The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of
flatland
''Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions'' is a satirical novella by the English schoolmaster Edwin Abbott Abbott, first published in 1884 by Seeley & Co. of London. Written pseudonymously by "A Square", the book used the fictional two-dim ...
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
and east of the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
, much of it covered in
prairie
Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...
grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...
. It is the southern and main part of the
Interior Plains
The Interior Plains is a vast physiographic region that spreads across the Laurentian craton of central North America, extending along the east flank of the Rocky Mountains from the Gulf Coast region to the Arctic Beaufort Sea. In Canada, it en ...
, which also include the
tallgrass prairie
The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America. Historically, natural and anthropogenic fire, as well as grazing by large mammals (primarily bison) provided periodic disturbances to these ecosystems, limiting the encroachm ...
between the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...
and
Appalachian Plateau
The Appalachian Plateau is a series of rugged dissected plateaus located on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachian Mountains are a mountain range that run down the Eastern United States.
The Appalachian Plateau is the nor ...
, and the
Taiga Plains
The Taiga Plain Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is a Canadian terrestrial ecozone that covers most of the western Northwest Territories, extending to northwest Alberta, northeast British Columbia and sl ...
and
Boreal Plains
The Boreal Plains Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is a terrestrial ecozone in the western Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. It also has minor extensions into northeastern British C ...
ecozones in Northern Canada. The term Western Plains is used to describe the
ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...
of the Great Plains, or alternatively the western portion of the Great Plains.
The Great Plains lies across both
Central United States
The Central United States is sometimes conceived as between the Eastern and Western as part of a three-region model, roughly coincident with the U.S. Census' definition of the Midwestern United States plus the western and central portions o ...
and
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada†...
, encompassing:
* The entirety of the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
s of
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...
,
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
,
North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...
and
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...
;
* Parts of the U.S. states of
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
,
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
,
Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
,
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
,
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
and
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
,
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...
and
Manitoba
, image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg
, map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada
, Label_map = yes
, coordinates =
, capital = Winn ...
.
The term "Great Plains" usually refers specifically to the United States portion of the ecozone while the Canadian portion is known as the
Canadian Prairies
The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...
. In Canada it covers southeastern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan and a narrow band of southwestern Manitoba, these three provinces collectively known as the "Prairie Provinces". The entire region is known for supporting extensive
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
-
ranch
A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most ofte ...
ing and dryland farming.
Grasslands are among the least protected biomes with vast areas having been converted for agricultural purposes and pastures.
Usage
The term "Great Plains" is used in the United States to describe a sub-section of the even more vast
Interior Plains
The Interior Plains is a vast physiographic region that spreads across the Laurentian craton of central North America, extending along the east flank of the Rocky Mountains from the Gulf Coast region to the Arctic Beaufort Sea. In Canada, it en ...
physiographic division, which covers much of the interior of North America. It also has currency as a region of
human geography
Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography that studies spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, and their interactions with the environment. It analyzes spatial interdependencies between social i ...
Plains states
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
.
In Canada the term is rarely used;
Natural Resources Canada
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan; french: Ressources naturelles Canada; french: RNCan, label=none)Natural Resources Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Natural Resources (). is the dep ...
, the government department responsible for official mapping, treats the Interior Plains as one unit consisting of several related plateaus and plains. There is no region referred to as the "Great Plains" in the ''
Atlas of Canada
The Atlas of Canada (french: L'Atlas du Canada) is an online atlas published by Natural Resources Canada that has information on every city, town, village, and hamlet in Canada. It was originally a print atlas, with its first edition being publishe ...
''. In terms of human geography, the term ''prairie'' is more commonly used in Canada, and the region is known as the
Canadian Prairies
The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...
, Prairie Provinces or simply "the Prairies".
The ''
North American Environmental Atlas
The ''North American Environmental Atlas'' is an interactive mapping tool created through a partnership of government agencies in Canada, Mexico and the United States, along with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a trilateral internati ...
'', produced by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a NAFTA agency composed of the geographical agencies of the Mexican, American, and Canadian governments, uses the "Great Plains" as an
ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...
synonymous with predominant prairies and grasslands rather than as physiographic region defined by topography. The Great Plains ecoregion includes five sub-regions: Temperate Prairies, West-Central Semi-Arid Prairies, South-Central Semi-Arid Prairies, Texas Louisiana Coastal Plains, and Tamaulipas-Texas Semi-Arid Plain, which overlap or expand upon other Great Plains designations.
