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Shortcut or Hunting Ground? The Bozeman Trail, 1866 worksheet preview

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Shortcut or Hunting Ground? The Bozeman Trail, 1866

Grade 8 geography: compare two 1866 accounts of the Bozeman Trail and a timeline to explain how land, water and bison shaped a trail and Native nations' lands.

Grade 8Social StudiesInteractive · Printable

Aligned toGEO.8.2

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What’s included

  • Single worksheet
  • Auto-graded online
  • 1 C3 Framework standard
  • Printable answer key
  • 11 questions
  • Classroom-ready

Details

Format
Interactive · Printable
Grade
Grade 8
Subject
Social Studies
Question types
Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

  • Students explain how rivers, grass and mountains shaped the route of the Bozeman Trail.
  • Students corroborate two conflicting accounts of the Powder River country in 1866.
  • Students explain why the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho defended the region and what the 1868 treaty decided.

How to use

Read the background together, then have students compare the two accounts on their own before discussing which one gives a more accurate picture of the region.

Curriculum

C3 Framework standard covered

GEO.8.2

Explain how geography shaped westward trails, settlement of the Great Plains and the lands of Native nations in the West.

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Name Date

Shortcut or Hunting Ground? The Bozeman Trail, 1866

Corroborate a freighter's letter and Red Cloud's words to see how geography shaped a trail and a war.

Background

Read the passage and the timeline. Then answer the questions.

A Road Through the Powder River Country

1In 1863, prospectors found gold at Alder Gulch, in what soon became Montana Territory, and Virginia City grew almost overnight. Miners needed flour, tools and clothing, but the gold camps were far from any railroad. The older wagon road ran west along the Oregon Trail over South Pass and then north through what is now Idaho, a long way around the Rocky Mountains.

2In 1863 and 1864, John Bozeman and John Jacobs marked a shorter route. It left the Oregon Trail on the North Platte River and ran north along the eastern foot of the Bighorn Mountains, then west through the Yellowstone River valley to the gold camps. Along the foot of the mountains, streams such as the Powder, Tongue and Bighorn rivers flowed out onto the plains, so wagon trains found water, grass for their oxen and firewood on most days. The high, rugged peaks to the west were no place for wagons.

3The trail crossed the Powder River country. In the 1851 treaty at Horse Creek, the United States had named much of this land as Crow territory, but in the mid-1850s Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho bands pushed the Crow westward and made it their hunting ground. By the 1860s, wagon traffic along the Platte had driven many bison away from that valley, so the herds of the Powder River country mattered more than ever to these nations.

4In June 1866, U.S. officials met Lakota leaders at Fort Laramie to ask for the use of the road. While they talked, an army column arrived to build forts along the trail. Red Cloud, an Oglala Lakota leader, left the council. For two years, Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors attacked soldiers and wagon trains, and travel on the trail nearly stopped. The conflict is often called Red Cloud's War.

5In the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868, the United States agreed to close the trail and leave its forts, and warriors burned the empty forts. The treaty also set aside the Great Sioux Reservation, including the Black Hills, and closed the Powder River country to settlers as hunting land. After the transcontinental railroad was finished in 1869, most freight for Montana went by train to Utah and then north by wagon on a road that avoided the Powder River country.

6These nations still live in the region today. The Crow Nation governs a reservation along the Bighorn River in Montana, and the Northern Cheyenne reservation lies beside the Tongue River nearby. The Oglala Sioux Tribe, Red Cloud's nation, governs the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and the Northern Arapaho share the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.

The Bozeman Trail: A Timeline
DateEvent
1851Treaty names the area as Crow land
Mid-1850sLakota and allies push the Crow west
1863Gold found at Alder Gulch
1863–1864Bozeman and Jacobs mark the trail
June 1866Fort Laramie council; forts begun
1866–1868Red Cloud's War; travel nearly stops
1868Fort Laramie treaty; army leaves forts
1869Railroad finished in Utah
1.
Based on paragraph 2, why did the Bozeman Trail run along the eastern foot of the Bighorn Mountains instead of over them?
  • A. The mountains held the gold the miners wanted.
  • B. The Crow had built a wagon road over the peaks.
  • C. Streams and grass there served wagons and oxen.
  • D. Steamboats could carry wagons along that stretch.
2.
Based on paragraph 3, why did the Powder River country matter so much to the Lakota and their allies by the 1860s?
  • A. Bison still grazed there as they left the Platte.
  • B. Its rivers were deep enough for trading boats.
  • C. It held rich gold fields near the Powder River.
  • D. The 1851 treaty had named it Lakota farmland.

