A History of Wyoming

• Introduction
• Chapter 1 The First People: Prehistoric Wyoming.
• Chapter 2 Native American Cultures and Early European Contact.
• Chapter 3 The Fur Trade and the Mountain Men.
• Chapter 4 The Great Migrations: The Oregon, Mormon, and California Trails.
• Chapter 5 The Iron Horse Arrives: The Union Pacific Railroad.
• Chapter 6 A Territory is Born: The Establishment of Wyoming Territory.
• Chapter 7 The "Equality State": Wyoming's Pioneering Role in Women's Suffrage.
• Chapter 8 The World's First National Park: The Creation of Yellowstone.
• Chapter 9 Indian Wars on the Plains.
• Chapter 10 The Rise of the Cattle Barons.
• Chapter 11 The Johnson County War: A Range Conflict.
• Chapter 12 Statehood: Wyoming Joins the Union.
• Chapter 13 The Development of Grand Teton National Park.
• Chapter 14 The Early 20th Century: Growth and Change.
• Chapter 15 The Teapot Dome Scandal and National Politics.
• Chapter 16 Wyoming and the Great Depression.
• Chapter 17 The Second World War and its Impact.
• Chapter 18 The Cold War in the Cowboy State.
• Chapter 19 The Energy Boom of the 1970s.
• Chapter 20 The Wind River Reservation: Home of the Shoshone and Arapaho.
• Chapter 21 Modern Wyoming: Economic Challenges and Opportunities.
• Chapter 22 Conservation and Environmental Issues in the 21st Century.
• Chapter 23 Tourism and the Enduring Allure of the West.
• Chapter 24 Wyoming's Cultural Heritage: Rodeos, Ranches, and the Arts.
• Chapter 25 Looking Forward: The Future of the Equality State.
• Afterword

Wyoming. The name itself, derived from a Delaware word meaning “land of vast plains,” conjures images of boundless horizons and a deep connection to the American West. It is a state of dramatic contrasts, where sprawling grasslands give way to the jagged peaks of the Rocky Mountains. With the highest average elevation in the nation and the smallest population, it is a land of wide-open spaces, defined as much by its geography as by the people who have called it home. This book tells the story of Wyoming, from its earliest inhabitants to its present-day challenges and triumphs. It is a history shaped by the land itself, a narrative of resilience, conflict, and a pioneering spirit that has earned it the moniker, the “Equality State.”

Long before the arrival of Europeans, this land was home to a succession of Native American cultures. Archaeological evidence points to human habitation stretching back at least 13,000 years, with the ancestors of the Shoshone, Arapaho, Crow, and Cheyenne, among others, leaving their mark on the landscape. Their stories, often overlooked in popular histories, form the foundational chapter of Wyoming's human story.

The first documented European contact came with French-Canadian trappers in the late 18th century. However, it was American explorers and fur trappers in the early 19th century who began to chart the territory in earnest. Men like John Colter, a veteran of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and the legendary Jim Bridger were among the first to witness the geothermal wonders of the Yellowstone region, their accounts initially dismissed as unbelievable tales. The fur trade, with its annual rendezvous of mountain men, marked the first significant economic exploitation of the region's resources and opened the door for what was to come.

The mid-19th century saw Wyoming become a crucial corridor for the great westward migrations. Hundreds of thousands of pioneers traversed the state along the Oregon, Mormon, and California Trails, their wagon ruts still visible in parts of the state today. This massive influx of people brought increased contact and conflict with the native populations, leading to the establishment of military outposts like Fort Laramie and a series of Indian Wars that would profoundly shape the state's future.

The arrival of the Union Pacific Railroad in the late 1860s was a transformative event, creating towns like Cheyenne and Laramie and fueling the growth of the cattle industry. The era of the open-range cattle barons, however, was not without its own conflicts, culminating in the infamous Johnson County War.

Wyoming's political history is as noteworthy as its rugged landscape. On December 10, 1869, the Wyoming Territory granted women the right to vote, becoming the first government in the world to do so unconditionally. This pioneering step earned Wyoming its enduring nickname, the "Equality State," and set a precedent for women's suffrage nationally. When seeking statehood, Wyoming's legislature famously declared, "We will remain out of the Union one hundred years rather than come in without the women." In 1890, Wyoming entered the Union as the 44th state, with its commitment to equal suffrage intact.

The 20th century brought new challenges and opportunities. The Teapot Dome Scandal in the 1920s thrust Wyoming into the national political spotlight. The Great Depression and the subsequent World Wars had a profound impact on the state's economy and society. The post-war years saw the rise of the energy industry, with the extraction of coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium becoming central to Wyoming's economic identity.

Wyoming's history is also a story of conservation and the preservation of natural wonders. The creation of Yellowstone National Park, the world's first, and later Grand Teton National Park, reflects a long-standing appreciation for the state's unparalleled landscapes. Today, Wyoming continues to grapple with the balance between resource extraction and environmental protection, a central theme in its modern history.

