The overland trails that crossed the Northern Plains in the mid-nineteenth century were among the great migration routes in American history. For the Plains nations, however, these trails were something else entirely: lines of disruption cutting through lands they had long used, bringing pressures that reshaped their world.
The great routes west
The Oregon, California, and Mormon trails followed the valleys of the Platte and North Platte rivers across the Plains before branching toward their various destinations. These river corridors offered water, grass, and relatively level ground, making them natural highways for wagon travel. Fort Laramie served as a key waypoint along the way.
From the 1840s onward, and especially after the 1848 discovery of gold in California, the number of travelers swelled. During the travel season, wagon trains moved steadily westward, and the trails became busy thoroughfares.
Pressures on Native land and life
This flow of people and animals placed real strain on the Plains. Emigrant livestock grazed down the grass along the rivers, and firewood grew scarce near the routes. The constant traffic disturbed the buffalo, pushing herds away from the corridors and complicating the hunts on which Plains economies depended. Perhaps most devastating were the diseases carried along the trails, which struck Native communities with terrible force.
These effects were not lost on Plains leaders. The disruption caused by emigration was among the concerns they brought to the 1851 treaty council, where the United States sought safe passage in exchange for annual payments and recognition of territories.
Trails, treaties, and the army
The overland trails are inseparable from the treaty history of the region. The government desire to protect these routes was the driving reason it sought agreements with Plains nations, and the conversion of Fort Laramie into an army post in 1849 reflected the same priority. Later, as new routes and gold discoveries drew traffic into other Native lands, the trails again became flashpoints for conflict.
Understanding the trails helps explain why the 1851 treaty took the shape it did. The agreement was, at its heart, an attempt to manage the collision between a great migration and the peoples whose lands lay in its path. To read further, see our articles on why the U.S. sought the treaty and the buffalo and the Plains economy, or explore the 1851 treaty history category.
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