history of states: Aralık 2013

30 Aralık 2013 Pazartesi

Wyoming: A Historical Timeline

PRIOR TO 1800 PRE-EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT
11,000 BCE	Evidence suggest Native American inhabit the area now known as Wyoming, principally the Clovis, Folsom and Plano cultures.
1100– 1200 CE	Native peoples construct a medicine wheel in the Big Horn Mountains. It is 25 yards in diameter and features 28 spokes extending from the rim to the center.
1682	Wyoming is claimed by France as part of Louisiana, which is named in honor of Louis XIV.
1700	The Shoshone, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Crow live in the eastern part of the region, hunting bison and living in tepees. The Ute people inhabit the western mountains and depend on gathering wild foods and hunting small game.
1742–43	French explorer François de La Vérendrye enters Wyoming on an expedition to the Rocky Mountains.
1762	With the Treaty of Fountainebleu, France cedes Louisiana to Spain. Spain returns the area to France in 1800 with the secretly struck Treaty of San Ildefonso.
1800–1849 WESTWARD EXPANSION
1803	(December 30) The U.S. acquires portions of Wyoming (and 13 other future U.S. states) from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase. U.S. President Thomas Jefferson agrees to the purchase price of 78 million francs ($15,000,000) from French head of state Napoleon Bonaparte. The purchase is lauded by supporters and savaged by critics of Jefferson. It more than doubles the size of the United States and is a defining moment in the expansion of U.S. territory. The portion of Wyoming not included in the purchase remains part of Spanish-controlled New Spain.
1807	After leaving the Lewis and Clark expedition, fur trader and explorer John Colter stumbles upon an area of Wyoming he names "Colter’s Hell" in his written reports. At the time, those who read these reports of thermal activity in the Yellowstone area consider them fictional.
1812	Explorer Robert Stuart crosses the Great Continental Divide near South Pass and builds the first known cabin in Wyoming. (June 4) Louisiana Territory is renamed Missouri Territory after the southern portion becomes the new state of Louisiana.
1818	(October 20) The Treaty of 1818 establishes Oregon Country, which contains portions of western Wyoming, as shared territory between the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
1821	(July 10) The Adams-Onís Treaty goes into effect, establishing a new border between the U.S. and New Spain. As a result, new portions of Wyoming are now claimed by Spain. (August 10) Most of Wyoming becomes part of unorganized U.S. territory after the southeastern corner of Missouri Territory is admitted to the Union as the state of Missouri. (September 27) New Spain achieves independence as Mexico, and Spanish-controlled areas of Wyoming are now part of the new country.
1830	Fur trapper and explorer William Sublette discovers and names Independence Rock. A large granite rock approximately 130 feet high, it functions as a prominent and well-known landmark on the Oregon and Mormon migrant trails.
1834	Fur traders William Sublette and Robert Campbell found the first business west of the Missouri River, Fort William, a rambling log stockade built at the confluence of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers. By 1836, it has become an important resting place and haven for trail-weary, Oregon-bound travelers. The 1849 California gold rush brings 50,000 emigrants through the fort.
1836	Narcissa Prentiss Whitman and Eliza Hart Spalding make a marker at South Pass when they become the first European-American women to cross the U.S. (March 2) Texas achieves independence from Mexico, and portions of Wyoming become disputed territory between Mexico and the newly formed Republic of Texas.
1842	Captain John Fremont makes his first expedition to Wyoming, where he scales a 13,570-foot peak that is later named Fremont Peak in his honor.
1845	(December 29) Texas becomes the 28th state admitted to the Union. The small part of Wyoming involved in Texas' territorial dispute with Mexico is included within the new state's boundaries.
1846	(June 15) The Oregon Treaty ends U.S. boundary disputes with Great Britain, and the majority of Wyoming now becomes unorganized U.S. territory.
1848	(February 2) The Treaty of Guadelupe Hildago ends the Mexican-American War. Mexico cedes land to the U.S. that includes portions of southwestern Wyoming. (August 14) The U.S. organizes Oregon Territory, which includes portions of western Wyoming.
1850–1868 TERRITORIAL EVOLUTION
1850	Mountain man and guide Jim Bridger locates what is now known as Bridger Pass. It is later used by the Union Pacific Railroad and eventually becomes Interstate 80. (September 9) The Compromise of 1850 between Mexico and the U.S. results in portions of Wyoming becoming part of the newly formed Utah Territory.
