Very interesting article about pre-settler Wyoming. I wonder, briefly, whether the author might be related to the Justin Nickerson who went to school with my mother in Farson, Wyoming.
I found this one because I was searching for information about American Indian place names in Wyoming. Specifically, I was wandering off on a tangent after reading that there has been no progress on the Oglala request to rename Devil’s Tower, Wyoming to Bear Lodge (Mahto Teepee). This site says “The proposal was blocked by Wyoming’s congressional delegation until 2021.” I hadn’t heard that, but it’s easy to believe.
There’s a map here I found very helpful for other reasons. Searches like this are fun because they uncover new and interesting information you wouldn’t think to look for.
Here’s the perennial reminder that my mother’s family is from an area known as the Red Desert (Ay ga Vahsah Soegoep, Red Desert Dirt, in Shoshoni).
And a reminder that my father’s Lakota name, Wind River Eagle, might not capture the Lakota name of that place (Beeyah Ohgway, Big River, in Shoshoni; Huchaashe, Wind River, in Crow; Hote’niicie, Sheep River, in Arapahoe).
Another map on the same page shows a good and detailed overview of the many pioneer trails that criss-crossed Wyoming.
Go. Look. You’ll find something to like here.
- Gregory Nickerson, Before Wyoming: American Indian Geography and Trails, WyoHistory.org, July 30, 2019, retrieved Aug. 15, 2020.