https://www.the-old-west.com/articles The latest articles from The Old West. en-us Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/indian-reservation An Indian reservation in the United States is an area of land held and governed by a Native American tribal nation officially recognized by the U.S. federal government. The reservation's government is autonomous but subject to regulations passed by the United States Congress, and is administered by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/indian-reservation https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/indian-removal-act The Indian Removal Act of 1830 was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States president Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi". Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/indian-removal-act https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/trail-of-tears The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of about 60,000 Native Americans of the "Five Civilized Tribes", including their black slaves, between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/trail-of-tears https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/ute-people Ute () are an Indigenous people of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau in present-day Utah, western Colorado, and northern New Mexico. Historically, their territory also included parts of Wyoming, eastern Nevada, and Arizona. Their Ute dialect is a Colorado River Numic language, part of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/ute-people https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/plains-indians Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains are the Native American tribes and First Nations peoples who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains) of North America. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/plains-indians https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( shoh-SHOH-nee or shə-SHOH-nee), also known by the endonym Newe, are an Indigenous people of the United States with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming Northern Shoshone: Southern Idaho Western Shoshone: California, Nevada, and Northern Utah Goshute: western Utah, eastern Nevada They... Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/shoshone https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/american-indian-wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were initially fought by European colonial empires, the United States, and briefly the Confederate States of America and Republic of Texas against various American Indian tribes in North America. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/american-indian-wars https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/kiowa Kiowa ( KY-ə-wə, -⁠wah) or Ǥáuigú (Kiowa pronunciation: [kɔ́jɡʷú]) people are a Native American tribe and an Indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries and eventually into the Southern Plains by the early 19th century. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/kiowa https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/wounded-knee-massacre The Wounded Knee Massacre, also known as the Battle of Wounded Knee, was an 1890 armed conflict between Native Americans and the United States Army. It was part of the U.S. Army’s Pine Ridge Campaign. Between 250 and 300 Lakota people were killed, and 51 were wounded (four men and 47 women and children, some of whom died later). Twenty-five U.S. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/wounded-knee-massacre https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/ghost-dance The Ghost Dance (Caddo: Nanissáanah, also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) is a ceremony incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/ghost-dance https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/blackfoot-confederacy The Blackfoot Confederacy, Niitsítapi, or Siksikáí'tsitapi (ᖹᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or "Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Blackfeet people: the Siksika ("Blackfoot"), the Kainai ("Many Chiefs") or Blood, and two sections of the Peigan or Piegan or... Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/blackfoot-confederacy https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/pawnee-people The Pawnee, also known by their endonym Chatiks si chatiks (which translates to "Men of Men"), are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains that historically lived in Nebraska and northern Kansas but today are based in Oklahoma. They are the federally recognized Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, who are headquartered in Pawnee, Oklahoma. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/pawnee-people https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/cheyenne The Cheyenne ( shy-AN, shy-EN) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the Tsétsėhéstȧhese (also spelled Tsitsistas, [t͡sɪt͡shɪstʰɑs]); the tribes merged in the early 19th century. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/cheyenne https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/battle-of-the-little-bighorn The 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn, commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, and known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/battle-of-the-little-bighorn https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/comanche The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (Comanche: Nʉmʉnʉʉ, 'the people'), are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in Lawton, Oklahoma. The Comanche language is a Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/comanche https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/arapaho The Arapaho ( ə-RAP-ə-hoh; French: Arapahos, Gens de Vache) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho bands formed two tribes, namely the Northern Arapaho and Southern Arapaho. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/arapaho https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/crow-people The Crow, whose autonym is Apsáalooke ([ə̀ˈpsáːɾòːɡè]), are Native Americans living primarily in southern Montana. Today, the Crow people have a federally recognized tribe, the Crow Tribe of Montana, with an Indian reservation, the Crow Indian Reservation, located in the south-central part of the state. