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Table 3.9-3. Grazing Allotments in the Footprint of Potential Disturbance
Final License Application – Exhibit E Seminoe Pumped Storage Project
Table 3.9-3. Grazing Allotments in the Footprint of Potential Disturbance
Grazing Allotment Name (Number) Total Federal AUMs Acres Within Footprint of Potential Disturbance
Percent of Allotment Within the Footprint of Potential Disturbance Acres Within the FERC Project Boundary Percent of Allotment Within the FERC Project Boundary Grazing Management System
Black Canyon (00323) 2,106 799.1 3.9% 246 1.20% Deferred Rotation
Ellis Block/ Pete’s Gap (00811/00835) South Leo (00807) South Bennett No. (00333) 794
689.2
2,279 646.4
772 346.9
Medicine Bow (00809) Shirley Mountain (00335) T.E. Ranch (00808) 181 165.18
3,655
536 78.6
75.9
Seminoe (10218) 11,066 63.4 4.2%
1.5%
7.1%
1.9%
<1%
1.1%
<1% 218 1.34%
Deferred Rotation
494 1.11% Permit Long
224 4.57% Permit Long
128 1.48% Permit Long
63 0.18% Permit Long
58 0.86% Permit Long
0 N/A Deferred Rotation
Corral Creek (00334) Tennant Place (00802)
Source: BLM 2008a. 1,181
18 45.7
26.3 <1%
7.1% 33 0.27% Permit Long
21 5.77% Deferred Rotation
January 2023 | 311
3.9.2 Direct and Indirect Environmental Effects – Land Use
This section presents information available at this time about potential direct and indirect effects of the proposed Project on land use.
The construction and operation of the Project will result in temporary and permanent impacts to land use. During construction, land will be temporarily removed from its current use and converted to construction workspaces, such as within and adjacent to Seminoe State Park, as described in Section 3.8 Recreation. Temporary construction impacts to land uses include noise, dust, vegetation clearing, ground disturbance and dust, and vehicle traffic. Permanent impacts of the Project are described below for the upper reservoir and conveyance facilities and for the new transmission line. Permanent impacts include conversion of existing land uses. Permanent impacts of Project facilities are provided in Table 3.1-1.
Permanent impacts of the Project on land use include the conversion of existing land cover at the upper reservoir to inundated lands. The proposed upper reservoir will be fenced for site security, public safety and wildlife protection, and public access to the reservoir will be restricted. Hydraulic conveyance facilities will be mostly located underground in steep terrain, and potential uses of the land above these facilities will be limited. Construction of the transmission line will result in the temporary impacts listed above, but permanent impacts to land use in the transmission corridor will be mostly limited to the footprints of the transmission structures. In addition, the proposed transmission corridor generally follows and is directly adjacent to existing transmission lines.
As shown in Table 3.9-1, approximately 3,012 acres (99%) of the land within the Footprint of Potential Disturbance is located on exempt (federal land) or agricultural lands. The total agricultural lands available in the Project vicinity (within the RFO planning area) is approximately 3,492,744 acres. Therefore, the Footprint of Potential Disturbance is proposed to occupy a small amount of the total available agricultural or grazing land in the RFO planning area (approximately 0.0009%). The agricultural/grazing land will be converted to industrial land used for renewable energy production and transmission rightsof-way.
Grazing will be temporarily affected by construction of the Project due to ground disturbance and clearing of vegetation, noise, increased traffic, and human presence.
Operation of the Project will remove the land inundated by the upper reservoir from grazing (approximately 160 acres). This will result in a permanent impact to holders of the affected grazing allotments and may require a modification to BLM grazing permits and adjustments in AUMs and animal units (AUs) in affected grazing allotments. However, as shown in Table 3.9-3, the amount of the allotment affected is a small percentage of each grazing allotment. Grazing opportunities in the vicinity of the Project will still be abundant. Grazing will still be available in the transmission corridor as this will not be fenced.
As noted in Table 3.2-1, the geographic scope for land use is 1 mile of the Footprint of Potential Disturbance since impacts on general land uses, including public recreational areas, would be restricted to the construction workspaces and the adjacent landscape. As detailed in Table 3.2-2, there are three projects that occur within the geographic scope for land use: 1) WPCI Project, 2) Gateway West Transmission Line Project, and 3) Gateway South Transmission Line Project.
Issues Identified for Analysis
Potential conflicts regarding land use could include a variety of current and proposed land uses (agriculture, residential, and industrial). The conflicts would be more intense where the Project and other future and/or existing actions or occurring or planned to occur in the same geographic extent as various land-use resources. These impacts would be intensified where existing actions have conflicted already with the uses that may have occurred in the past or where a project is proposed in the same area as the Project.
Whether the Project is directly or indirectly affecting and existing land use, the cumulative effect on existing and future land uses may result in the overall land use changing or being modified based on all types of effects.
Results
Project vicinity has been developed and include an existing transmission line corridor, Seminoe Dam, Seminoe State Park, and residential developments. Much of the land within the geographic scope is federal land or agricultural lands. Reasonably foreseeable future actions, such as the development of transmission lines and other energy projects, would also be on federal lands and would require minimal conversions of land use.
The construction and operation of the Project and other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable actions would require the temporary and permanent use of land, which would result in temporary and permanent impacts/conversions of land use. The short-term cumulative effects would include construction activities of projects that would require gates being added to existing fences; construction related disturbances (noise, vehicles/equipment, personnel) associated with development of access roads, site grading, and building structures; and larger footprints of disturbance before restoration activities occur. The long-term cumulative effects would be reduced grazing/rangeland available where permanent disturbance/structure footprints would occur from other projects.
The duration of impacts on land use would depend on the type of land cover affected and the rate at which the land can be restored and conditions after construction. Additional temporary impacts to land use include noise, dust, ground disturbance, and vehicle traffic. The Project could result in a minor cumulative conversion of land use from open or undeveloped lands to developed or industrial lands.
3.9.4.1 Agency Consultation
The NOI and PAD for the proposed Project were filed with the FERC on April 20, 2020. Comments were received from several agencies including BLM and WGFD, and individual stakeholders. Black Canyon held a virtual joint public-agency meeting on July 21, 2020, and has continued consultation with stakeholders since that time. Black Canyon distributed its proposed resource study plans for the Project on August 3, 2020, and March 23, 2021. Black Canyon distributed the DLA on June 6, 2022. Responses to stakeholder comments and Black Canyon’s Record of Consultation are provided in Appendix A. BLM provided comments on land use in their comments on the DLA. Responses to comments on the DLA are provided in Appendix L.