Extent
The region is about east to west and north to south. Much of the region was home to
American bison
The American bison (''Bison bison'') is a species of bison native to North America. Sometimes colloquially referred to as American buffalo or simply Bubalina, buffalo (a different clade of bovine), it is one of two extant species of bison, alongs ...
herds until they were hunted to near extinction during the mid/late-19th century. It has an area of approximately . Current thinking regarding the geographic boundaries of the Great Plains is shown by thi map at the Center for Great Plains Studies,
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a public land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the Morrill Act of 1862, the school was known as the Univers ...
. This definition, however, is primarily ecological, not physiographic. The
Boreal Plains
The Boreal Plains Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is a terrestrial ecozone in the western Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. It also has minor extensions into northeastern British C ...
of Western Canada are physiographically the same, but differentiated by their tundra and forest (rather than grassland) appearance.
The term "Great Plains", for the region west of about the 96th and east of the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
, was not generally used before the early 20th century. Nevin Fenneman's 1916 study ''Physiographic Subdivision of the United States'' brought the term Great Plains into more widespread usage. Before that the region was almost invariably called the High Plains, in contrast to the lower Prairie Plains of the
Midwestern states
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
. Today the term " High Plains" is used for a subregion of the Great Plains. The term still remains little-used in Canada compared to the more common, "prairie".
Geography
The Great Plains are the westernmost portion of the vast North American
Interior Plains
The Interior Plains is a vast physiographic region that spreads across the Laurentian craton of central North America, extending along the east flank of the Rocky Mountains from the Gulf Coast region to the Arctic Beaufort Sea. In Canada, it en ...
, which extend east to the
Appalachian Plateau
The Appalachian Plateau is a series of rugged dissected plateaus located on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. The Appalachian Mountains are a mountain range that run down the Eastern United States.
The Appalachian Plateau is the nor ...
. The
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
divides the Great Plains in the United States into ten physiographic subdivisions:
*
Missouri Coteau
The Missouri Coteau, or Missouri Plateau, (french: Coteau du Missouri) is a large plateau that stretches along the eastern side of the valley of the Missouri River in central North Dakota and north-central South Dakota in the United States. In t ...
or Missouri Plateau (which also extends into
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
), glaciated – east central South Dakota, northern and eastern North Dakota and northeastern Montana;
* Coteau du Missouri, unglaciated – western South Dakota, northeastern
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...
, southwestern North Dakota and southeastern Montana;
*
Black Hills
The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black ...
– western South Dakota;
* High Plains – southeastern Wyoming, southwestern South Dakota, western Nebraska (including the Sand Hills), eastern Colorado, western Kansas, western Oklahoma, eastern New Mexico, and northwestern Texas (including the Llano Estacado and
Texas Panhandle
The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a square-shaped area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to ...
);
* Plains Border – central Kansas and northern Oklahoma (including the
Flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...
,
Red
Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...
and
Smoky Hills
The Smoky Hills are an upland region of hills in the central Great Plains of North America. They are located in the Midwestern United States, encompassing north-central Kansas and a small portion of south-central Nebraska.
The hills are a disse ...
);
*
Colorado Piedmont
The Colorado Piedmont is an area along the base of the foothills of the Front Range in north central Colorado in the United States. The region consists of a broad hilly valley, just under 5000 ft (1500 m) in elevation, stretching north and northe ...
– eastern Colorado;
* Raton section – northeastern New Mexico;
* Pecos Valley – eastern New Mexico;
*
Edwards Plateau
The Edwards Plateau is a geographic region at the crossroads of Central Texas, Central, South Texas, South, and West Texas. It is bounded by the Balcones Fault to the south and east, the Llano Uplift and the Llano Estacado to the north, and the ...
– south central Texas; and
* Central Texas section – central Texas.
Further to this can be added Canadian physiographic sub-regions such as the Alberta Plain, Cypress Hills,
Manitoba Escarpment
The Manitoba Escarpment, or the Western Manitoba Uplands, are a range of hills along the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border. The eastern slopes of the range are considered to be a scarp. They were created by glacial scouring and formed the western s ...