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/crow-people https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/nez-perce The Nez Perce ( ; autonym in Nez Perce: nimíipuu, meaning 'we, the people') are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who still live on a fraction of the lands on the southeastern Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest. This region has been occupied for at least 11,500 years. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/nez-perce https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/cripple-creek-gold-rush The Cripple Creek Gold Rush was a period of gold production in the Cripple Creek area from the late 1800s until the early 1900s. Mining exchanges were in Cripple Creek, Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Victor. Smelting was in Gillett, Florence, and (Old) Colorado City. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/cripple-creek-gold-rush https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/nome-gold-rush The Nome Gold Rush was a gold rush in Nome, Alaska, approximately 1899–1909. It is distinct from other gold rushes by the ease with which the metal could be obtained. Much of the gold was lying in the beach sand of the landing place and could be recovered without any need for a claim. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/nome-gold-rush https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/homestake-mine-south-dakota The Homestake Mine was a deep underground gold mine (8,000 feet or 2,438 m) located in Lead, South Dakota. Until it closed in 2002, it was the largest and deepest gold mine in the Western Hemisphere. The mine produced more than forty million troy ounces (43,900,000 oz; 1,240,000 kg) of gold during its lifetime. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/homestake-mine-south-dakota https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/navajo The Navajo are an Indigenous People of the Southwestern United States. The Navajo term for themselves is Diné. Their language is Navajo (Navajo: Diné bizaad), a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (108,305). Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/navajo https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/general-mining-act-of-1872 The General Mining Act of 1872 is a United States federal law that authorizes and governs prospecting and mining for economic minerals, such as gold, platinum, and silver, on federal public lands. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/general-mining-act-of-1872 https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/shawnee The Shawnee ( shaw-NEE) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. The Shawnee precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed throughout Ohio, Illinois, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/shawnee https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/gold-panning Gold panning, or simply panning, is a form of placer mining and traditional mining that extracts gold from a placer deposit using a pan. The process is one of the simplest ways to extract gold, and is popular with geology enthusiasts especially because of its low cost and relative simplicity. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/gold-panning https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/apache The Apache ( ə-PATCH-ee) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan homelands in the north into the Southwest between 1000 and 1500 CE. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/apache https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/hydraulic-mining Hydraulic mining is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment. In the placer mining of gold or tin, the resulting water-sediment slurry is directed through sluice boxes to remove the gold or tin. It is also used in mining kaolin and coal. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/hydraulic-mining https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/placer-mining Placer mining () is the mining of stream bed deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit mining or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/placer-mining https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/gold-rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/gold-rush https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (, SOO; Dakota/Lakota: Očhéthi Šakówiŋ [oˈtʃʰeːtʰi ʃaˈkoːwĩ]) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translation: 'friend, ally' referring to the alliances between the bands). Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/sioux https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/cherokee The Cherokee ( CHAIR-ə-kee, CHAIR-ə-KEE; Cherokee: ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, romanized: Aniyvwiyaʔi / Anigiduwagi, or ᏣᎳᎩ, Tsalagi) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/cherokee https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/sutter-s-mill Sutter's Mill was a water-powered sawmill on the bank of the South Fork American River in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California. It was named after its owner John Sutter. A worker constructing the mill, James W. Marshall, found gold there in 1848. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/sutter-s-mill https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/native-americans-in-the-united-states Native Americans (also called Indians, American Indians, First Americans, and Indigenous Americans) are the Indigenous peoples of the United States, particularly of the lower 48 states and Alaska. They may also include any Americans whose origins lie in any of the Indigenous peoples of North or South America. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/native-americans-in-the-united-states https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/black-hills-gold-rush The Black Hills gold rush took place in Dakota Territory in the United States. It began in 1874 following the Custer Expedition and reached a peak in 1876–77. Rumors and poorly documented reports of gold in the Black Hills go back to the early 19th century. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/black-hills-gold-rush https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/circuit-rider-religious Circuit riders, also known as horse preachers, were clergy assigned to travel around specific geographic territories to minister to settlers and organize congregations. Tue, 02 Jun 2026 12:21:48 GMT https://www.the-old-west.com/articles/circuit-rider-religious