Comments related to land use were not received from stakeholders nor were land use studies performed by Black Canyon.
3.9.4.2 Applicant Recommendations
Because the impacts on land use are not anticipated to be significant, Black Canyon has not identified PM&E measures to incorporate into the design/preconstruction, construction, and operational phases of the Project to address land use. Black Canyon will continue to evaluate the need for PM&E measures in consultation with stakeholders.
3.10 Cultural Resources
The subsections below describe cultural resources in the vicinity of the Project and consider the effects on these resources of constructing and operating the Project as proposed by Black Canyon. Descriptions of the affected environment, the environmental analysis, the proposed PM&E measures, and the identification of unavoidable adverse effects were developed based on available data presented in the PAD, and the two Cultural Resources Study Reports (HDR 2022h). Both reports are appended to this FLA as privileged documents, provided only to FERC, federal land managing agencies, and other NHPA Section 106 parties.
3.10.1 Affected Environment
This section describes existing cultural resources associated with the Project. It is presented by the following six areas: 1) regulatory context, 2) APE, 3) cultural history overview, 4) existing information, 5) results of the Cultural Resources Study.
3.10.1.1 Regulatory Context and BLM Authorities and Standards
In considering an original license for the Project, FERC has the lead responsibility for compliance with applicable federal laws, regulations, and policies pertaining to historic properties, including the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966, as amended (54 U.S.C. §300101 et seq.). Section 106 of the NHPA requires federal agencies to take into account the effects of their undertakings on historic properties and to afford the ACHP a reasonable opportunity to comment. The regulations implementing Section 106 (36 CFR
Part 800) define the process for identifying historic properties, assessing effects, and seeking ways to resolve adverse effects on historic properties in consultation with the WSHPO, federally-recognized Indian tribes, the public, and other appropriate parties.
3.10.1.2 Cultural Resources Area of Potential Effects
As defined in the applicable regulations found at 36 CFR §800.16(d), the APE for Section 106 of the NHPA is defined as “the geographic area or areas within which an undertaking may directly or indirectly cause alterations in the character or use of historic properties, if any such properties exist.” Based on this regulatory definition, Black Canyon proposes to define the APE for the Project licensing as including all lands within the Footprint of Potential Disturbance. The APE is also proposed to include lands or properties outside the Footprint of Potential Disturbance where Project operations and maintenance activities or other enhancements may cause changes in the character or use of historic properties, if any such properties exist. The APE, as required under Section 106 of the NHPA (36 CFR §800.4[a][1]), was submitted to the WSHPO, BLM, and Reclamation on October 1, 2021 with supplemental information submitted on March 24, 2022. This consultation is provided in the draft Cultural Resources Study Report appended to this FLA as Appendix I.
3.10.1.3 Cultural History Overview
This section provides an overview of the cultural setting of the study area and vicinity. The precontact context below discusses the environmental-temporal-cultural divisions of precontact occupation in the area. The ethnohistoric context below describes the indigenous people of the area through early contact eras. The historic context below provides details about non-Native American activities in the Project vicinity.
Archaeological Precontact Context
Late Prehistoric Paleoenvironment
The paleoenvironment provides the context in which human adaptation can be examined, and human culture often changes in response to changes in environment that affect carrying capacity. The paleoenvironment also affects the geological processes that can lead to preservation or destruction of the archaeological record. Although people have likely been present in the Project vicinity since 12,000 BP (or earlier), evidence of the prehistoric occupation of the Project vicinity is limited, spanning a period beginning in the Late Archaic, extending through the Late Prehistoric period, and into the Protohistoric period. Because of this, discussion of paleoenvironments will be limited to the Late Archaic period forward.
Paleoenvironmental records specific to the Project vicinity are rare, but there are records of fluctuations in temperature and effective moisture for the Rocky Mountain Region surrounding the Project and the Great Basin to the west of the Project over the last three millennia.
Using modern empirical data of how environmental changes affect reproduction of different animal species, Byers and Smith (2007) used faunal data from archaeological sites in the Wyoming Basin to develop indices of the relative abundance of different animals. These
indicators of habitat change through time and serve as proxies for the paleoenvironment. These indices were compared to the Aridity Index of Eckerle et al. (2002) for the Wyoming Basin. The Aridity Index is a reconstruction of soil moisture deficits at 200-year intervals for the Holocene, based on the temperature and precipitation reconstructions of Bryson and Bryson (2000) for the town of Green River, Wyoming. The values for each of these indices were determined at 200-year intervals and provide a confirmation of general trends in aridity during the past 2,000 years.
Aeolian records are documented in the Plains, prairies, and mountain basins, and the sustained mobilization of aeolian sand is unequivocal evidence of conditions that exceed an aridity threshold sufficient to decrease vegetation cover and destabilize surfaces, resulting in the mobilization of the transport of sand. Numerous researchers have documented the complexity of responses to apparently synchronous episodes of drought at different regional scales, interspersed with at least one period of increase in effective moisture (Madsen et al. 2001). Evidence of periods of increase in effective moisture followed by regional increases in aeolian activity comports well with the context of hearths from sites in the Project vicinity either being at or close to the base of aeolian sediments.
Chronological Framework
Several prehistoric chronologies have been proposed for Wyoming, but Wyoming’s prehistoric past is generally divided into four periods: Paleoindian, Archaic, Late Prehistoric, and Protohistoric (Kornfeld et al. 2010:66). Researchers use evidence derived from diagnostic tools, faunal remains, and dwellings to describe broad patterns of indigenous adaptation from the Late Pleistocene until the earliest interactions with Europeans. These adaptations include responses to changing climatic conditions (such as the ending of the Ice Age), technological developments (such as the introduction of the bow and arrow or ceramics), and the arrival of Europeans in North America.
Paleoindian (14,000 BP to 9,400 BP)
The general consensus within the archaeological community is that Native American populations in the New World originated in Asia, arriving in North America 14,000 to 12,000 years ago. The earliest confirmed human occupation of Wyoming occurs with the Clovis tradition ca. 12,000 BP (Kornfeld et al. 2010:65). The Paleoindian stage is characterized by cultures that made large, finely crafted flaked-stone tools and who hunted now-extinct Pleistocene megafauna.