Missouri Coteau
The Missouri Coteau, or Missouri Plateau, (french: Coteau du Missouri) is a large plateau that stretches along the eastern side of the valley of the Missouri River in central North Dakota and north-central South Dakota in the United States. In t ...
(shared),
Rocky Mountain Foothills
The Rocky Mountain Foothills are an upland area flanking the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, extending south from the Liard River into Alberta. Bordering the Interior Plains system, they are part of the Rocky Mountain System
The Rocky M ...
(eastward), and Saskatchewan Plain.
The Great Plains consist of a broad stretch of country underlain by nearly horizontal strata extending westward from the
97th meridian west
The 97th meridian west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole.
The 97th meridian ...
to the base of the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
, a distance of . It extends northward from the Mexican boundary far into Canada. Although the
altitude
Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...
of the plains increases gradually from 600 or on the east to 4,000–5,000 or near the mountains, the local relief is generally small. The
semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...
excludes tree growth and opens far-reaching views.
The plains are by no means a simple unit. They are of diverse structure and of various stages of
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...
al development. They are occasionally interrupted by
butte
__NOTOC__
In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...
s and
escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...
s. They are frequently broken by valleys. Yet on the whole, a broadly extended surface of moderate relief so often prevails that the name, Great Plains, for the region as a whole is well-deserved.
The western boundary of the plains is usually well-defined by the abrupt ascent of the mountains. The eastern boundary of the plains (in the United States) is more
climatic
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorological ...
than
topographic
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scien ...
. The line of of annual
rainfall
Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...
trends a little east of northward near the 97th meridian. If a boundary must be drawn where nature presents only a gradual transition, this rainfall line may be taken to divide the drier plains from the moister prairies. However, in Canada the eastern boundary of the plains is well defined by the presence of the Canadian Shield to the northeast.
The plains (within the United States) may be described in northern, intermediate, central and southern sections, in relation to certain peculiar features. In Canada, no such division is used: the climatic and vegetation regions are more impactful on human settlement than mere topography, and therefore the region is split into (from north to south), the
taiga plains
The Taiga Plain Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is a Canadian terrestrial ecozone that covers most of the western Northwest Territories, extending to northwest Alberta, northeast British Columbia and sl ...
,
boreal plains
The Boreal Plains Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is a terrestrial ecozone in the western Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. It also has minor extensions into northeastern British C ...
,
aspen parkland
Aspen parkland refers to a very large area of transitional biome between prairie and boreal forest in two sections, namely the Peace River Country of northwestern Alberta crossing the border into British Columbia, and a much larger area stretchi ...
The northern section of the Great Plains, north of latitude 44°, includes eastern
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
, eastern
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...
, most of
North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...
and
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...
, southwestern
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
and portions of the Canadian provinces including southeastern
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, southern
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...
and southwestern
Manitoba
, image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg
, map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada
, Label_map = yes
, coordinates =
, capital = Winn ...
. The strata here are
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
or early
Tertiary
Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago.
The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...
, lying nearly horizontal. The surface is shown to be a plain of degradation by a gradual ascent here and there to the crest of a ragged escarpment, the escarpment-remnant of a resistant stratum. There are also the occasional
lava
Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...
-capped
mesa
A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by a ...
s and
dike
Dyke (UK) or dike (US) may refer to:
General uses
* Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian"
* Dike (geology), a subvertical sheet-like intrusion of magma or sediment
* Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess of moral justice
* Dikes ...
formed ridges, surmounting the general level by or more and manifestly demonstrating the widespread
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...
of the surrounding plains. All these reliefs are more plentiful towards the mountains in central Montana. The peneplain is no longer in the cycle of erosion that witnessed its production. It appears to have suffered a regional uplift or increase in elevation, for the upper Missouri River and its branches no longer flow on the surface of the plain, but in well graded, maturely opened valleys, several hundred feet below the general level. A significant exception to the rule of mature valleys occurs, however, in the case of the Missouri, the largest river, which is broken by several falls on hard sandstones about east of the mountains. This peculiar feature is explained as the result of displacement of the river from a better graded preglacial valley by the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...
ice sheet
In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the Last Glacial Period at La ...
