We will use this page to develop a chronology of the Scotts Bluff region.
1800
1804 – Lewis and Clark explore the mouth of the Platte River
1813 – Robert Stuart and six others working for John Jacob Astor become the first white men to traverse the Platte River Road
1820 – Lt. Stephen H. Longs concludes exploration and claims “the Great American Desert” uninhabitable
1823 – Fur trappers employed by William H. Ashley rediscover the South Pass at the headwaters of the Green and Platte Rivers
1828 – Death of Hiram Scott, namesake for county, town, and monument
1832 – Capt. Benjamin Bonneville leads a team of trappers and wagons across the continental divide for the first time
1836 – Narcissa Whitman and Elizabeth Spalding, missionary wives, are the first white women to travel up the Platte
1837 – A. J. Miller creates the first sketches of North Platte Valley landmarks and of Fort Laramie
1840 – The last American Fur Company caravan rendezvouses in the Rockies, accompanied by Joel Walker, first Oregon emigrant
1841 – The Bidwell party, the first emigrant company, leaves Kansas River for Oregon Territory
1843 – Led by Marcus Whitman, the first large-scale family migration to Oregon, from Independence
1846 – Oregon Territory is acquired by compromise, and the Mexican-American War begins
1847 – Brigham Young and his follower follow the north bank of the Platte River (i.e. the Mormon Trail) to the Salt Lake region
1849 – California gold rush begins, forty-niners flock across the overland trails
1851 – Trail began to run primarily through Mitchell Pass, named after General Robert B. Mitchell of Kansas Volunteer Cavalry
1852 – Second phase of the California gold rush begins, estimated 50,000 overland travelers
1854 – Nebraska Territory established with the Kansas-Nebraska Act
1855 – Harney Expedition against the Sioux, escalation of violence leading to the Indian Wars
1860 – Pony Express stations constructed at Chimney Rock, Scotts Bluff, and Horse Creek
1861 – Edward Creighton’s Telegraph line built along Oregon Trail, Pony Express goes bankrupt and defunct
1862 – Gold is discovered on Grasshopper Creek, sparking the Montana gold rush
1864 – Fort McPherson and Fort Mitchell are raised in response to Sioux attacks
1866 – Fort Laramie Peace Treaty fails and in December a force of Sioux and Cheyenne led by Red Cloud kill eighty men under the command of Captain Fetterman, General Sherman recommends the abandonment of Fort Kearny, last year of significant year of civilian overland travel by wagon
1867 – Nebraska admitted as a state
1868- Treaty of Fort Laramie was one of last major treaties between the United States and the Northern Great Plains tribes. It sought to end Indian resistance and gain territory by forcing Indian nations to live on reservations.
1869 – Transcontinental Railroad Completed
1873- Timber Culture Act gave settlers the opportunity to hold 160 acres without payment and tax free for up to ten years
1887- Dawes General Allotment Act (aka Severalty Act or the Dawes Act) declared that reservation land would be subdivided into individual lots, dismantling American Indian cultural understanding and practice of land use.
1887- Gering established
1887 – Farmers’ Canal Company formed
1890- Battle of Wounded Knee- Federal troops killed more than 200 mostly unarmed Lakota men, women, and children on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota
1892- Jerome Agreement passed
1900 –
1903- Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock case saw the loss of many Indian lands which were opened to non-Native settlers
1904- Land Allotment Act
1910 – The Union Pacific Railroad reached Gering
1910 – Great Western Sugar Company built refinery at Scottsbluff
1919 – Woodrow Wilson signed Presidential Proclamation creating Scotts Bluff National Monument
1924- Indian Citizenship Act clarified national suffrage for Indian people. While voting offers some remedies to American Indians troubles, the act did not grant them control over trust monies and land management
1934- Wheeler-Howard Act (Indian Reorganization Act) ended allotment, increased tribally owned land, and authorized tribes to organize constitutional governments empowered to negotiate with their federal, state, and local counter parts. It also created revolving credit tribes could use to finance economic development projects.
1937 – Summit Road completed by National Park Service
1946- Indian Claims Commissions Act declared that American Indians could seek financial compensation from the federal government for past mistreatment, such as violation of treaties and land seizures
1953- Public Law 280 ended federal law enforcement on tribal lands and brought the tribes of five mandatory states- California, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, and Wisconsin- under state civil and criminal jurisdiction
1957- Indian Bounty Act supplied Nebraska with state funds for counties with heavy tribal populations and land bases
1968- American Indian Movement (AIM) was created. AIM seeks to address and correct issues faced by American Indians. AIM continues to exist but is most famous for many of its political stances during the 1970s
1974- The organization of Women of All Red Nations (WARN) consisted of American Indian women from over 30 tribes who sought to give a voice to Indian and women issues parallel to AIM
1975- Indian Self-Determination and Education Act
1978- Indian Religious Freedom Act gave legal protection for all members of the Native American Church to use peyote
1987- California v. Cabazon of Mission Indians determined that states could not regulate gambling on American Indian reservations
1988- Indian Gaming Regulatory Act established the classification of gaming at casinos
1990- Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) provides legal basis for American Indian religious practices and for the repatriation of Indian remains and cultural items held by museums
2000