1851	The Fort Laramie Treaty is signed between the U.S. and the Sioux Native Americans. The Sioux pledge not to harass the wagon trains traveling the Oregon Trail in exchange for a $50,000 annuity. However, the treaty is soon broken by settlers continually trespassing onto Native American lands.
1854	(May 30) The unorganized portion of Wyoming becomes part of Nebraska Territory. Wyoming is now split between Washington, Utah, and Nebraska territories.
1859	(February 14) The western portion of Oregon Territory is admitted to the Union as the state of Oregon, and the region of Wyoming it encompassed becomes part of Washington Territory.
1861	(February 28) The eastern tip of Washington Territory, correlating with the southwestern tip of present-day Wyoming, is transferred to Nebraska Territory. (March 2) Dakota Territory, which encompasses northern Wyoming, is formed.
1862	The Homestead Act attracts many new farmers and ranchers to Wyoming, where they congregate along fertile riverbanks.
1863	John Bozeman and John Jacobs scout a direct route from Virginia City, Montana, to central Wyoming in order to join with the Oregon Trail. The trail passes directly through Native American territory occupied by the Shoshone, Arapaho, and Sioux nations. Violent encounters between settlers and Native Americans escalate. (March 4) Idaho territory is created. It encompasses present-day Idaho, Montana, and most of Wyoming.
1865	(August 29) The Battle of the Tongue Rover in Sheridan County becomes the major engagement of the Powder River Expedition, which destroys the Arapaho ability to raid the Bozeman Trail for some time. Sixty-three Arapaho are killed or wounded, and over 1,000 Arapaho-owned horses and ponies are destroyed.
1866	Headed north to Montana, Nelson Story drives the first herd of cattle through Wyoming from Texas. Gold is found near South Pass, leading to a gold rush and population boom in South Pass City.
1866–68	Red Cloud’s War, a two-year war between the Sioux (led by Chief Red Cloud) and the U.S. Army, begins. The war is waged over control of Wyoming's Powder River Country, which is situated along a major access route to Montana's gold fields. The war ends with the signing of the Laramie Treaty, which closes the Bozeman Trail and three U.S. forts. The treaty also makes the Black Hills part of the Great Sioux Reservation.
1868	(July 25) The Wyoming Territory is created. Its boundaries form the borders of the present-day state of Wyoming. Cheyenne is chosen as the territorial capital. The Wind River Reservation for Shoshone Native Americans is created.
1869–1899 FROM TERRITORY TO STATEHOOD
1869	(December 10) Wyoming's first territorial governor, John Allen Campbell, signs the "Female Suffrage" bill, making Wyoming the first territory to give women the right to vote. It also gives women the right to hold public office. When Wyoming is admitted to the Union, it becomes the first state with female suffrage, leading to its nickname, "The Equality State."
1870	After R. S. Barr, resigns in protest of the passage of Wyoming's women's suffrage amendment, Esther Hobart Morris of South Pass City becomes the first woman to hold the position of Justice of the Peace in the United States and its territories.
1871	William "Buffalo Bill" Cody begins guiding hunting parties through the Yellowstone and Big Horn Basin area. From 1868 to 1872, the famous cowboy is employed as a scout for the United States Army.
1872	(March 1) President Ulysses S. Grant signs a measure creating the 2.2 million-acre Yellowstone National Park. Home to the famous "Old Faithful" geyser, the park is the first of its kind in the United States. The U.S. Army is commissioned to oversee it, but in 1917 park control is taken over by the National Park Service. In 2007, more than 3.1 million people visited Yellowstone.
1874	(July 2) Colonel George Custer departs Fort Abraham Lincoln with 1,000 soldiers on a 1,200-mile expedition to chart the Black Hills of eastern Wyoming and western South Dakota.
1876	The Black Hills War is fought along the border of Wyoming and Montana after miners continue to trespass into Native American lands. The famous Battle of the Little Bighorn leads to Colonel Custer’s death. In spring of 1877, Native Americans begin to surrender and are shipped to Indian Territory.
1877	An agreement is made with the Shoshone Native Americans to allow the Arapahoe to move onto the Wind River Reservation. After the U.S. government attempts to move the Nez Perce to a reservation in Idaho, Nez Perce Chief Joseph leads his people through the "Devil’s Doorway" in the Yellowstone area during their attempt to escape to Canada.
