MAP 13.2 The Great Plains: Settler Trails, Indian Raiders, and Traders
By the 1850s, the Mormon, Oregon, and Santa Fe trails ran across “Indian Country,” the semiarid, buffalo-filled Great Plains west of the 95th meridian, and then through the Rocky Mountains. Tens of thousands of Americans set out on these trails to found new communities in Utah, Oregon, New Mexico, and California. This mass migration exposed sedentary Indian peoples to American diseases, guns, and manufactures. However, raids by Comanches and Sioux affected their lives even more significantly, as did the Euro-American traders who provided a ready market for Indian horses and mules, dried meat, and buffalo skins.