The earliest archaeological sites with unequivocal evidence of human occupation within Wyoming belong to the Clovis cultural complex. Clovis sites are recognized by the presence of well-crafted large (10–15 cm or greater in length) lanceolate, bifacially flaked and basally fluted projectile points with thin cross sections. During the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, Wyoming was cooler and wetter than it is today. Now-extinct megafauna, including mammoth, camel, and sloth, were plentiful and Clovis points have been found in association with their remains. The Colby site in northern Wyoming, the Union Pacific Site in central Wyoming, and the Dent site in northern Colorado all suggest deliberate exploitation of mammoths by Clovis peoples (Kornfeld et al. 2010:73).
Goshen projectile points are finely flaked lanceolate points that are neither Clovis nor Folsom but possess some characteristics of each (Kornfeld et al. 2010:78). Goshen points resemble (and have been lumped with) Plainview points from the Southern Plains that are dated to 500 to 1,000 years younger than Goshen (Pitblado 2003:107). While the dating of Goshen points needs further refinement, the stratigraphic position of Goshen points at the Hell Gap, Carter/McGee, and Jim Pitts sites suggest that Goshen predates Folsom (Kornfeld et al. 2010:79). Bradley has suggested that there is continuity between Goshen manufacturing techniques and those used in the later Folsom period (Bradley 2010:473).
The Folsom period is defined by smaller, fluted lanceolate projectile points and a subsistence strategy focused on large, now-extinct species of bison. Bison were the only Pleistocene megafauna remaining in Wyoming when rapidly cooling conditions began about 10,900 years ago, which temporarily interrupted the gradual warming trend that characterized the end of the last Ice Age. While the early Holocene was cooler and wetter than modern conditions, gradually warming temperatures returned and increasing summer precipitation favored the spread of grasslands and the bison that subsisted upon them (Kornfeld et al. 2010:37). There is also some suggestion of an increase in population during Folsom times, and Folsom projectile points, while rare, are more widespread in the Rocky Mountains (particularly mountain parks) and adjacent plains than those of the Clovis period (Kornfeld et al. 2010:80).
Late Paleoindian (10,000-7,900 BP)
Following the Folsom period, populations appear to have split into groups that primarily occupied the Plains—who continued to follow a big game hunting subsistence strategy— and a mountain-adapted group that pursued a more generalized subsistence strategy (Mueller et al. 2018:10). On the open plains and in the intermontane basins, groups continued to follow a subsistence strategy similar to that seen in Folsom (Kornfeld et al. 2010:95). Projectile points from this period consist of finely flaked lanceolate and stemmed dart points, including Agate Basin, Hell Gap, and Cody (Kornfeld et al. 2010:37).
Groups who occupied the mountains during the Late Paleoindian period adopted a subsistence strategy incorporating a broad range of local resources, similar to that seen in the subsequent Archaic Period (Kornfeld et al. 2010:95). Lithic technology from this period is characterized by the presence of thick, lanceolate points made from local quartzite with distinctive parallel-oblique flaking.
Archaic (9,400 BP to 1,800 bp)
The cultural adaptations of the Archaic stage reflect responses to the onset of warmer and drier climatic conditions during the early Holocene and the disappearance of the last megafauna. Subsistence strategies emphasized a more generalized resource base hunting both large and small game. A substantial increase in ground stone compared to sites of the preceding Paleoindian stage likely reflects an increase in the use of local plants. Metcalf’s paleoenvironmental model for the nearby Northern Colorado River Basin (which incorporates stratigraphic environmental data from the Wyoming Basin) indicates cool and moist conditions during the early Holocene followed by alternating periods of dry and wet conditions (Reed and Metcalf 1999:20–32).
The onset of the Early Archaic period was marked by a warming trend and increased aridity (Rhode et al. 2011 in Harrison et al. 2018:85). Archaeological data from the Piceance Basin of Colorado and from the Wyoming Basin indicate populations responded by adopting a central place foraging strategy with a decrease in residential mobility (Landt 2018:308). Projectile point technology exhibits an abrupt break from the Late Paleoindian styles with a switch from lanceolate and stemmed projectile points to side-notched types (Kornfeld et al. 2010:106). Another reliable diagnostic of the Early Archaic was a biface knife with a round tip that became asymmetrical through successive episodes of unifacial resharpening (Kornfeld et al. 2010:56–57).
In general, sites dating to the Middle Archaic period are more common than those of the Early Archaic period. A greater prevalence of habitation structures indicates a possible population increase during the period. Lithic technology shifts from the large side- and corner-notched projectile points of the Early Archaic to lanceolate and stemmed-indented forms dominated by those of the McKean Complex (Kornfeld et al. 2010:114). The McKean complex is marked by the stemmed Duncan and Hanna, McKean lanceolate, and sidenotched Mallory projectile point styles. Subsistence strategies were similar to the Early Archaic, although an increase in ground stone tools suggests an increased reliance on plant resources (Kornfeld et al. 2010:114). Except for the Scoggins site in south-central Wyoming, McKean complex sites lack evidence of large cooperative bison hunts as seen in the Early Archaic and Late Archaic (Kornfeld et al. 2010:254). Instead, the archaeological record suggests emphasis was placed on the seasonal exploitation of high elevation artiodactyls (Landt 2018:308).
The Late Archaic period is marked by a return to corner- and side-notched dart point styles. Unifacially resharpened corner tang knives (a possible refinement of the unifacially resharpened knife that appeared during the Early Archaic) also appear diagnostic of Late Archaic occupations (Kornfeld et al. 2010:57). Late Archaic peoples continued to exploit a broad range of local resources, but increased effective moisture is thought to have contributed to the growth of bison herds and an associated intensification of communal hunting (Kornfeld et al. 2010:255).
Late Prehistoric (1,800 BP to 300 BP)
The Late Prehistoric is characterized by the adoption of smaller projectile point styles reflecting the introduction of the bow and arrow, and the gradual introduction of ceramic technology (Kornfeld et al. 2010:130). Late Prehistoric populations continued to practice a hunter-gatherer subsistence strategy but, perhaps in response to increased population pressure on the environment, they appear to have exploited a broader range of natural resources. Radiocarbon dates from the Late Prehistoric suggest that this may have been a period of increased human population in southern Wyoming (Mueller et al. 2018:12). In southwestern Wyoming, the Late Prehistoric Period is commonly broken into the Uintah and Firehole phases, described below.