1885	(September 2). Twenty-eight Chinese immigrant miners are killed and hundreds more are chased out of town by striking coal miners during the Chinese Massacre at Rock Springs. The massacre results from racial tensions and an ongoing labor dispute over the Union Pacific Coal Department’s policy of paying Chinese miners lower wages than white miners, leading Chinese laborers to be the preferred workers.
1890	(July 10) Even though its population does not yet qualify it for statehood, Wyoming is admitted to the Union as the 44th state.
1892	The Johnson County War, a battle between small settling ranchers and larger established ranches in the Powder River Country, is waged. It culminates in a lengthy shootout between local ranchers, a band of hired killers, and a sheriff’s posse. President Benjamin Harrison sends in the U.S. Cavalry to quell the violence.
1897	(September 23) The first Frontier Days rodeo celebration in Cheyenne is held. By 1998, it has become the world’s largest outdoor rodeo.
1900–1949 EARLY TO MID 20TH CENTURY
1902	(April 13) In Kemmerer, J.C. Penney opens his first store, selling clothes, shoes, and dry goods. By 1929 there are 1,395 J.C. Penney stores across the U.S. (May 22) Encompassing 6,580,920 acres, the Yellowstone Forest Reserve becomes the first national forest in the country.
1906	(September 24) President Theodore Roosevelt designates the Devil’s Tower National Monument in the Black Hills of Wyoming. The first U.S. National Monument, it is a volcanic rock formation rising 867 feet over a base of gray igneous rock.
1918	Uranium is discovered near Lusk. Wyoming still has the largest known uranium ore reserve in the U.S.
1920	(January 27) Wyoming becomes the 27th state to ratify the 19th Amendment, granting women nationwide the right to vote.
1922	(April 15) Wyoming Senator John Kendrick introduces a resolution that sets into motion one of the most significant investigations in Senate history, Teapot Dome. The Teapot Dome scandal involves a secret arrangement by Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall to lease the U.S. naval petroleum reserve at Wyoming’s Teapot Dome to a private oil company without competitive bidding. The case results in the conviction and imprisonment Fall. The oil fields are returned to the federal government in 1927 by Supreme Court ruling.
1924	Wyoming's Nellie Taylor Ross is elected the nation’s first woman governor. Ross serves out the remaining term of her husband William Ross, who died in office. From 1933 to 1935, she would serve as the female woman director of the U.S. Mint.
1929	Grand Teton National Park is established in northwestern Wyoming. The park is named after the Grand Teton, which at 13,770 feet is the tallest mountain in the Teton Range.
1937–38	A massive infestation of crickets in Montana and Wyoming causes nearly $1 million in crop damage.
1942	After the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, many people of Japanese descent living on the Pacific Coast are relocated to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming. The location for the center is chosen because it is remote yet convenient, adjacent to a railroad depot where internees could be unloaded and processed.
1950–PRESENT MODERN WYOMING
1988	More than one million acres of Yellowstone National Park burns. Ignited by lightning, the fires last from May to September.
1994	Wyoming leads the country in coal production with 3 million tons produced per week.
1995	Wolves are returned to Yellowstone National Park where they thrive. The last grey wolf had disappeared from the Yellowstone region in 1926. By 2008 their population reaches 1,500.
1998	(October 7) In Laramie 22-year old University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, who is gay, is found beaten, burned, and tied to a wooden ranch fence. Shepard dies from his injuries on October 12. Two men, Russell Arthur Henderson and Aaron James McKinney, are tried for the murder, which many attribute to Shepard's sexual orientation. Both men receive multiple life sentences. The incident garners nationwide attention and spurs calls for changes to national hate crime legislation.
2007	(February 1) In a case that goes straight to the U.S. Supreme Court, Montana sues Wyoming over provisions of the 1950 Yellowstone River Compact. The Montana government insists its neighbor takes more Tongue and Powder rivers water than it is entitled to, cheating Montana out of its share. The case is still pending.
2009	The Matthew Shepard Act, which extends hate crime legislation to cover violent crimes committed for reasons of the victim's gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability, passes in the Senate by a vote of 68-29. President Barack Obama signs the legislation into law on October 28.