This book will explore these and many other facets of Wyoming's past. It is a story not just of famous figures and landmark events, but also of the everyday people who built lives in this often-challenging environment. It is a history rich with the mythology of the American West, from the romanticized image of the cowboy to the tales of legendary outlaws. By delving into the complexities of its past, we can gain a deeper understanding of the forces that have shaped the Wyoming of today and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the "Equality State."

The story of humanity in Wyoming begins not with a bang, but with the quiet crunch of footsteps on a landscape emerging from the grip of the last great Ice Age. For more than 13,000 years, the mountains, basins, and plains of what would become Wyoming have been a stage for human drama, a place of survival, innovation, and profound connection to the land. This was a world populated by giants: Columbian mammoths with tusks curving toward the sky, formidable short-faced bears, camels, and horses. Into this Pleistocene world walked the first people, skilled hunters and resourceful foragers known to archaeologists as Paleo-Indians.

These early pioneers were not aimless wanderers but keen observers of their environment, following the great herds of megafauna that provided their sustenance. Their story is written not in books, but in stone—in the distinctive, beautifully crafted spear points they left behind and in the scattered bones of their massive prey. The climate was colder and wetter than today, the vegetation a mix of grasslands and forests that could support a diverse array of animal life. The peopling of this vast landscape was a gradual process, an unfolding epic of adaptation to a world in transition.

The Mammoth Hunters

The earliest widespread and identifiable culture to leave its mark on Wyoming was the Clovis people, named for the distinctive fluted spear points first discovered in New Mexico. Evidence of their presence in Wyoming is clear and dramatic, most notably at the Colby Mammoth Kill Site near Worland. Discovered by Donald Colby in 1962, subsequent excavations revealed the butchered remains of at least seven mammoths. The animals had been killed and processed in a deep, narrow arroyo, a natural trap that gave the hunters a crucial advantage over their colossal prey.

The genius of Clovis technology lay in their projectile points. These were not simple sharpened rocks; they were marvels of lithic engineering. Characterized by a central groove, or "flute," removed from the base, this design allowed the point to be securely hafted onto a wooden spear shaft. The resulting weapon was a powerful and effective tool for piercing the thick hides of mammoths. At Colby, archaeologists found these points among the jumbled bones, a clear signature of the hunters who had worked there perhaps as early as 14,000 years ago.

Interestingly, the bone piles at Colby are interpreted not just as kill sites but as meat caches. The frigid climate of the late Pleistocene would have acted as a natural freezer, allowing the hunters to store vast quantities of meat in snowdrifts for later use. It was a strategy of foresight and planning, demonstrating a sophisticated understanding of their environment. Other sites, like the La Prele Mammoth site, and finds near Rawlins and Guernsey, hint at a broader pattern of mammoth predation across the state. Beyond hunting, another significant site, the Powars II quarry in Platte County, reveals another facet of their lives. Here, beginning nearly 13,000 years ago, Paleo-Indians mined red ocher, a vibrant pigment used for everything from ceremonies to personal adornment. This makes it the oldest documented mine of any kind in the Americas, a testament to the complex cultural and spiritual lives of Wyoming's first inhabitants.

A World in Transition: The Later Paleo-Indians

As the great ice sheets to the north continued their slow retreat, the climate in Wyoming began to warm and dry. The world of the mammoth was vanishing, and with it, the specialized way of life that had sustained the Clovis people. In their place rose new cultures, adapting to a changing landscape and a new primary food source: the bison. This transition is vividly documented at the Hell Gap archaeological site in southeastern Wyoming, a location of such importance that it has given its name to several distinct cultural periods.

The Hell Gap site, a deeply stratified deposit in a small valley, contains a nearly unbroken record of human occupation spanning thousands of years, from about 13,000 to 8,500 years ago. Here, archaeologists have unearthed a succession of different projectile point styles, each representing a distinct cultural group that camped by the creek. The sequence shows a clear evolution in technology and hunting strategies. Among the oldest inhabitants were people of the Goshen complex, whose spear points show similarities to Clovis but were used to hunt the large, now-extinct Bison antiquus.

Following the Goshen people were the Folsom hunters, whose presence is marked by smaller, more finely crafted fluted points. Folsom technology represents a pinnacle of flintknapping skill, and their focus on bison hunting is evident at sites like the Hanson site in the Bighorn Basin and the Folsom level at the Agate Basin site. The discovery of post-hole patterns at Hell Gap, some dating back more than 12,000 years, provides rare evidence of the oldest known domestic structures in North America, likely the forerunners of the tipi.

The story of technological change continues at Hell Gap and other sites with a series of cultures collectively known as the Plano tradition. These groups, including Agate Basin, Hell Gap, and the Cody Complex, abandoned the fluting of their spear points in favor of lanceolate shapes with precise parallel flaking. These points were efficient and deadly tools for communal bison hunts. The Agate Basin site in Niobrara County, a kill and butchering site, exemplifies this period. The sheer number of cultural layers at Hell Gap illustrates how central this location was for millennia, offering access to water, diverse plant and animal resources, and high-quality stone for tool making.

