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The
region known today as the state of Wyoming was
originally inhabited by several
Native American groups. The name Wyoming is
derived from the Delaware
(Munsee) name xwé:wamənk, meaning "at the big
river flat", originally applied to the
Wyoming Valley in
Pennsylvania. The Crow,
Arapaho,
Lakota, and
Shoshone were but a few of
the original inhabitants encountered when
white explorers first entered
the region. Although French trappers may have
ventured into the northern sections of the state in
the late 1700s, John Colter,
a member of the
Lewis and
Clark Expedition, was probably the first white
American to enter the region in 1807. His reports of
the Yellowstone area were
considered at the time to be fictional.
Robert Stuart
and a party of five men returning from Astoria
discovered South Pass in 1812. The route was later
followed by the Oregon Trail.
In 1850, Jim Bridger
located what is now known as Bridger Pass, which was
later used by both the
Union Pacific
Railroad in 1868, and in the 20th century by
Interstate 80. Bridger
also explored the Yellowstone region and like Colter,
most of his reports on that region of the state were
considered at the time to be
tall tales.
After the
Union Pacific Railroad
reached the town of Cheyenne,
which later became the state capital, in 1867, the
population began to grow steadily in the
Wyoming Territory, which
was established on July 25,
1868. Unlike
Colorado to the south, Wyoming never experienced a rapid
population boom from any major mineral
discoveries such as gold or
silver. Copper
was found in some areas of the state.
Once
government sponsored expeditions to the Yellowstone country
were undertaken, the previous reports by men like Colter and
Bridger were found to be true. This led to the creation of
Yellowstone National
Park, which became the world's first
National Park in 1872. It is
located in the far northwestern portion of the state. Most
of the territory that comprises Yellowstone National Park is
located in Wyoming.
Wyoming was
admitted to the Union on July 10,
1890. It was named after the
Wyoming Valley of
Pennsylvania, made famous by the
1809 poem Gertrude of Wyoming by
Thomas Campbell. The name was
suggested by Representative J. M. Ashley of
Ohio.
In 1869,
Wyoming extended much suffrage to
women, at least partially in an attempt to garner enough
votes to be admitted as a state. In addition to being the
first U.S. state to extend suffrage to women, Wyoming was
also the home of many other firsts for U.S. women in
politics. For the first time, women served on a jury in
Wyoming (Laramie in 1870). Wyoming had the first female
court bailiff (Mary Atkinson, Laramie, in 1870) and the
first female justice of the peace in the country (Esther
Hobart Morris, South Pass City, in 1870). Wyoming became the
first state in the Union to elect a female governor,
Nellie Tayloe Ross, who
was elected in 1924 and took office in January 1925.
Wyoming was
the location of the Johnson
County War of 1892 which was fought between large
cattle operators and free ranging
interest groups. This war was fought because of the new
ranchers moving in following the passage of the
homestead act.
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