Click to enlarge an image

1200: Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark

1682: Louis XIV

1700: Modern-day Southern Arapaho women's leggings and moccasins

1807: John Colter historical marker

1812: North American continental divides

1836: Narcissa Whitman

1842: Illustration of John Fremont

1850: Jim Bridger

1863: John Bozeman

1865: Map of the Bozeman Trail (in yellow)

1866: Red Cloud

1869: John Allen Campbell

1871: William "Buffalo Bill" Cody

1872: Old Faithful

1874: Colonel George Custer

1876: A Battle of Little Bighorn battlefield marker

1885: Rock Springs Massacre

1892: Johnson County War map

1906: Devil’s Tower National Monument

1922: Postcard of Teapot Rock on Teapot Dome

1924: Nellie Tayloe Ross, 14th Governor of Wyoming

1929: Grand Teton in winter

2009: President Barack Obama signs the Matthew Shepard Act into law.

Wisconsin: A Historical Timeline

PRIOR TO 1700 PRE-EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT
1600s	The people living in Wisconsin belong to a broad group of Native Americans, mainly tribes who speak Algonquian and Sioux. They include the Menominee, Kickapoo, Miami, Winnebago, Dakota, and Iowa. Later in the century, other groups enter Wisconsin, including the Fox, Sac, Potawatomi, and Chippewa.
Mid-1600s	When the first Europeans come into the area, they bring important opportunities for trade, particularly in fur trade. They also bring diseases for which the Native people have no natural immunity. Many die from smallpox measles, and mumps or are eventually forced off their land further west or to reservations.
1634	French explorer Jean Nicolet is the first known European to reach Wisconsin. While seeking the Northwest Passage, a water route to China through North America, he canoes through lakes Huron and Superior. He is the first European to enter Lake Michigan and rows ashore where he lands at Green Bay, known as "La Baye" by the French.
1654–59	Pierre Esprit Radisson and Medart Chouart des Groseilliers become the first fur traders in Wisconsin.
1661	Father Rene Menard is the first missionary to the Native Americans in Wisconsin, establishing a Roman Catholic mission near present-day Ashland.
1666	Nicholas Perrot opens fur trade with the Native Americans and is made Commandant of the West in 1685. None of the French posts have permanent settlers.
1700–1799 EARLY EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT
1712–33	The Fox Indian Wars between the Fox Native Americans and the French occur in modern-day Michigan and Wisconsin. The Fox control the Fox River system, a river vital for fur trade between French Canada and the interior of North America. When the Fox tried to prevent the French from trading with other tribes, fighting begins. The wars reduce the Fox’s numbers to 500 from 3,500.
1755	Led by fur trader Charles Langlade, Wisconsin Native Americans help defeat British general Edward Braddock during the French and Indian War.
1764	"Father of Wisconsin" Charles Langlade and his family establish the first permanent Wisconsin settlement at Green Bay.
1774	The Quebec Act makes Wisconsin a part of the Province of Quebec and guarantees free practice of Catholicism in the area.
1783	Wisconsin becomes a territory of the United States following the Treaty of Paris, which ends the Revolutionary War. The British remain in the region.
1787	Wisconsin officially becomes part of the U.S. Northwest Territory, but British fur traders effectively control the region until 1816.
1800–1849 AN EMERGING TERRITORY
1800	Wisconsin becomes part of the Indiana Territory. While the region legally belongs to the U.S. at this time, the British still continue to control local fur trade and maintain military alliances with the Native Americans.
1814	The British capture Prairie du Chien during the War of 1812. Both Britain and the U.S. are eager to control the frontier settlement because of its importance to the fur trade and its strategic location at the intersection of the Mississippi River and Fox River system.
1815	The Treaty of Ghent reaffirms American jurisdiction over Wisconsin, which is now part of the Illinois Territory. Following the treaty, British troops depart Wisconsin.
