 with the American Fur Company who was subsequently killed 

 by Indians. In 1855 a party of experienced miners returning 

 from the California gold fields found gold deposits along the 

 Sweetwater River. Other small discoveries were made in 1860 

 and 1865. The close proximity of the Oregon Trail suggests 

 that the region was subject to sporadic prospecting throughout 

 the 1850s and 1860s by passing emigrants. However, no major 

 strikes occurred nor were any claims staked until June 1867 

 when H.S. Reedall discovered the Carissa lode. A full-fledged 

 gold rush soon followed despite attacks by Sioux and 

 Cheyenne Indians that summer. South Pass City and Atlantic 

 City sprang up among the mining claims, and by 1869, census 

 figures showed 1517 people in the Sweetwater Mining District. 

 However, by 1875, the Sweetwater District had become idle 

 with most of the miners moving on to other strikes in a 

 combination of factors including poor management and fraud. 

 Also, recovering ores became more complex as greater depths 

 were reached, therefore requiring more expensive milling 

 processes. The mines were far from rail transportation with 

 limited water and timber for milling and mine construction. 



49 



