Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851

Until the 1850's "The Great American Desert" was considered undesirable for cultivation, and deemed only suitable for Indians to exist upon. Except for a few missionaries traveling to Oregon Country and fur companies crossing to the Rockies in the 1830s it saw few white persons. In the 1840s a few wagon trains crossed the Plains, headed for Oregon. And there was some migration to California.

Then, in 1849, gold was discovered in California. Now more people began crossing the Plains westward than had made the continental crossing in all previous years. It's not surprising that a newspaper editor, during this time, informed his readers that if the United States government acquired territory on the moon, "the Yankees would contrive some plan to emigrate to it." He well could have added that if gold were discovered on the moon it would have the same effect.

Such was the nature of the people the Native Americans saw invading their homeland. That the Indians possessed this same staunch stubbornness in their endeavors to hold their land and keep the whites out, history leaves little doubt. However, the whites possessed superior weapons than that of most Native Americans. They also vastly outnumbered the Indians and had a replenishing stream of manpower by means of immigration from Europe and other lands.

In spite of depredations by Indians, there was no end to the flow of whites to the west. The United States government could well see that measures had to be taken to move the various Indian tribes out of the path of westward expansion.

By 1851 it was felt that restraint should be put on the Indians who lived in this vast area. At least, as it was voiced, the westward traveling routes should be cleared of marauding savages. And so it began.

In September of 1851 some ten thousand Plains Indians gathered at Fort Laramie in present-day Wyoming, summonsed by white treaty negotiators. There, these native people of a free-roaming way of life signed away their freedom. They agreed to relocate to reservations. The Sioux would dwell north of the North Platte River, the Crows in the Powder River Basin of present-day Montana, and the Cheyennes and Arapahos on a wide space of land reaching from western Kansas to the foot of the Rocky Mountains-where gold had yet to be discovered. This was not all they agreed to, and for a very good white reason.

Previously, due to the war with Mexico and an agreement with Great Britain over the boundaries of Oregon, the United States had gained vast areas of land. The possibilities for settlement seemed unlimited. Safe routes had to be established to induce settlers to move to these areas. It was necessary for the United States to retain claim to these areas. Therefore, in addition to agreeing to reside on the reservations, the Indians were required to give unrestricted traveling rights along the trails that whites would use. The government would also be allowed to establish forts along these routes.

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