1816	The American Fur Company begins operating in Wisconsin. The company grows to monopolize the fur trade in the U.S. By 1830 it becomes one of the largest businesses in the nation. When silk begins to replace fur in European fashion, the company goes into decline, eventually closing operations in 1842.
1818	The Michigan Territory, which includes the Wisconsin Territory, is formed.
1820s	tHigh prices for lead attract settlers to the mines of southern Wisconsin, leading to the lead boom of the 1820s. Hostility builds among the Native Americans due to increasing encroachment and occupation of their lands by white settlers. By the 1840s, southwest Wisconsin mines produce more than half of the nation’s lead.
1827	The Winnebago Indian War takes place in the southwestern region of Wisconsin between members of the Winnebago, local militia, and the U.S. Army. Loss of life is minimal, but the war is an important precedent to the much larger conflict in 1832, the Black Hawk War.
1832	The Black Hawk War is fought in Illinois and Wisconsin over land disputes. Black Hawk is the war chief of the Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo Native Americans. When he refuses to move his tribes, federal troops arrive. Black Hawk’s band defeats the militia at the Battle of Stillman’s Run, but the war ends with a decisive victory for the militia at the Battle of Bad Axe, when 1,3000 Illinois militia massacre Sauk Native American men, women, and children. Black Hawk and eight other Native American leaders are imprisoned, and the Native Americans are pushed further west.
1836	Congress establishes the Territory of Wisconsin. The new territory includes all of the present-day states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, plus parts of North and South Dakota.
1840	Starting in the 1840s, leaflets praising Wisconsin are distributed in the coastal areas of Germany, leading to heavy German immigration. Today the German heritage and influence in the Milwaukee area is widespread.
1846	The settlements of Juneautown, Kilbourntown, and Walker’s Point merge into the city of Milwaukee; the new city has a population of about 10,000 people, making it the largest city in the territory. Milwaukee remains the largest city in present-day Wisconsin.
1848	(May 29) Wisconsin becomes the nation’s 30th state.
1850–1899 THE STATE OF WISCONSIN
1853	Wisconsin becomes the third state to abolish capital punishment.
1854	Joshua Glover, a fugitive slave from St. Louis, Missouri, is arrested in Racine. His owner attempts to use the Fugitive Slave Act (which declares that runaway slaves be brought back to their masters) to recover him, but the Wisconsin Supreme Court declares the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 unconstitutional. This helps to galvanize the abolitionist movement in the state. (February 28) Approximately 50 slavery opponents meet in Ripon to call for the creation of a new political group to oppose the spread of slavery to the western territories. The group becomes known as the Republican Party.
1856	In Watertown, German immigrants open the first kindergarten in the U.S. Classes are conducted in German.
1861–65	Over 90,000 men from Wisconsin serve in the Union forces during the Civil War.
1864	A cheese factory is started in Fond du Lac County. Many European immigrants have brought an extensive knowledge of cheese making to the region, and today Wisconsin leads the nation in cheese production.
1867	Jacob Leinenkugel, an immigrant from Bavaria, founds Leinenkugel Beer to supply the lumberjack community of Chippewa Falls. In 1988, the Miller Brewing Company acquires the family business, and today it is the nation’s second largest brewery.
1871	(October 8–14) One of the nation’s worst national disasters takes place in Peshtigo when a forest fire kills more than 1,500 people and damages $5 million in property. Phineas Taylor Barnum founds "The Greatest Show on Earth" in Delavan, Wisconsin. He introduces three rings to the traveling circus, which eventually becomes known as the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