Uintah phase lithic tool assemblages generally resemble those of the preceding Late Archaic, but often contain small, corner-notched Rosegate projectile points (Kornfeld et al. 2010:131). The Rosegate series appears to have been derived from the (Great Basin) Elko Corner-notched type and represents the earliest adoption of the bow and arrow in the
Intermountain West (Mueller et al. 2018:115). Other markers of the Late Prehistoric are grooved mauls and serrated metatarsal scrapers (Kornfeld et al. 2010:60). Basin houses appear during the Uintah phase in Wyoming, and thermal features reach their maximum size during the Late Prehistoric (Landt 2018:312; Mueller et al. 2018:13).
The Firehole phase is marked by a transition to side-notched and basal-notched (trinotched) projectile points, similar to types used by the historic Crow and the Shoshone (Kornfeld et al. 2010:131). Although ceramic artifacts are uncommon in Wyoming archaeological sites, when present they are valuable indications of cultural identity, movement, and exchange. During the Firehole phase, local ceramic manufacture became more common. The most common ceramic type is Shoshonean (Intermountain tradition) pottery with a “flowerpot” vessel shape, including flat bottoms, and flanged bases (Kornfeld et al. 2010:433). Limited amounts of pottery representing other cultural traditions from surrounding regions have also been recovered from southern Wyoming, including Ute Uncompahgre Brown Ware, Fremont Uintah Gray Ware, Athabascan pottery, and both painted and corrugated Puebloan sherds (Kornfeld et al. 2010:435). Carved steatite vessels are also associated with the ancestral Shoshone and assume many forms, including forms that mimic Intermountain tradition pottery. Evidence indicates that ancestral Shoshone groups during this period constructed wickiups (pole-brush structures) and manufactured Desert Side-Notched and Cottonwood projectile points (Kornfeld et al. 2010:437).
Protohistoric Period
The Protohistoric period began about 300 to 400 years ago, with the gradual appearance of European trade goods in the archaeological record. European goods included metal weapons and tools and glass beads, which can be abundant in burial contexts though these items are not present in all Protohistoric sites (Gill 2010:536). Metal arrowheads (both trade goods and locally manufactured from repurposed metal) were once commonly found but have mostly rusted away over the succeeding decades (Frison 2004:218). Evidence of the acquisition of European goods may also be indirect, such as butchery marks on faunal remains made using metal tools (Kornfeld et al. 2010:137). Horses, initially introduced by the Spanish and acquired through trade with the Ute, dramatically changed subsistence strategies for many Tribes. Some Shoshonean groups began acquiring significant numbers of horses in the early 1700s, with the Crow and other tribes acquiring them somewhat later (Kornfeld et al. 2010:135-136).
The adoption of horses as transportation and beasts of burden by the ancestors of the Eastern (Wind River) Shoshone permitted them to roam much more widely and to adopt a subsistence strategy that focused on bison hunting from horseback (Mueller et al. 2018:15). This differed from the earlier mixed subsistence strategy of foraging and hunting medium-sized game (Frison 2004:162). The newly equestrian Shoshone initially controlled a large range, but by 1800 the Crow and Blackfoot had acquired firearms and horses and had forced the Shoshone to withdraw into Wyoming and southern Idaho. Historic accounts indicate that while southern Wyoming was dominated by the Shoshone, it was also visited by the Ute, Crow, Blackfoot, Bannock, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Lakota (Mueller et al. 2018:15-16).
Ethnohistoric Context
The ethnohistory of the Project vicinity provides information on Plains and Great Basin peoples during the Late Prehistoric (1800 BP to 300 BP) to post-contact historical periods (AD 1700 to 1950). The review summarizes tribal oral histories, archaeological, ethnographic, and historical information. Interviews with Native Americans were not conducted for this review.
The ethnohistoric review is not intended to provide a comprehensive narration of tribal history or lifeways; instead, it provides archaeological, ethnographic, and historical information to provide context to understand better Native American groups that likely have ties to central Wyoming and the Project vicinity. Therefore, the following sections include shared lifeways and brief ethnohistories of the Arapaho, Crow, and Eastern Shoshone peoples.
Native American Tribes and the Project Vicinity
Indigenous peoples occupied the Project vicinity and utilized its resources for thousands of years. The presence of hearths, stone circles, lithics, and ground stone materials indicate tribal groups hunted, gathered edible and medicinal plants, and lived in and around the Project vicinity. The cultural affiliation of tribes is not definitive; however, a review of ethnohistorical information infers Numic-speaking Shoshones, Siouan-speaking Crows, and Algonquin-speaking Arapahos are the likely groups that occupied areas within and surrounding the Project vicinity in the Late Prehistoric through the post-contact periods.
Shoshoneans are recognized as early seasonal residents of western Wyoming beginning thousands of years ago, according to present-day Eastern Shoshones and Northern Arapahos as well as many ethnographers and archaeologists (Collins et al. 2013, Francis and Loendorf 2002). According to historical records of fur traders and early Euro-American explorers’ written accounts, Arapahos and Crows also have early ties to lands within central Wyoming. Arapahos are described by Pierre-Antoine Tabeau, who explored northern Wyoming between 1794 and 1802 as occupying lands between the Yellowstone River and North Platte Rivers (Fowler 2001, 2003). Robert Lowie (1935) documented stories of Crow bands moving southwest from the Northern Plains to spend winters in the Wind River Valley of Wyoming. Comanches are recognized as affiliated with Eastern Shoshones and were present in southeastern Wyoming during the latter half of the eighteenth century. It is also essential to acknowledge Apaches, Blackfeet, Cheyennes, and Utes have also resided and migrated through central Wyoming (Fowler 1965, Francis and Loendorf 2002).
Shared Lifeways and Experiences
Native Americans are unique peoples according to their own tribe’s origins, language, kinship, customs, political structures, and religious beliefs. Many Plains peoples share common lifeways from hunting big game, incorporating trade items into daily life, and living in hide-covered lodges or tipis are just a few of the lifeways assumed to have been followed within the Project vicinity.
Plains tribes, including Shoshones, relied heavily on bison (Fowler 1965, Lowie 1935, Stamm 1948). Eastern Shoshone groups slowly incorporated bison hunting as they adapted the horse into their lifeways, whereas Plains tribes’ cultural practices and lifeways centered on bison since the Middle Archaic period (5000–3000 BP (Fowler 2003; Kehoe 1992, Curti et al. 2013). Bison supplied quality meat for nourishment, hides for clothing, tools, and shelter, bones and horns for tools and ceremonial items, sinew for thread and bowstrings, and even their dried feces could be used as fuel for cooking and heating (DeMalie 1984).
