| In his study of the Colorado Gold Rush, Elliott | | | | were extremely beneficial for raiding villages. The |
| West discovered that historians have generally | | | | Indians' changed perception of the Plains caused a |
| focused their attention on "what was rushed to | | | | population explosion. The population in the high |
| rather than what was rushed over" (West xvii). | | | | Plains "rose steeply in the late eighteenth century, |
| His basic argument is that the influx of | | | | then climbed more sharply after 1800" (West 67). |
| goldseekers changed the Great Plains as well as | | | | Many tribes, such as Comanches, Nakotas, |
| the Rockies, and that "the Indians were partly | | | | Lakotas, and others, began moving onto the Plains |
| responsible for their own difficulties" (West, xvii). | | | | from the east as they imagined the land in |
| West asserts that the history of the Great Plains | | | | different ways. |
| changed over time primarily through people's | | | | As the new tribes moved into the Great Plains, |
| perceptions of it: | | | | "there was a shuffling of power in its crudest |
| People use their brains to create mental variations | | | | form - force used by some people to control, |
| of the places they observe, variations that exist | | | | exploit, and kill other people" (West 68). The tribal |
| only inside their heads. They imagine changes in | | | | warfare for control of the area around the Black |
| the world as it presently exists outside | | | | Hills resulted in the Lakotas displacing tribes such |
| themselves; they visualize new connections and | | | | as the Kiowa, Arapahoes, Crows, and Cheyennes. |
| relationships that are not there yet. So besides | | | | But the migration to the Plains caused the Lakota |
| the perceived environment in the first sense - the | | | | to come to depend on the horse more heavily. |
| outer world as humans encounter it through their | | | | This dependency led to problems since, because |
| senses - there can be many alternate | | | | of the northern winters, the Lakota often were in |
| environments existing simultaneously as imagined | | | | short supply of horses. This shortage "helped |
| places (West xx). | | | | shape their actions during the years ahead" (West |
| Consequently, for changes on the Great Plains to | | | | 66). |
| occur, people must first imagine the area | | | | Up until the mid-nineteenth century, the Great |
| differently. West describes the many changes | | | | Plains had belonged to the Native Americans |
| that transpired on the Great Plains, and the | | | | almost exclusively. But in 1858, the rumours of |
| factors that propelled people to change their | | | | gold in the Rockies that had been circulating for |
| perceptions of the Great Plains. | | | | decades was confirmed when Green Russell and |
| The first occupants of the Plains were "part of | | | | his followers made "the true discovery of gold in |
| the Clovis complex" around 9500 - 10,000 B.C. | | | | the Pike's Peak region" (West 105). This discovery, |
| (West 19). At this time, the Plains were "wetter | | | | along with other events in America paved the |
| and cooler" (West 18). But soon after their arrival, | | | | way for a general stampede into the area. Before |
| the climate changed and became warmer. This | | | | the settlers could move into this area, their |
| caused the tall grasses to give way to shorter, | | | | perceptions of it had to change. |
| and led to the extinction of many species the | | | | Previously they viewed the Plains as a virtual |
| Clovis hunters used for food. This extinction | | | | wasteland inhabited by savages ready to kill any |
| (partly caused by the Clovis) led them and the | | | | white people. Sumner's victory at the Solomon |
| later Folsom peoples to develop a bison-hunting | | | | River in 1856 gave many the impression of |
| culture. | | | | "nomads beaten and pacified" (West 100). |
| About 5000 B.C. the climate changed again; the | | | | Therefore, many felt the Indian populations would |
| Plains underwent a prolonged drought which | | | | not be much of a threat to them. |
| caused the land to become more arid, and take | | | | Also the depression of 1857 encouraged people to |
| on the appearance similar to the present. This | | | | look at the Great Plains in a different light. It then |
| caused the hunters to become even more | | | | became a place where they could escape the bad |
| nomadic as they searched for food. The Plains | | | | conditions at home and regain economic stability. |
| peoples developed a "cycle of movement that | | | | Newspapers and travel guides immediately set to |
| united the seasonal offerings of plains, hills, and | | | | work to propagandize the Great Plains. One St. |
| high mountain terrain" (West 24). At about the | | | | Louis editor wrote that the gold fields would be |
| time of Christ, the Plains Woodlands people had | | | | "the evangel to a new commerce" (West 131). In |
| set up a network of trade "covering most of the | | | | addition to the gold mines, propagandists gave |
| United States and well beyond its borders" to | | | | people a view of the Great Plains as a place that |
| obtain commodities they could not obtain locally. | | | | would be good for cattle raising and farming. Soon |
| Then around A.D. 700-800, another climactic shift | | | | after Russell made his discovery in 1858, the first |
| led the Plains into "one of the wettest periods of | | | | townsite, Denver City, was laid out. The following |
| its history" (West 27). This led to farming | | | | spring, "more than 100,000 people headed for |
| communities along the Republican, Solomon, and | | | | Colorado" (West 145). |
| Smoky Hill Rivers. These farmers eventually | | | | This invasion of miners caused conflict within |
| moved eastward off the Plains during the | | | | numerous Plains tribes when they returned to the |
| thirteenth century as the land suffered a series of | | | | South Platte River. As their resources, such as |
| droughts. Then new peoples moved onto the | | | | bison, began to diminish, many tribes such as the |
| Plains to create their own mode of survival. | | | | Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Kiowas, Lakotas, and |
| Before European contact, many different peoples | | | | Comanches were "torn between leaders who |
| had lived and survived on the Plains. They had | | | | called for accommodation with whites and others |
| adapted to the changing climates and exploited | | | | advocating confrontation, or at least a studied |
| the resources close at hand, while establishing | | | | disengagement" (West 194). The tribes' |
| trade for what was not close at hand. | | | | dependence on the bison and trade with whites |
| Contact with Europeans in the mid-sixteenth | | | | thus caused much of their difficulties when miners |
| century dramatically changed the Native peoples' | | | | began filtering into the area, since many trading |
| perceptions of the Great Plains. The Spaniards | | | | chiefs favored accommodation. The subsequent |
| envisioned the Plains as lacking "almost everything | | | | warfare, displacement of Indians, and the |
| needed to turn neutral space into a human place" | | | | establishment of reservations further changed the |
| (West 35). Coronado's reports of the Great Plains | | | | face of the Great Plains. For many thousands of |
| resulted in Europeans staying out of the area for | | | | years, the Great Plains underwent a series of |
| two hundred years. However, the Spaniards | | | | changes to reach its present appearance. The |
| brought with them two things that would | | | | common factor in these changes is that before |
| revolutionize life on the Plains: horses and guns. | | | | they were implemented, they had to be |
| Once the Native Americans understood the | | | | envisioned. |
| capabilities of horses and guns, they "looked at | | | | Bibliography |
| the country and thought it into another shape" | | | | West, Elliott. The Contested Plains: Indians, |
| (West 55). | | | | Goldseekers, and the Rush to Colorado. University |
| For the Plains tribes, the horse turned them into | | | | Press of Kansas, 2000. |
| more efficient hunters of the bison, and guns | | | | |