. Here, the ice sheet overspread the plains from the moderately elevated Canadian highlands far on the north-east, instead of from the much higher mountains nearby on the west. The present altitude of the plains near the mountain base is .
The northern plains are interrupted by several small mountain areas. The Black Hills, chiefly in western South Dakota, are the largest group. They rise like a large island from the sea, occupying an oval area of about north-south by east-west. At
Black Elk Peak
Black Elk Peak is the highest natural point in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the Midwestern United States. It lies in the Black Elk Wilderness area, in southern Pennington County, in the Black Hills National Forest. The peak lies west-sout ...
, they reach an altitude of and have an effective relief over the plains of 2000 or This mountain mass is of flat-arched, dome-like structure, now well dissected by radiating consequent streams. The weaker uppermost strata have been eroded down to the level of the plains where their upturned edges are evenly truncated. The next following harder strata have been sufficiently eroded to disclose the core of underlying
igneous
Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...
and
metamorphic
Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causi ...
crystalline rocks in about half of the domed area.
Intermediate Great Plains
In the intermediate section of the plains, between latitudes 44° and 42°, including southern South Dakota and northern
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
, the erosion of certain large districts is peculiarly elaborate. Known as the
Badlands
Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, m ...
, it is a minutely dissected form with a relief of a few hundred feet. This is due to several causes:
* the dry climate, which prevents the growth of a grassy turf
* the fine texture of the Tertiary strata in the badland districts
* every little rill, at times of rain, carves its own little valley.
Central Great Plains
The central section of the Great Plains, between latitudes 42° and 36°, occupying eastern
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
and western
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...
, is mostly a dissected fluviatile plain. That is, this section was once smoothly covered with a gently sloping plain of gravel and sand that had been spread far forward on a broad denuded area as a
deposit by the rivers which issued from the mountains. Since then, it has been more or less dissected by the erosion of valleys. The central section of the plains thus presents a marked contrast to the northern section.
While the northern section owes its smoothness to the removal of local gravels and sands from a formerly uneven surface by the action of degrading rivers and their inflowing tributaries, the southern section owes its smoothness to the deposition of imported gravels and sands upon a previously uneven surface by the action of aggrading rivers and their outgoing distributaries. The two sections are also alike in that residual eminences still here and there surmount the peneplain of the northern section, while the fluviatile plain of the central section completely buried the pre-existent relief. An exception to this statement must be made for the southwest, close to the mountains in southern Colorado, where some lava-capped mesas ( Mesa de Maya, Raton Mesa) stand several thousand feet above the general plain level, and thus testify to the widespread erosion of this region before it was aggraded.
Southern Great Plains
The southern section of the Great Plains, between latitudes 35.5° and 25.5°, lies in western
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, eastern
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
, and western Oklahoma. Like the central section, it is for the most part a dissected fluviatile plain. However, the lower lands which surround it on all sides place it in such strong relief that it stands up as a table-land, known from the time of Mexican occupation as the Llano Estacado. It measures roughly east-west and north-south. It is of very irregular outline, narrowing to the south. Its altitude is at the highest western point, nearest the mountains whence its gravels were supplied. From there, it slopes southeastward at a decreasing rate, first about , then about 7 ft per mile (1.3 m/km), to its eastern and southern borders, where it is in altitude. Like the High Plains farther north, it is extraordinarily smooth.
It is very dry, except for occasional shallow and temporary water sheets after rains. Llano is separated from the plains on the north by the mature consequent valley of the
Canadian River
The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River in the United States. It is about long, starting in Colorado and traveling through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma. The drainage area is about .Pecos River. On the east, it is strongly undercut by the retrogressive erosion of the headwaters of the Red, Brazos, and Colorado rivers of Texas and presents a ragged escarpment approximately high, overlooking the central denuded area of that state. There, between the Brazos and Colorado rivers, occurs a series of isolated outliers capped by limestone that underlies both the
Llano Uplift
The Llano Uplift is a geologically ancient, low geologic dome that is about in diameter and located mostly in Llano, Mason, San Saba, Gillespie, and Blanco counties, Texas. It consists of an island-like exposure of Precambrian igneous and m ...
on the west and the Grand Prairies escarpment on the east. The southern and narrow part of the table-land, called the
Edwards Plateau
The Edwards Plateau is a geographic region at the crossroads of Central Texas, Central, South Texas, South, and West Texas. It is bounded by the Balcones Fault to the south and east, the Llano Uplift and the Llano Estacado to the north, and the ...