Hunting traps, blinds, and game fences used to hunt game such as bighorn sheep and pronghorn were constructed in western Wyoming (McCabe 2004, Eakin 2005). These features are difficult to discern in the archaeological record because they are often made from organic materials such as tree limbs, sagebrush, and rocks; however, a few are welldocumented. Archaeological research indicates these features were built deliberately to maximize the probability of a successful hunt by taking advantage of topography and animal behaviors. Interestingly, these landscape-type hunting features are believed to have been modified multiple times over years and possibly centuries. According to Eakin (2005), game traps located in the Wind River Valley were estimated to be constructed between AD 1770 and 1820 (Eakin 2005).
The incorporation of Euro-American trade items into the material culture of indigenous groups after ca. AD 1700 is a significant marker of social, cultural, and economic changes for Native American tribes, especially for Plains and Great Basin people (Fowler 1965, Stamm 1948, Hämäläinen 2007). These changes and adaptations are reflected in the archaeological record by the presence of cultural materials such as iron tools and other manufactured goods. The incorporation of the horse into daily life was perhaps the most significant adaptation for many people. The following statement by Alan Osborn (1983:565) summarizes the impact horses had on the lifeways of indigenous peoples, “…virtually every aspect of aboriginal life was affected, including technology, subsistence, mobility, settlement patterns, and warfare, as well as wealth and status, socialization, personality development, and marriage practices”.
Horses were incorporated into lifeways before encounters with the Euro-American traders, explorers, US military, or settlers. According to Fowler (1965), Shoshone bands in western Wyoming acquired horses by AD 1700 and quickly adopted the horse for hunting bison. The horse allowed Shoshoneans in western Wyoming and Idaho to cover more land, and as a result, bands moved into the Plains to the north and east. They traveled as far north as Saskatchewan, Canada, and as far east as South Dakota (Shimkin 1947). Shoshone bands encroached on Blackfeet territory which included Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, and conflict between the groups ensued. Ultimately, territorial disputes and an outbreak of smallpox caused Shoshoneans to retreat to Idaho and western Wyoming (Fowler 1965).
By the middle of the eighteenth century, Arapahos, Cheyennes, Crows, and many Plains tribes had adopted the horse and became expert riders and efficient bison hunters. The following quote by Curti et al. 2013 summarizes the importance of the horse for hunting and warfare.
The horse also allowed for different hunting styles – with the animal, bison hunters were stronger, more agile, and did not depend on particular geographical features for success. During bison hunting season, scouts from individual bands would search for large herds of bison on horseback and, upon finding them, quickly return to camp to announce their presence. The horse's coming also contributed to the individual's prestige in increasingly intensifying warring efforts. Perhaps not surprisingly, the horse led to an overall rise in warfare due to the expansion of tribes into more expansive territories (Hämäläinen 2007; Mishkin 1992). Increased warfare activities encouraged widespread acceptance of particular actions men took to gain prestige [translation by Curti et al. 2013:55].
Horses were used to transport people and their belongings, including the pole supports and hide covers for domestic dwellings (tipis). Robert Lowie’s (1935) interviews with Crows indicate the size of tipis increased when horses were used instead of dogs. Thomas Kehoe (1960) interviewed Blackfeet and Southern Piegan people regarding the construction and use of tipis, who recalled using stones and soil to anchor the edges of tipi covers to the ground. Hearths for cooking were within or outside the lodge and the location depended on the weather (Lowie 1935). Women typically made and owned the tipi and associated items. Crow women chose the trees to harvest the tipi poles, stripped the bark, and shaped the poles so they would not slip on the ground. Crows, Shoshones, and Blackfeet used four poles as the lodge’s foundation, whereas Arapaho, Dakota, and Cheyenne women used three poles. Women designed the lodge hide configuration to fit the lodge poles, and it was estimated that between 14 and 18 bison hides were needed to make the lodge (Lowie 1935). By the late 1890s and into the 1900s, many families still lived in lodges; however, the covers were made from canvas instead of hides. The change from hides to canvas occurred in the late 1890s due to a shortage of bison from overhunting and wanton slaughter by Euro-Americans (Lowie 1935, Curti et al. 2013).
Kehoe (1960) interviewed representatives of the Cree, Arapaho, and Gros Vente tribes, who suggested that the size of the tipi increased when horses replaced dogs as beasts of burden. The size of a tipi may be reflected in stone circle features which are often associated with a tipi location. A stone circle is an arrangement of stones in the shape of an oval or circle, and they are abundant throughout Wyoming and have been recorded in the Project vicinity. They can vary in size from 4-feet to over 80-feet in diameter. They are found in various landscapes; mountains, plains, and basins on hilltops, peaks, valleys, ridges, or terraces. They are often, but not always, associated with stone tools, debitage, and additional stone features such as alignments, cairns, or thermal features ((Kehoe 1960).
Some stone circles indicate the location of domestic activities, but others may indicate the location of ceremonial or spiritual use (Sundstrom 2003, Hokanson et al. 2008, Smith et al. 2011, Curti 2013). Linea Sundstrom (2003) documented Blackfeet and Atsinamaintained stone circles as a commemorative tradition and memorial to a deceased family member. Deaver’s (1999) research suggested that stone circles have spiritual significance to contemporary Native Americans because it is a visible connection to their ancestors and heritage (Hokanson et al. 2008). The function of a stone circle has been debated and researched by archaeologists, ethnographers, and historians for decades;
however, many tribal representatives of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Eastern Shoshone, Crow, and Lakota tribes consider stone circles “sacred” and are adamant protectors of them (Smith et al. 2011, Curti et al. 2013).
The mid-1860s through 1890 marked a challenging time for many Native Americans. Disease, conflicts, broken treaties, and forced removal from traditional lands to government-assigned reservations are some of the intense challenges Native peoples endured (Blaine 1984, Sundstrom 1997). In Wyoming, tribes affected by treaties were Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, Eastern Shoshone, and Lakota. By the 1880s, the Lakota Nation was divided into multiple reservations in Montana, South Dakota, and North Dakota. Cheyenne leaders requested a reservation in northeast Wyoming near present-day Sheridan. However, they were denied and forced to accept a parcel of land on the Crow Reservation. The Crow were provided a large reservation in southeast Montana; however, it was reduced numerous times by the U.S. government, including to make room for the Cheyenne. In 1868, Eastern Shoshones were provided a large reservation in western Wyoming in the Wind River Valley. Their reservation was also reduced multiple times, including to make room for Arapahos. Government policies placed restrictions on Native people’s lifeways and religions; some even restricted people from leaving a reservation; however, per the 1868 Treaty, Shoshones could leave and hunt off the reservation (Wyohistory 2022).
