Wyoming became the 44th state when Congress admitted it to the Union on July 10, 1890. Known for its wide open spaces, rugged landscapes and rich Western history, Wyoming, nicknamed the Equality State, played a significant role in westward expansion and the cattle ranching industry and had a pioneering role in women’s suffrage.
Native American History and European Exploration
Prehistoric Native Americans lived in what is now Wyoming more than 12,000 years ago, with evidence of the Clovis, Folsom and Eden Valley people. By the 1500s, nomadic plains tribes such as the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, Kiowa, Sioux, Shoshone, Ute resided in the region.
French-Canadian brothers Francois and Louis-Joseph de La Verendrye in 1742 were the first reported white men to enter present-day Wyoming. The explorers and fur trappers reportedly reached the Big Horn Mountains before traveling to South Dakota via the Cheyenne and Bad rivers.
Wyoming became part of the United States with the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, and fur traders and trappers soon arrived seeking beaver pelts, following reports from the 1804-1806 Lewis and Clark Expedition. John Colter, an American explorer from the expedition, established a trading post in 1807 at the confluence of the Bighorn and Yellowstone rivers and also reportedly discovered what would later become Yellowstone National Park, designated the world’s first national park in 1872.
The white explorers traded furs with Native Americans in the area, exchanging them for items such as guns and ammunition. As settlers moved into the area, they established fur trapping companies, including John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company. This led to an influx of permanent trading posts, such as Fort Laramie, in 1834. When the demand for fur declined in the mid-1800s, and the Beaver population was decimated, the fur trapping frenzy ended. However, settlers spurred by the gold rush soon used the trapper routes as they made their way west.
The Oregon Trail, California and Mormon Pioneer Trails
Wyoming’s Oregon, California and Mormon Pioneer trails were vital to westward expansion between 1841 and 1848. Located along the North Platte and Sweetwater rivers, they provided routes for emigrants and homesteaders to Utah, Oregon and California.
Rough terrain, harsh winter weather, food shortages, disease and violence made wagon travel dangerous for the half-million people crossing the trails in the 19th century, with estimates marking tens of thousands of deaths in the region. Conflicts also erupted between travelers and Native Americans trying to stop land encroachment, leading to the establishment of American forts for protection.
One of the bloodiest Western fort battles during the 1860s-70s Indian Wars occurred at Fort Phil Kearny in 1866. Called the Fetterman Fight, U.S. Army Capt. William Fetterman and his 80 soldiers were killed by Arapaho, Cheyenne and Sioux, led by Crazy Horse and Red Cloud.
Smallpox and other diseases, as well as conflicts with settlers and the military, devastated Wyoming’s Native American population. Treaties forced tribes to reservations in Oklahoma and Montana, however, an 1877 agreement allowed the Arapaho and Shoshone to share land on the Wind River Reservation in Fort Washakie, which remains the state’s only Indian reservation.
Statehood and Women’s Suffrage
In May 1869, Congress formally made Wyoming a U.S. territory, and on Dec. 10, 1869, it became the first government to grant women the right to vote. The following year, Wyoming’s Ester Hobart Morris became the first woman appointed as a justice of the peace. In 1894, Estelle Reel became one of the first women in the nation elected to a state office when she won the race for state superintendent of public instruction. And Nellie Tayloe Ross was the country’s first woman elected as governor in 1924.
Women in Wyoming were also the first to serve on a jury (1870), vote for president in a general election (1892), and be elected as a legislator (1910), mayor (1912) and state senator (1931).
At the state’s Constitutional Convention in 1889, Article VI, Section 1 of the constitution included the provision: “The rights of Citizens of the State of Wyoming to vote and hold office, shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex. Both male and female Citizens of the State shall equally enjoy all civil, political and religious rights and privileges.”
Despite some opposition from Congress on including women’s suffrage in its constitution, Wyoming was admitted to the Union by President Benjamin Harrison on July 10, 1890, making it the 44th state.
Rock Springs Massacre
During the railhttps://www.history.com/topics/immigration/rock-springs-massacre-wyomingroad construction era in the 1870s-80s, Union Pacific hired Chinese workers willing to work coal mines in Rock Springs in southern Wyoming. This led to tensions between the Chinese, who lived in an area known as Chinatown, and the white workers, who lived downtown. When the company decided to avoid strikes by solely hiring Chinese workers, the white miners lashed out.