Two accounts, 1866

Read both accounts. Then answer the questions.

Account A: a letter by Silas Prentiss, a freight wagon boss, to his business partner in Omaha, May 1866. Prentiss is an invented writer, but his views match letters and newspaper stories by many real freighters of the time.
"The Bozeman cutoff is the road for us. It saves hundreds of miles over the old road by Fort Hall. Along the foot of the Big Horn Mountains, each day's march brings us to a clear stream, the grass stands high, and game is plentiful: buffalo and elk. The country is empty except for roving bands of Indians who claim more land than they can use. I hear soldiers are coming this summer to build forts on the road. Then our wagons will roll to Virginia City in safety, and a fortune waits there for any man who brings flour and tools."
Account B: adapted from reports of Red Cloud's words at the council at Fort Laramie, June 1866. Army officers and interpreters wrote down his words in English, so his exact wording may differ.
"The Great Father sends us presents and asks us for a new road. But before we say yes or no, his white chief comes with soldiers to build forts on the road. This is the last hunting ground of my people. The buffalo and elk are here, and our children need them. The wagons have already driven the buffalo away from the Platte. I will not let the road go through our country."
3.
Corroborate the accounts. Use only the two accounts. Sort each statement: does it appear in both accounts, only in Account A, or only in Account B?
Buffalo and elk lived along the route.The route saved hundreds of miles.Wagons had driven the buffalo from the Platte.Soldiers were coming to build forts on the road.The country was empty except for roving bands.Soldiers came before the Lakota said yes or no.
Both accountsOnly Account AOnly Account B
4.
Account A calls the country "empty except for roving bands of Indians." Why might its writer describe it this way?
  • A. He had lived for years in the Lakota camps along the Tongue River.
  • B. He was writing to the Lakota leaders who had come to Fort Laramie.
  • C. His business needed the road open, so he did not see the land as theirs.
  • D. Army officers told freighters to describe the land this way.
5.
Red Cloud's words were written down by officers and interpreters. How should a historian use Account B?
  • A. Use it mainly for facts about the Montana gold camps
  • B. Compare it with other reports of the 1866 council
  • C. Set it aside, since Red Cloud did not write it himself
  • D. Treat it as Red Cloud's exact, word-for-word speech
6.
Use the timeline. Subtract the years.

The army left its forts on the trail   years after it began building them, and the transcontinental railroad was finished   years after gold was found at Alder Gulch.

Land, trails and nations

Use the passage, the accounts and the timeline.

7.
What does the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868 show about the outcome of the fight over the trail?
  • A. The Lakota and their allies forced the United States to close it.
  • B. The Lakota and their allies moved south to Indian Territory.
  • C. The Lakota and their allies sold the trail for yearly payments.
  • D. The Lakota and their allies gave up the Powder River country.
8.
In 1870, a storekeeper in Virginia City orders flour from Omaha. Based on the passage and the timeline, how would the flour most likely reach him?
  • A. By steamboat up the Platte River to the gold camps
  • B. By train to Utah, then north by wagon to Montana
  • C. By wagon up the Bozeman Trail past the old forts
  • D. By wagon along the Tongue River through Lakota land
9.
Which statement best explains how geography made conflict over the trail likely?
  • A. The gold camps lay inside the Great Sioux Reservation.
  • B. The Bighorn peaks forced the Crow onto the wagon road.
  • C. The trail crossed the Black Hills, sacred to the Lakota.
  • D. The same water, grass and game drew wagons and hunters.
10.
Draw a line from each nation to where it governs a reservation today.
  1. Crow Nation
  2. Northern Cheyenne
  3. Oglala Sioux Tribe
  4. Northern Arapaho
  1. A. Beside the Tongue River, Montana
  2. B. Along the Bighorn River, Montana
  3. C. Wind River, Wyoming
  4. D. Pine Ridge, South Dakota
11.
Which account gives a more accurate picture of the Powder River country in 1866, Account A or Account B? Make a claim, use evidence from both accounts and from the passage or the timeline, and explain your reasoning.

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