, is more dissected than the rest, and falls off to the south in a frayed-out fault scarp. This scarp overlooks the coastal plain of the Rio Grande
embayment
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...
. The central denuded area, east of the Llano, resembles the east-central section of the plains in exposing older rocks. Between these two similar areas, in the space limited by the Canadian and Red Rivers, rise the subdued forms of the
Wichita Mountains
The Wichita Mountains are located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the principal relief system in the Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen, being the result of a failed continental rift. The mountains are a northwest-south ...
in Oklahoma, the westernmost member of the Ouachita system.
Other terminology
The term "Western Plains" is used to describe the
ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...
of the Great Plains,
or alternatively the western portion of the Great Plains.
Natural history
Climate
In general, the Great Plains have a wide range of weather, with very cold and harsh winters and very hot and humid summers. Wind speeds are often very high, especially in winter.
The 100th meridian roughly corresponds with the line that divides the Great Plains into an area that receives or more of rainfall per year and an area that receives less than . In this context, the High Plains, as well as
Southern Alberta
Southern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. In 2004, the region's population was approximately 272,017.Eastern Montana are mainly semi arid steppe land and are generally characterised by
rangeland
Rangelands are grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that are grazed by domestic livestock or wild animals. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, sava ...
or marginal
farmland
Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bo ...
. The region (especially the High Plains) is periodically subjected to extended periods of
drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
; high winds in the region may then generate devastating
dust storm
A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transp ...
s. The eastern Great Plains near the eastern boundary falls in the humid subtropical climate zone in the southern areas, and the northern and central areas fall in the
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
.
Many
thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are some ...
s occur in the plains in the spring through summer. The southeastern portion of the Great Plains is the most
tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
active area in the world and is sometimes referred to as
Tornado Alley
Tornado Alley is a loosely defined area of the central United States where tornadoes are most frequent. The term was first used in 1952 as the title of a research project to study severe weather in areas of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, ...
Appalachians
The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...
.
Fauna
Mammals: Although the
American bison
The American bison (''Bison bison'') is a species of bison native to North America. Sometimes colloquially referred to as American buffalo or simply Bubalina, buffalo (a different clade of bovine), it is one of two extant species of bison, alongs ...
(''Bison bison'') historically ranged throughout much of North America (from New York to
Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
), they are strongly associated with the Great Plains where they once roamed in immense herds.
Pronghorn
The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American a ...
(''Antilocapra americana'') range into western areas of the region. The
black-tailed prairie dog
The black-tailed prairie dog (''Cynomys ludovicianus'') is a rodent of the family Sciuridae found in the Great Plains of North America from about the United States-Canada border to the United States-Mexico border. Unlike some other prairie dogs, ...
(''Cynomys ludovicianus'') is another iconic species among several rodents that are linked to the region including the
thirteen-lined ground squirrel
The thirteen-lined ground squirrel (''Ictidomys tridecemlineatus''), also known as the striped gopher, leopard ground squirrel, squinney, (formerly known as the leopard-spermophile in the age of Audubon), is a ground squirrel that is widely dis ...
(''Ictidomys tridecemlineatus''),
spotted ground squirrel
The spotted ground squirrel (''Xerospermophilus spilosoma'') is a species of ground squirrel in the rodent family Sciuridae. It is found throughout Mexico and the central and western United States. Characterized by a white spotted back, the spott ...
(''Xerospermophilus spilosoma''),
Franklin's ground squirrel
Franklin's ground squirrel (''Poliocitellus franklinii'') is a species of squirrel native to North America, and the only member of the genus ''Poliocitellus''. Due to the destruction of prairie, the populations of Franklin's ground squirrel have ...
(''Poliocitellus franklinii''),
plains pocket gopher
The plains pocket gopher (''Geomys bursarius'') is one of 35 species of pocket gophers, so named in reference to their externally located, fur-lined cheek pouches. They are burrowing animals, found in grasslands and agricultural land across the ...