1881	Soda fountain owner Ed Berners of Two Rivers invents the first ice cream sundae when a customer requests a dish of ice cream topped with the chocolate syrup used for sodas. Berners likes the dish and adds it to his regular menu, charging a nickel.
1882	The first commercial hydroelectric plant begins to operate on the rapids of the Fox River in Appleton in order to provide electricity to the paper industry.
1883	John Michael Kohler manufactures the first enameled cast-iron plumbing fixtures, leading to the manufacturing of cast-iron fixtures. The Kohler Company has been known for its plumbing fixtures ever since.
1886	(May 4) The Bay View Massacre. Under orders from the governor, a National Guard squadron opens fire on striking steelworkers in the Bay View section of Milwaukee. Seven people are killed, including a 13-year-old boy.
1889	The Wisconsin Supreme Court prohibits bible reading and prayer in public schools in the "Edgerton Bible case." The law is later repealed after opposition from German Protestants and Catholics.
1891	Franklin King, a professor of natural science at River Falls State Normal School, invents the round silo. The new design solves the problem of storing winter cattle silage and allows dairy to become a major agricultural operation in Wisconsin.
1900–1949 EARLY TO MID 20TH CENTURY
1900s	Milwaukee becomes the hub of the socialist movement in the U.S. The city elects three Socialist mayors between 1910 and 1960 and remains the only major city in the country to do so. Milwaukee remains pro-union and distrustful of big business.
1911	Wisconsin puts into effect the first workers’ compensation law, which provides monetary benefits for workers injured on the job.
1912	(October 14) While campaigning for the presidency in front of the Hotel Gilpatrick in Milwaukee, Theodore Roosevelt is shot at close range by anarchist John Flammang Schrank. Saved by the papers in his breast pocket, Roosevelt goes on to give a 90-minute address after requesting that his audience be quiet because "there is a bullet in my body." (November 4) Wisconsin votes against suffrage for women.
1918	Wisconsin establishes the first statewide numbering system to direct highway traffic, using off numbers for state highways running north to south and even numbers for those going east to west.
1919	(June 10) Wisconsin becomes the third state to ratify the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote.
1928	Architect Frank Lloyd Wright announces that he will establish his own school of architecture. He takes in 60 students at his homestead in Spring Green to lead the Prairie School movement of architecture.
1932	Wisconsin becomes the first state in the nation to enact an unemployment compensation law, providing financial benefits to unemployed workers.
1933	Wisconsin becomes the first state to prohibit the use of race or national origin as factors in hiring teachers.
1941	The U.S. enters World War II. Over the course of the war, 375,000 men and women from Wisconsin serve.
1950–PRESENT MODERN WISCONSIN
1960	Dena Smith is elected state treasurer, the first woman elected to statewide office in Wisconsin.
1965	Wisconsin becomes the first state to ban hiring discrimination based on disabilities.
1982	Wisconsin becomes the first state to prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, and public places of accommodation or amusement on the basis of sexual orientation.
1985	Pleasant Rowland, a textbook publishing executive, founds The American Girl Company in Madison. The company begins with three dolls, each one set in a specific moment in American history. Mattel buys the company for $700 million in 1998.
2003	Harley-Davidson celebrates its 100th anniversary in Milwaukee with a parade of 10,000 motorcycles. A quarter-million bikers arrive in Milwaukee for the three-day celebration.
2012	Outrage over governor Scott Walker's 2011 budget plan prompts a recall election, only the third gubernatorial recall election in U.S. history. Governor Walker is the first to win such an election and remain in office. The most controversial aspect of the plan removed the collective bargaining rights of public sector labor unions.