After 1890, regardless of whether they lived on or off Indian reservations, Native Americans faced new challenges that centered on social change and forced assimilation into mainstream American culture and society. However, not everything changed; Native peoples have retained their identity through oral traditions, their language, and culture. Peter Iverson (1985:3) states, “Despite impressive challenges to their lands and lives they have maintained changing, adaptive cultures, responsive to the needs and demands of each generation. Theirs is a story of failure and success, of defeat and triumph - but, above all, of continuation”.
Ethnohistories
The following ethnohistories of Eastern Shoshones, Crows, and Arapahos summarize their historical and contemporary connections to the Project vicinity.
Eastern Shoshone
Eastern Shoshones are also known as Wind River Shoshones. They belong to the Central Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language group, including the Northern, Eastern, Western, Weiser, and Sheep Eater Shoshones and Comanches. The Paiute, Ute, Gosiute, and several tribes within Mexico all speak Uto-Aztecan languages (Smith et al. 2011). Shimkin (1941) associates Shoshone and Comanche origins in the Great Basin. Shoshone groups began to migrate eastward onto the Plains in the late 1600s; however, Kehoe (1981) suggests Shoshones occupied the Rocky Mountains and western Wyoming as early as A.D. 1450. The Comanches eventually split from the Eastern Shoshone and migrated southward into Utah and Colorado.
According to Eastern Shoshones, they have lived in the Wind River Mountains for over 12,000 years (Eastern Shoshone 2022). Archaeological evidence for Shoshones as early arrivals to Wyoming is based on research at Mummy Cave, a stratified rockshelter site in northwestern Wyoming. Mummy Cave contains evidence of occupation beginning circa 9,000 years ago through the early historical period (Francis and Frison 1994). Artifacts recovered from the continuously occupied site consist of the same types of artifacts as those used by Shoshone groups during the Historical period (Francis and Loendorf 2002). In addition to Shoshone artifact types, Francis and Loendorf (2002) argue how petroglyphs and pictographs in the Wind River Basin support that hypothesis.
Evidence to support Shoshone groups as later arrivals suggest they moved from Idaho into northern Wyoming after A.D. 1400 and then towards the Wind River Basin after A.D. 1500. By A.D. 1600, Wyoming Shoshones split into a northern group that occupied Wyoming and Montana, while the other group, now recognized as Comanches, moved south and east to Colorado (Fowler 1965, Kehoe 1981, Stamm 1948). Evidence of a later Shoshone arrival in western Wyoming is also based on the association of Shoshonean speakers with particular projectile point styles and a particular style of pottery classified as Intermountain ware. The association of these artifact types with Shoshones places them in western Wyoming from about A.D. 100 to A.D. 1650 (Madsen 1975; Wright 1978; Young and Bettinger 1992; Smith et al. 2011).
According to many sources, Lewis and Clark documented Shoshones in southwestern Montana in August of 1805. Lowie (1909) also specified that Shoshones occupied territory on the Green and Sweetwater Rivers that extended eastward to the North Platte River (Lowie 1909). D.B. Shimkin’s research on Wind River Shoshone geography indicates Shoshone people explored and knew lands in a 250-mile radius from the Wind River Valley (Shimkin 1947). Early explorers and fur traders also documented the presence of Shoshones, or Snakes, in the mountain valleys of Wyoming, Idaho, and southwestern Montana by 1805 A.D. (Fowler 1965). Historians identify ancestors of the modern-day Eastern Shoshones as groups of people who ranged over a wide area of the Wind River Basin and extending into the Northwestern Plains and mountain regions of Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon (Fowler 1965, Hultrantz 1956).
Fowler (1965) investigated steatite vessels made by Shoshones found in archaeological sites. Fowler’s research includes records of early fur trappers in northern Wyoming who recorded interaction with Shoshone people who used steatite vessels. However, Fowler (1965) also indicates that there is evidence of Great Basin tribes, including Utes, that were known to make and use “soapstone” vessels. Lowie (1909) discussed pottery and vessel types used among different groups of Shoshones, including those living in the Great Basin. Based on informants from the Wind River and Great Basin groups, Wind River Shoshones made soapstone pots for cooking, whereas Great Basin Shoshone groups made baskets for cooking and collecting. Lowie (1909) surmised that “Ute, Paiute and the Northern Shoshoni made pottery, while the Wind River Shoshone and Paviotso did not” (Lowie 1909; 226).
The Eastern Shoshone, led by Chief Washakie, were present in Fort Laramie during the 1851 treaty signing; however, they were excluded from signing the agreement, as were all peoples who lived west of the Continental Divide. Seventeen years later, in 1868,
representatives of Eastern Shoshones signed the Fort Bridger Treaty. Unlike the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty that designated lands north of the North Platte River as Indian Territory, this treaty focused on defined boundaries for Eastern Shoshone and Bannock Tribes. The US Government established two reservations due to the 1868 treaty: Wind River in Wyoming and Fort Hall in Idaho (Fowler 1965). The Wind River Reservation was originally 3,768,500 acres. Its limits were bordered by Owl Creek in the North (near Thermopolis, Wyoming), the Bighorn Mountains to the east, the Sweetwater River to the south, and from the North Fork of the Wind River to the East Fork of the Green River to the west (Hebard 1995, Wyohistory 2022). By 1872 and through the Brunot Land Cession, the Wind River Reservation was reduced to 1,774,400 acres. By 1877, the U.S. government required Eastern Shoshones to share their land with Northern Arapahos (Wyohistory 2022). Acreage within the Project vicinity is not part of the Wind River Reservation; however, it would have been considered Indian Territory after the 1851 Treaty.
Crow
Siouan-speaking Crow have linguistic, cultural, and kinship ties to the Hidatsa of North Dakota, recognized today as the Three Affiliated Tribes or Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation (Lowie 1935). Prior to 1550, the Hidatsa and Crow were one people who lived in the “tree country”, believed to indicate the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. Eventually, this group split from each other under the leadership of two brothers named No Vitals (also called No Intestines) and Red Scout. The split may have been created by social and economic pressures placed on them as a result of eastern tribes moving westward and into the Great Lakes region. According to Crow Oral history, the brother’s decision to split as a group, geographically and economically, was based on a vision that each brother had. No Vitals had a vision to seek the sacred tobacco plant while the other brother, Red Scout, had a vision of planting corn along a river. Under Red Scout’s leadership, his group eventually settled in North Dakota and became known as the Hidatsa. Crow historians state that between 1550 and 1600, No Vitals and approximately 400 hundred people left their Hidatsa relatives and traveled westward. The group traveled over thousands of miles and for 100 years before they found the sacred tobacco plant in which indicated to them the “center of the world” and the best place to live. The Crow World became what is now southern Montana and northern Wyoming (Graetz 2000, Kehoe 1981, Medicine Crow 1992).
