Appendix I 



"Contrary to popular opinion, the South Pass mines 

 experienced numerous periods of renewed activity starting in 

 1879 with new discoveries at Lewiston. Interest in the district 

 was sparked by Emile Granier's grandiose canal building 

 schemes in the late 1 880s to provide water for hydraulic mining. 

 New finds were made at Lewiston in 1893 and 1894, and again 

 from 1911 to 1 91 4, and old mines were revitalized. Large scale 

 placer operations netted considerable gold in the teens and 

 1920s, and gold dredging of Rock Creek was conducted from 

 193310 1941. 



"The historical significance of the Sweetwater mines lay in 

 the influx of hundreds of gold seekers to the region and their 

 impact on the economic development and eventual settlement 

 of this portion of Wyoming. As mentioned, transportation 

 routes were built from the Union Pacific mainline to serve 

 the mines and aided in opening up the region. The initial gold 

 rush at South Pass hastened plans for Indian removal with 

 the creation of the Wind River Indian Reservation which acted 

 as a buffer between the mines and the more hostile Sioux 

 Nation to the east. The proximity of the Oregon Trail corridor 

 probably hastened the discovery of gold at South Pass with 

 experienced miners passing to and from the California gold 

 fields. 



"Cattle ranching began in earnest in southeastern Wyoming 

 Territory after the construction of the Union Pacific. The Texas 

 Trail provided part of the livestock with over 100,000 head 

 of cattle coming from Oregon to Wyoming and Colorado 

 Territories by 1879. The Colorado mining communities, as well 

 as hungry railroad construction gangs, provided the earliest 

 markets. The new railroad towns of Cheyenne and Laramie 

 also provided substantial local markets. As the surrounding 

 range became stocked with substantial cattle herds, large 

 numbers were shipped eastward on the railroad each year. 

 With the opening of the Powder River country and the removal 

 of the Indians after 1876, the cattle industry soon filled the 

 void and occupied the vast grasslands north of the North Platte 

 River and Oregon Trail. The industry also spread westward 

 into the Sweetwater country along the Oregon Trail and in 

 western Wyoming wherever the range was suitable for cattle. 



"Sheep ranching followed about 10 years after cattle 

 ranching was already established in Wyoming. Therefore, the 

 sheep industry was limited to less favorable areas not already 

 usurped by the large cattle outfits. Much of the foundation 

 stock was driven eastward, first from California (1865 to 1884) 

 and later from the Pacific Northwest (1885 to 1901) over the 

 Lander Cutoff and Oregon Trail into Wyoming Territory. The 

 Red Desert of southwestern Wyoming was found to be an 

 ideal winter range for sheep. 



"Open range management was used in both cattle and sheep 

 ranching where the livestock depended on natural forage for 

 survival both summer and winter. The dry climate allowed 

 nutritious but scant prairie grasses to cure on the stem to 

 provide winter forage. A certain percentage of cattle and sheep 

 died each winter during the most severe blizzards, but this 

 loss was offset by the low overhead of the ranching operation 

 with little investment in buildings, fencing or supplemental 

 feed. European capital was heavily invested in the Wyoming 

 cattle industry during the era of the Cattle Barons in the late 

 1870s and early 1880s. The available range soon became 

 overstocked, and the flooding of the market brought about 

 a decline in beef prices. Drought conditions in the summer 

 of 1886, followed by the devastating blizzard of that winter 

 resulted in heavy livestock losses and a number of cattlemen 

 were forced out of business. After that time, new management 

 practices were established, whereby hay meadows were 

 developed to provide winter forage. The range was gradually 

 fenced off to provide greater control of the livestock. 



"The Blizzard of 1886-1887 eliminated competition in what 

 had become a crowded field, and effectively ended the open 

 range system of the cattle industry forever. The cattle industry 

 remained depressed for a long period of time after 1886, and 

 the sheep industry filled the vacuum. It nearly dominated the 

 cattle industry in the late 1890s and early 1900s with an all- 

 time high of seven million sheep raised in 1910. Much like 

 the cattlemen, the sheep interests tended to overstock the 

 fragile range and suffered heavy losses in years of drought. 



"For the Wyoming segment of the Oregon Trail corridor, 

 the advent of ranching, both cattle and sheep, began the actual 

 settlement of a region previously viewed as uninhabitable and 

 unsuitable for the usual subsistence farming methods and 

 developed east of the Mississippi River in an area of high annual 

 rainfall. However, federal land and policy was not well suited 

 to a semi-arid region where, according to John Wesley Powell, 

 at least 2,560 acres or 40 acres per cow were needed for a 

 successful cattle operation. Under the Homestead Act of 1 862, 

 a settler was limited to 160 acres of "unappropriated public 

 lands." a parcel far short of what was needed in and near 

 the Oregon Trail corridor in Wyoming. By 1880, two other 

 land acts had been enacted by Congress in an attempt to 

 tailor federal land policy to the western expanses. The Timber 

 Culture Act of 1873 allowed an individual to claim 160 acres 

 if he planted 40 acres in trees and kept them growing for 

 eight years. However, early experiments showed that it was 

 virtually impossible to grow substantial stands of trees in most 

 portions of Wyoming Territory. The Desert Land Act of 1877 

 allowed a homesteader to buy up to 640 acres of "desert land" 

 (land which required irrigation for the cultivation of crops) 

 at 25 cents an acre as long as a portion of it was put under 

 irrigation. Once again, this act proved untenable in most areas 

 lacking year-round water sources for irrigation. Only 4,148 

 patents resulted from 15,898 filings under the Desert Land 

 Act in Wyoming. 



"By 1880, a Wyoming rancher could use all the existing land 

 laws to obtain a maximum of 1,120 acres, and still fall far 

 short of what he needed to conduct a successful cattle 

 operation. As a result of the existing federal land policy, 

 ranchers were literally forced to resort to fraudulent and illegal 

 measures such as 'dummy' filings, controlling water sources, 

 and fencing the public domain. 



"Settlement in terms of the small farming homesteads 

 envisioned by the federal government was hindered in 

 Wyoming Territory for a number of reasons. First, the cattle 

 interests were the first to take advantage of Wyoming's 

 grasslands, and they required large amounts of land which 

 they controlled by any means, fair or foul. Secondly, fertile 

 lands in Oregon and California as well as the eastern fringes 

 of the Great Plains were still available into the 1 880s. Therefore, 

 until these lands were saturated, the homesteader had little 

 incentive to venture forth onto the Great Plains to brave the 

 harsh semi-arid climate, the cattle rancher, or the Indians. 



"However, with the fall of the large cattle interests after 1886, 

 a crackdown by the General Land Office on the fencing of 

 the public domain, as well as an increase in annual rainfall 

 in the semi-arid regions in the 1880s, farming appeared more 

 attractive, and the small homesteader began to file on public 

 lands in Wyoming Territory. Most successful farming efforts 

 occurred along the North Platte River along the eastern portion 

 of the Oregon Trail corridor where rich bottomland existed 

 and irrigation of crops was possible. 



"The small farmer did not attempt to leave the well-watered 

 areas until the dry land farming excitement late in the 19th 

 century. The basic belief that 'rain follows the plow' improved 

 farming equipment and new dry land farming techniques, 

 along with the cycle of increased rainfall, allowed the farmer 



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