(''Geomys bursarius''),
hispid pocket mouse
The hispid pocket mouse (''Chaetodipus hispidus'') is a large pocket mouse native to the Great Plains region of North America. It is a member of the genus ''Chaetodipus''.
Distribution
The hispid pocket mouse occurs across the Great Plains fro ...
plains harvest mouse
The plains harvest mouse (''Reithrodontomys montanus'') is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in northern Mexico and the central United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the Uni ...
(''Reithrodontomys montanus''), Two carnivores associated with the Great Plains include the
swift fox
The swift fox (''Vulpes velox'') is a small light orange-tan fox around the size of a domestic cat found in the western grasslands of North America, such as Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. It also lives in southern M ...
(''Vulpes velox'') and the endangered black-footed ferret (''Mustela nigripes'').Reid, Fiona, A. 2006. ''A Field Guide to mammals of North America North of Mexico, Peterson Field Guide Series, 4th ed.'' Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. New York, N. Y. xx, 579 pp.
Birds: The
lesser prairie chicken
The lesser prairie chicken (''Tympanuchus pallidicinctus'') is a species in the grouse family.
Description
It is a medium to large bird, striped white and brown, slightly smaller and paler than its near relative the greater prairie chicken (''T. ...
(''Tympanuchus pallidicinctus'') is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
(''Tympanuchus cupido'') predominantly occurs in the region, although the latter historically ranged further eastward. The
Harris's sparrow
Harris's sparrow (''Zonotrichia querula'') is a large sparrow. Their breeding habitat is the north part of central Canada (primarily the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, ranging slightly into northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan), making it C ...
(''Zonotrichia querula'') spends winter months in southern areas of the region. Other species migrate from the south in the spring and spend their breeding season on the plains, including the white-faced ibis (''Plegadis chihi''),
mountain plover
The mountain plover (''Charadrius montanus'') is a medium-sized ground bird in the plover family (Charadriidae). It is misnamed, as it lives on level land. Unlike most plovers, it is usually not found near bodies of water or even on wet soil; i ...
(''Charadrius montanus''),
marbled godwit
The marbled godwit (''Limosa fedoa'') is a large migratory shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. On average, it is the largest of the four species of godwit.
Taxonomy
In 1750 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a ...
Cassin's sparrow
Cassin's sparrow (''Peucaea cassinii'') is a medium-sized sparrow.
This passerine bird's range is from western Nebraska to north-central Mexico.
Taxonomy
The first Cassin's sparrow was described in 1852 by Samuel W. Woodhouse from a specimen c ...
lark bunting
The lark bunting (''Calamospiza melanocorys'') is a medium-sized American sparrow native to central and western North America. It was designated the state bird of Colorado in 1931.
Taxonomy
The lark bunting was monotypic, the only member of the ...
(''Calamospiza melanocorys''),
chestnut-collared longspur
The chestnut-collared longspur (''Calcarius ornatus'') is a species of bird in the family Calcariidae. Like the other longspurs, it is a small ground-feeding bird that primarily eats seeds. It breeds in prairie habitats in Canada and the norther ...
(''Calcarius ornatus''), thick-billed longspur or McCown's longspur (''Rhynchophanes mccownii''), and
dickcissel
The dickcissel (''Spiza americana'') is a small seed-eating migratory bird in the family Cardinalidae. It breeds on the prairie grasslands of the Midwestern United States and winters in Central America, northern Colombia, and northern Venezue ...
(''Spiza americana'').Mulroy, Kevin (Editor-in-Chief). 2002. ''Field Guide to the Birds of North America, 4th edition.'' National Geographic, Washington, D. C. 480 pp.
Reptiles: The prairie rattlesnake (''
Crotalus viridis
''Crotalus viridis'' (Common names: prairie rattlesnake, Great Plains rattlesnake, Wright AH, Wright AA. 1957. ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates. (7th printing, 1985). 1,105 ...
'') ranges throughout much of the Great Plains and into the valleys and lower elevations of the eastern
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
and portions of the
American southwest
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado ...