On Sept. 2, 1885, one Chinese miner was murdered and another beaten before a mob of 100-150 white miners and women attacked Chinatown on a Chinese holiday, shooting Chinese residents, looting and setting homes and buildings on fire. In the end, 28 Chinese were murdered, with 15 wounded and Chinatown destroyed. No white miners were charged; however, Congress eventually reimbursed the Chinese government for damages.
The Johnson County War
The 1892 Johnson County War was a violent conflict where powerful cattlemen, claiming to fight cattle theft, hired Texas gunmen to kill 70 alleged rustlers but faced fierce resistance from local citizens.
The conflict between cattle barons and smaller ranchers over grazing rights and economic control led to a series of killings of small operators, including Nate Champion, who was shot after his cabin was burned down. A standoff between the invaders and homesteaders at the T.A. Ranch ensued, ending with intervention by the U.S. Sixth Cavalry that saved the invaders.
Charges against the invaders, who had the support of Gov. Amos Barber, were made but dropped. Still, faced with economic and political fallout, the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, which largely instigated the war, allowed all cattlemen in the state to join the organization in 1893.
Heart Mountain Japanese Internment Camp
Wyoming’s Heart Mountain Relocation Center, one of 10 Japanese internment camps in the U.S. during World War II, opened in August 1942 between Cody and Powell. By the end of the year, with a population of 10,767, it was the third-biggest community in the state.
The military-style incarceration camp, surrounded by barbed wire, was cold, dusty and cramped, with internees forced to share communal spaces and restrooms. When it closed in November 1945, internees–most American citizens–received $25 and a one-way train ticket back to their original locations.
Wyoming Industry and Economy
Cattle and sheep ranching, agriculture and natural resources, including coal, oil, natural gas and uranium, drive Wyoming’s economy. According to IBISWorld, the state’s biggest industries by revenue are oil drilling and gas extraction, coal mining and petroleum refining. Hay, corn, barley, wheat and sugar beets are top crops, while cattle, sheep and hogs lead livestock inventory.
The state’s national parks, including Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park, drew more than 6.1 million visitors in 2022, and Cheyenne Frontier Days, the world’s largest outdoor rodeo, is another major tourism driver, drawing around 250,000 attendees annually.
Wyoming Facts
- Date of Statehood: July 10, 1890
- Capital: Cheyenne
- Population: 576,851 (2020 U.S. Census)
- Size: 97,812 square miles
- Nickname: The Equality State
- Motto: Equal Rights
- Tree: Plains Cottonwood
- Flower: Indian Paintbrush
- Bird: Meadowlark
Interesting Facts
The prehistoric Bighorn Medicine Wheel stone shrine on Medicine Mountain, near Lovell, Wyoming, is a National Historic Landmark. Tribal ceremonies continue to be held at the spiritual Native American site today.
Sacajawea, a Shoshone who served as a guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition, is buried at the Sacajawea Cemetary on the Wind River Indian Reservation.
Devils Tower, a sacred rock formation transformed from molten lava since its origin 65 million years ago, was designated the country’s first national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906.
Cody, near Yellowstone National Park, was founded by Buffalo Bill Cody in 1896. With a population of about 10,000 residents today, it’s home to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, which includes five museums: the Buffalo Bill Museum, Plains Indian Museum, Cody Firearms Museum, Draper National History Museum and Whitney Western Art Museum.
The Red Desert in the southern part of the state is a high-desert ecosystem, with the nation’s biggest living dune system and desert elk herd and migratory pronghorn herd in the lower 48 states.
Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming, was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Laramie in 1998. His death led to the passing of the federal Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.
Famous Wyomingites: Showman Buffalo Bill Cody, first woman governor Nellie Tayloe Ross, artist Jackson Pollock, famed Shoshone Chief Washakie, Olympian Rulon Gardner, former Vice President Dick Cheney, actor Matthew Fox and sports broadcaster Curt Gowdy.
Sources
Wyoming History, wyo.gov
Wyoming Chronology, wyo.gov
Wyoming History, blm.gov
Heart Mountain Relocation Center, wyominghistory.org
The Fur Trade in Wyoming, wyohistory.org