The Great Adaptation: The Archaic Period

Around 8,500 years ago, Wyoming’s climate entered a prolonged warm, dry spell known as the Altithermal. This environmental shift triggered a profound change in human lifeways, ushering in what archaeologists call the Archaic Period. The vast herds of large game became less reliable, and the lush grasslands receded. Survival now depended on flexibility and a much broader understanding of the ecosystem. People began to exploit a wider variety of resources, from smaller game like deer, antelope, and bighorn sheep to a vast array of edible and medicinal plants.

This was the era of the hunter-forager. Instead of following large herds, families or small bands moved in a seasonal round, traveling to different locations to harvest resources as they became available. This more diversified lifestyle is reflected in the toolkit of the time. While the atlatl, or spear-thrower, remained the primary hunting weapon, a new and crucial tool appeared: the grinding stone. Metates and manos, used for grinding seeds, roots, and nuts into flour, signify a major dietary shift and a growing reliance on plant foods.

One of the most remarkable records of this long period comes from Mummy Cave, a deep rock shelter on the North Fork of the Shoshone River. Excavations at the site revealed an astonishing 38 cultural layers, with deposits stretching back over 9,000 years. The dry conditions of the cave preserved a wealth of organic materials rarely found elsewhere, including hide, feathers, wood fragments, and even the mummified remains of a man, nicknamed "Mummy Joe," who was buried in a sheepskin robe around 1,200 years ago. The continuous sequence of projectile points found at Mummy Cave has become a key reference for dating other archaeological sites across the Rocky Mountains.

During the Middle Archaic period, from roughly 5,500 to 3,000 years ago, bison populations began to rebound, and people developed more sophisticated techniques for communal hunting. This period is associated with the McKean cultural complex, identified by its distinctive style of projectile points. People began to build semi-subterranean pit houses, suggesting longer stays in certain locations. By the Late Archaic, which lasted until about 1,500 years ago, populations had grown, and large-scale bison drives became a central feature of life on the plains. This era saw the construction of elaborate traps and corrals, such as the Besant-era wooden corral at the Muddy Creek site. These communal efforts required significant social organization and planning, setting the stage for the next major technological and cultural shifts.

The Late Prehistoric: New Tools and Enduring Traditions

The final chapter of Wyoming's prehistory, the Late Prehistoric Period, began around 1,500 years ago and was defined by two revolutionary technological innovations: the bow and arrow and pottery. The bow and arrow was a significant leap forward from the atlatl and dart system. It was more accurate, had a faster reload time, and allowed a hunter to carry more ammunition. This new technology spread rapidly, and its arrival is marked in the archaeological record by the abrupt switch from larger dart points to small, finely made arrow points. Some of the oldest arrowheads in Wyoming, known as Avonlea points, date back about 1,600 years.

The introduction of pottery also had a major impact on daily life. Clay pots, though heavy and fragile, were a vast improvement for cooking and storage over hide containers or woven baskets. They allowed for the slow simmering of stews and the rendering of fat, increasing the nutritional value that could be extracted from food resources. While never as common in mobile hunter-gatherer societies as in more sedentary farming cultures, the appearance of ceramics in Wyoming signals a change in how people processed and consumed their food.

This period also saw the flourishing of large-scale communal bison hunting, a practice refined over centuries. The most dramatic example of this is the Vore Buffalo Jump in Crook County. For about 300 years, from roughly A.D. 1500 to 1800, Plains Indian groups utilized this natural sinkhole as a highly effective trap. Hunters would skillfully drive herds of bison over the edge of the steep-sided pit, where the fall would kill or disable the animals. The site, discovered during the construction of Interstate 90, contains the layered remains of an estimated 20,000 bison, along with countless arrow points and butchering tools. The Vore site provides a stunning snapshot of a highly organized and successful subsistence strategy that sustained large groups of people.

Beyond the practical matters of subsistence, the prehistoric people of Wyoming left behind a rich spiritual and artistic legacy, etched and painted onto the very rocks of the landscape. At the Legend Rock site near Thermopolis, hundreds of petroglyphs, some dating back 10,000 years, adorn the sandstone cliffs. The images range from animals and hunters to large, abstract supernatural beings associated with the Dinwoody rock art tradition. It is believed these sacred images are connected to vision quests and shamanic rituals, perhaps records of encounters with the spirit world. Similarly, Castle Gardens in central Wyoming features intricate carvings of shield-bearing warriors and symbolic shapes.

Perhaps the most enigmatic of these sacred sites is the Bighorn Medicine Wheel, a large stone circle with 28 spokes radiating from a central cairn, located high in the Bighorn Mountains. While its exact purpose is still debated, astronomer John Eddy proposed in the 1970s that the wheel functions as a celestial observatory. Alignments between the cairns point to the summer solstice sunrise and sunset, as well as the rising points of several prominent stars. For centuries, this has been a place of ceremony and reverence, a powerful link between the people on earth and the movements of the heavens. For many modern tribes, it remains a sacred site, a testament to the enduring spiritual traditions of Wyoming's first people.