Archaeological evidence of the Crow and Hidatsa association is with material culture (particularly diagnostic ceramics) in the archaeological record of the region. It is interpreted as representing the extensive trade network developed by peoples along the Missouri River (Holder 1974). Crows traded with eastern tribes to acquire catlinite pipes, bows, shells, and food, and with western Shoshones and Comanches to acquire horses.
Robert Lowie (1935) states, “There was one Crow language, but not one Crow Nation.” By 1720, Crows were organized into regional groups; River Crows gathered in the Yellowstone and Bighorn River drainages of southern Montana (Voget 1984), the Mountain Crow occupied the Bighorn Mountains of present-day Wyoming (Nabokov 1967), Kickedin-the-bellies Crow occupied southern Wyoming and eventually merged with the Mountain Crows. The Kicked-in-the-bellies frequented the Wind River Valley where Shoshones also
occupied lands. In the 1830s, Crow territory reached as far south as the Green River in southeastern Wyoming (Murphy and Murphy 1960).
In 1825, Crows and other Plains tribes signed a treaty to establish relationships between tribes and the US government. Unlike the 1825 treaty, the 1851 and 1868 Treaties of Fort Laramie designated territories for Brule and Oglala Sioux, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, Assiniboine, Gros Vente, Mandan, Arikara, and Blackfeet tribes. The 1850s and 1860s are decades of conflict between Plains tribes and Euro-American settlers. The indigenous people of the Plains strived to maintain their lifeways within their traditional and newly established treaty lands, and Euro-American colonists put stress on the traditional resources used by the Native peoples of the Plains as they moved west through the edge of Indian territory. After 1868, the US government’s strategy for acquiring land involved signing treaties with individual tribes that ceded previously designated territory to the government. In return for land cessions, some tribes received reservation lands and payments in food and supply annuities. In 1868, Crows signed a treaty to cede all territory in Wyoming. In return, they were given approximately 8 million acres in southeastern Montana. Crow lands were ceded twice more in 1882 and 1884. In 1884, Crow lands were given away via an Executive Order which established the northeast area of the reservation for Cheyennes (Smith et al. 2011, Treaties Portal 2022). Today, the Crow Indian Reservation encompasses over 2 million acres and remains Montana’s largest Indian reservation (GOIA 2022).
Northern Arapaho
The Algonkian-speaking Arapaho are linguistically related to the Atsina (Gros Ventre), Blackfeet, and Cheyennes. Historical records indicate Algonkian-speaking groups were forced to move westward from the woodlands of Wisconsin and Minnesota by the westward expansion of Euro-American colonizers. The name “Arapaho” may be derived from a Pawnee word, tirapihu, which means “trader” (Larson 1941). According to the Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming, they are one of four Arapaho groups to occupy the area of the headwaters of the Arkansas and Platte Rivers in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. They claim affiliation with Plains cultural traditions, but they are “socially and historically distinct” (Northern Arapaho 2022).
The archaeological record of Arapahos in the Plains is difficult to distinguish. Still, it is believed that by A.D. 1400, Arapaho-Atsinas and Cheyenne occupied the Red River Valley of northwestern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota. After AD 1580, Arapahos and other Algonkian-speaking peoples began to move west and by the 1600s had moved into the Northern Plains. Atsinas and Blackfeet aligned and dominated the northern plains of Montana. Arapahos and Cheyennes became allies and occupied the plains region of western North and South Dakotas. Siouan-speaking Lakotas were also moving westward and onto the Dakota plains about the same time (Hewes 1961). By the late 1700s, Arapahos are believed to have occupied eastern Wyoming, central Montana, and western South Dakota (Deaver 1988, Fowler 1982, Curti et al. 2013). By the early 1700s and into the early 1800s, Arapahos and Cheyennes were often in conflict with Crow and Shoshone groups moving east to hunt bison. Eventually, Shoshones were pushed west of the Continental Divide due to conflicts with Arapahos and Blackfeet and an outbreak of
smallpox (Fowler 1965). Arapahos are also known to have conflicted with Utes over territory in southern and southeastern Wyoming (Mullison and Lovejoy 1909).
Fur trader accounts describe interactions with Arapaho camps throughout Wyoming. One account describes an interaction that occurred approximately 80 miles east of the Project vicinity in1812. It involved a French fur trapper who disappeared while trapping and was reported as killed near the mouth of Sybille Creek, a tributary of the North Platte river. An Arapaho group was accused of killing the fur trapper according Robert Stuart, who met the group at the north end of the Laramie Range where they built two “breastworks of logs” to camp (Trenholm 1970). Again, the account indicates Arapaho occupation in the general area of the Project vicinity.
Arapahos are geographically separated into two groups; Southern Arapahos and Northern Arapahos. The date of the separation is unclear, but according to tribal oral histories, it is related to an event involving an attempted crossing of the Missouri River at a time when the tribe was consolidated. Historical documentation indicates that Northern Arapahos refused to settle with their southern relatives in the Indian Territory (later the state of Oklahoma) after signing the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. Rather than moving south to a reservation, Northern Arapahos continued their lifeway to follow and hunt bison, and move with the seasons from the Bighorn Mountains in northern Wyoming to the foothills of the Southern Rocky Mountains in Colorado (Elkin 1940).
Chief Black Coal, associated with the Northern Arapaho, was designated as Chief in the late 1870s. He was known as a warrior and later served as an Army scout for General Crook in the mid-1870s. In return for Black Coal’s military service, General Crook promised him a reservation for the Arapahos and Cheyennes. The promised reservation lands were in northern Wyoming, along the Tongue River near the town of Sheridan. However, a reservation was never granted and thus the promise was not fulfilled.In 1878, Northern Arapahos were placed on the Wind River Reservation, home to their traditional Shoshone enemies, and Northern Cheyennes were established on the Crow Reservation (Flynn 1998).
Today, Southern Arapahos live in scattered settlements near Concho, central Oklahoma. Northern Arapahos and Eastern Shoshones live in west-central Wyoming's Wind River Valley in the Wind River Indian Reservation, which encompasses over 2 million acres (Northern Arapaho 2022). The Wind River Indian Reservation is approximately 200 miles northeast of Seminoe Reservoir on US Highway 26.
