Cheyenne

Capital of Wyoming, located in the southeastern part of the state, just north of the Colorado border on Crow Creek, in the foothills of the Laramie range of the Rocky Mountains; seat of Laramie County; population (2000 est) 53,000. An agricultural and transportation centre, its industries include oil refining, chemicals, electrical goods, machinery, meat packing, and food processing; tourism is also important to the economy. Cheyenne was incorporated in 1867 and became state capital in 1890 when Wyoming entered the Union. It was made a city in 1914.

Cheyenne was first inhabited by American Indians of the Cheyenne tribe, and was settled by whites in 1867 with the arrival of the Union Pacific Railroad. The early residents were railway workers, cowboys, and prospectors, including US robbers Jesse James and Butch Cassidy. In the 1870s it was on the route to the Black Hills goldfields, and later developed into a shipping point for cattle from Texas, when rich cattle barons settled here.

The city is the scene of the world's largest outdoor rodeo, the Cheyenne Frontier Days, which has taken place since annually since 1897. In the historic downtown area the Old West Museum (1978) has a collection of stagecoaches, and the Wyoming State Museum depicts the history of the plains Indians. Outside the State Capitol (1887) is a statue of US women's suffrage activist Esther Morris, through whose efforts Wyoming became the first state to give women the vote in 1890. Wyoming state governor Nellie Ross was the first woman governor in the USA (1925–27). The Francis E Warren Air Force Base became the headquarters for the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile base (1957).

Cheyenne

Member of an American Indian who migrated west from Minnesota to the Great Plains of North and South Dakota from about 1700, later occupying parts of Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas. Their language belongs to the Algonquian group. Originally farmers and hunter-gatherers, they adopted the nomadic buffalo-hunting lifestyle of the Plains Indians after acquiring horses. During the Plains Wars against US settlement, peaceful Cheyenne were massacred at Sand Creek (1864) and in 1876 Cheyenne contributed to the Indian victory at Little Bighorn. Today many Northern Cheyenne live on reservation land in Montana, while many Southern Cheyenne live on federal trust land in Oklahoma. The total Cheyenne population numbers about 11,200 (2000).

The Cheyenne believed in a sky god and a god who lived under the ground, as well as spirits who lived at the four points of the compass. Like other Plains Indians, they believed in the vision quest to acquire a guardian spirit. Their main ceremony was the sun dance. They were organized into ten major bands, some of which had military and shamanistic societies.

Near the end of the 18th century, smallpox and war with the Sioux decimated the Cheyenne and they moved near the North Platte River in Wyoming and Nebraska. In the early 1830s the Cheyenne split into two when a large section moved near the Arkansas River in Colorado and Kansas. The group that stayed along the Platte was called the Northern Cheyenne, while the group that migrated to the Arkansas was called the Southern Cheyenne.

In the late 1850s, an influx of gold-seekers entered Cheyenne territory. Raids and warring between the Cheyenne and the US army ensued. In 1864, during an attempt to communicate peace, 200 Cheyenne, including many women and children, were killed in the Sand Creek Massacre by an Indian-hating US commander and his troops. The incident led to more battles and bloodshed. In 1867 the Cheyenne signed the Treaty of Medicine Lodge and were given a reservation in Oklahoma, but the US broke the terms of the agreement, which led to more Cheyenne resistance and uprisings. Together with the Sioux, the Cheyenne won the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876), in which General George Custer was killed. In the end, however, the Cheyenne, who lost many warriors to disease and battle, were no match for the stronger US forces, and they surrendered the following year.

Cheyenne

River in northeastern Wyoming and western South Dakota, USA, flowing to Lake Oahe, South Dakota; length 848 km/527 mi. It flows east out of Niobrara County, Wyoming, then northeast through South Dakota, along the south of the Black Hills, into Meade County, where the Belle Fourche River joins it from the west. Continuing east-northeast, it forms the southern boundary of the 11,047–sq km/4,265–sq mi Cheyenne River Indian Reservation before reaching the western arm of Lake Oahe.

The Cheyenne River Indian Reservation (population (1990 est) 7,800, 66% Indian), like the adjacent Standing Rock reservation just to the north, is home to various Sioux groups; Eagle Butte in Dewey and Ziebach Counties (city, population (1990 est) 489) is its headquarters.