Homesteading, Ranching and Farming
Homesteaders arrived in Wyoming in the late nineteenth century and upon realizing the difficulty of farming in a semiarid environment, often opted to combine farming and ranching practices. Farming was successful for decades due to unusually wet conditions and high European demand during World War I. But low commodity prices compounded by a series of droughts between 1930 and 1939 resulted in the failure of many farms. The Homestead era in Wyoming ended in 1934 when the Taylor Grazing Act halted the homesteading of public lands (Cassity 2011).
Cattle raising was one of the earliest industries in Wyoming, dating to as early as the 1840s when Jim Bridger and Louis Vasquez began to trade animals to emigrants and gold seekers on the Oregon Trail (Cassity 2011). Between 1880 and 1885 the cattle industry boomed with the cattle population rising from 450,000 in 1879 to 1,500,000 in 1885. In 1883, 20 stock-raising corporations formed in Wyoming, which represented a capital of $12,000,000. However, the era of prosperity came to a halt when drought conditions in the summer of 1886 were followed by devastating blizzards the following winter, killing an estimated one-third of all northern range cattle (although Wyoming fared better, only losing an estimated 15 percent of the herds) (Hubber and Caywood 1997). In the aftermath several large cattle companies went bankrupt and memberships in state cattle associations declined. The ranchers who survived usually possessed diversified business interests that allowed them to rebuild their herds. These ranchers moved away from the open range ranching practices of the 1800s to more sustainable herd management. (Hubber and Caywood 1997).
The main rival of cattle ranching in the early years was sheep ranching. The sheep-raising industry began around 1865 when breeding sheep were driven east from California (Rosenberg 1982). The initial sheep flocks concentrated in the southwest and southeast corner of the Wyoming territory, with scattered flocks along the corridor of the UPRR (Cassity 2011). Following the decline of large-scale cattle ranching after the big die-off of 1886-1887, the sheep industry expanded in Wyoming. Competition between sheep and cattle raisers for rangeland contributed to violence between the groups in the 1890s and early 1900s, which declined after the newly formed U.S. Forest Service placed strict grazing control on rangeland in 1905 (Rosenberg 1982; Cassity 2011). A combination of drought and the impact of the passage of the Taylor Grazing Act in 1934 decreased herd sizes for the remainder of the century (Rosenburg 1982). Despite these declines, farming and ranching industries continue to play a large role in Wyoming’s economy.
Extractive Industries
The first discovery of oil in Wyoming was by trapper James Clyman who documented natural oil seeps in 1824. Oil springs at Dallas Dome, near Lander, were described by members of the Bonneville party in 1833 (Metz 1992; Roberts 2013). The first recorded oil sale in Wyoming occurred in 1863 along the Oregon Trail when entrepreneurs sold oil as a lubricant to emigrants (Roberts 2013). Former land surveyor and gold prospector Mike Murphy drilled Wyoming’s first oil well at Dallas Dome in 1883, where Murphy and his brother hit oil at 300 feet in the Chugwater formation (American Oil & Gas Historical Society 2019; Roberts 2013). Markets for the unrefined petroleum were limited and Murphy sold most of his production to tanners in Utah and to the UPRR to lubricate railcar axles (Roberts 2013). Through the 1880s and 1890s, the oil fields of central Wyoming grew as demand for kerosene and lubricating oils increased. Around the turn of the twentieth century, automobiles became popular in Wyoming, creating a demand for gasoline. At first, car owners purchased gasoline in one or two-gallon cans from general stores, but by the late 1910s refineries began producing gasoline in abundance (Roberts 2013). Investors and field workers poured into Wyoming, and oil production grew steadily to meet the increasing demand for gasoline to fuel automobiles and other motorized equipment.
Wyoming’s first oil boom occurred when the Salt Creek Company’s first major well, “Big Dutch”, erupted on October 23, 1908, attracting entrepreneurs and investors to the area (American Oil & Gas Historical Society 2019). Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, the oil industry became a significant component of the state’s economy. Oil company profits fell with the onset of the Great Depression in 1929 and crude oil from Salt Creek was soon selling for only 19 cents a barrel (Roberts 2013). The depression curtailed production in the oil fields of Wyoming up until World War II.
The mining industry of Wyoming developed somewhat later than that of the adjoining states. The presence of gold in Colorado was first observed around 1800 by trapper James Purcell but did not become common knowledge until the Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1859 (Smith 1992; Rickard 1896). The first gold strike in Montana was made in 1858. In Wyoming, prospectors began searching for gold in the early 1840s, but the only major rush in the area was at South Pass in 1867. The area’s placers were exhausted by 1869 and most miners moved on to more attractive prospects in Montana and Colorado. However, some lode mines were opened in the area, including the famous Carissa mine. Although initially successful, the area mines were abandoned when the shallow oxidized ores were exhausted or when water became a significant obstacle. The characteristics of the gold ores of the district are variable and although some mines produced ores amenable to simple crushing and amalgamation, many of the ores were more refractory in nature. Attempts were made in the early twentieth century to apply cyanide processing to some of the old dumps, but with limited success largely due to the inexperience of the individuals involved (Beeler 1908).
Gold was discovered in the Seminoe Mountains on the flank of Bradley Peak by an 1871 expedition under the command of Generals Bradley and Thayer who were investigating rumors of rich silver deposits in the range. A follow-up expedition by General Morrow the same year indicated the location of silver rich limestone in the mountains, although no such deposits are currently known. Gold prospects on Bradley Peak were made in the following few years, and the Ernst mining district was founded, and a small stamp mill built. Attacks by Native Americans in 1874 led to the abandonment of the district before significant work was completed. Prospectors returned to the area in the 1880s and Penn Mining Company of Pennsylvania purchased some of the old mines and built a 10-stamp mill in 1885. Although some free milling gold was found in the district, most were sulphide ores that were not amenable to the simple amalgamation process used in the district and most gold values were lost in the tailings. The Penn Mining Company operated intermittently into the mid to late 1890s. Further work near the abandoned Penn Mining Company properties was conducted by the Seminoe Gold Mining Company in 1906 with no success. High gold prices in 1980 led to a reexamination of the district that indicated low grade ores could potentially be mined profitably and a rush to the area occurred, but no mining was actually completed (Hausel 1994:2-6). Periodic mining activity occurred in the eastern Ferris Mountains to the west, but no economically viable deposits have been located in the region (Reynolds and Neubert 1988:C6).