Thamnophis radix
The plains garter snake (''Thamnophis radix'') is a species of garter snake native to most of the central United States as far north as Canada and as far south as Texas. It has a distinctive orange or yellow stripe from its head to tail, and the ...
''), and lined snake (''
Tropidoclonion lineatum
''Tropidoclonion'' is a genus of snake in the subfamily Natricinae of the Family (biology), family Colubridae. The genus is Monotypic taxon, monotypic, containing the sole species ''Tropidoclonion lineatum'', Common name, commonly known as the li ...
''). Reptile diversity increases significantly in southern regions of the Great Plains. The ornate box turtle ('' Terrapene ornata'') and great plains skink ('' Plestiodon obsoletus'') occur in southern areas.Powell, Robert, Roger Conant, and Joseph Collins. 2016. ''Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, 4th ed.'' Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. New York, N. Y. xiii, 494 pp. ages 202-209
Amphibians: Although few salamanders are strongly associated with region, the western tiger salamander ('' Ambystoma mavortium'') ranges through much of the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, as does the rocky mountain toad ('' Anaxyrus w. woodhousi''). Other
anurans
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοá˝Ďά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...
related to region include the great plains toad ('' Anaxyrus cognatus''), plains leopard frog ('' Lithobates blairi''), and plains spadefoot (''
Spea bombifrons
The plains spadefoot toad (''Spea bombifrons'') is a species of American spadefoot toad which ranges from southwestern Canada, throughout the Great Plains of the western United States, and into northern Mexico. Like other species of spadefoot toa ...
'').Dodd Jr., C. Kenneth (2013) ''Frogs of the United States and Canada, Vol. I & II''. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. 982 pp.
Fish: Some species predominately associated with various river basins in the Great Plains include sturgeon chub (''Macrhybopsis gelida''),
peppered chub
The peppered chub (''Macrhybopsis tetranema''), also known as the Arkansas River speckled chub, is a freshwater ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae, the carps and minnows. It historically occurred throughout the Arkansas River drainage, but t ...
(''Macrhybopsis tetranema''),
prairie chub
The prairie chub (''Macrhybopsis australis'') is a freshwater ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae, the carps and minnows. It occurs in the upper Red River drainage in Oklahoma and Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is ...
plains minnow
The plains minnow (''Hybognathus placitus'') is one of the 324 fish species found in central United States . It is a large minnow that was once a common bait fish. The plains minnow requires shallow, slow-moving streams to complete its life cycle. ...
(''Hybognathus placitus''),
smalleye shiner
The smalleye shiner (''Notropis buccula'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Cyprinidae (carps and minnows). It is found only in the upper Brazos River basin of Texas, which includes the Double Mountain and Salt forks of the upper Br ...
plains topminnow
The plains topminnow (''Fundulus sciadicus'') is a species of freshwater topminnow found in North America. The fish has a small range within the United States of America which consists of two major populations.
Description
The plains topminnow ...
(''Fundulus sciadicus''), plains killifish ('' Fundulus zebrinus''), Red River pupfish ('' Cyprinodon rubrofluviatilis''), and Arkansas darter (''Etheostoma cragini'').Lee, D. S., C. R. Gilbert, C. H. Hocutt, R. E. Jenkins, D. E. McAllister, and J. R. Stauffer, Jr. 1980. ''Atlas of North American Freshwater Fishes.'' North Carolina State Museum of Natural History. x, 867 pp. Page, L. M. and B. M. Burr. 2011. ''Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes: North America North of Mexico, Second Edition.'' Peterson Field Guide Series. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston, Massachusetts. xix, 663 pp.
File:Black-footed Ferrets in Preconditioning Pens (15519959116) (cropped).jpg, Black-footed ferret (''Mustela nigripes'') National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center, Colorado
File:Swift Fox (cropped).jpg, Swift fox (''Vulpes velox''), Colorado
File:Tympanuchus pallidicinctus-1jpg (cropped).jpg, Lesser prairie-chicken (''Tympanuchus pallidicinctus'') on a lek in the Red Hills of Kansas
File:Great Plains Rat Snake (Pantherophis emoryi) (8726969667).jpg, Great Plains ratsnake (''Pantherophis emoryi''), Missouri
File:Great Plains toad (cropped).jpg, Great Plains toad (''Anaxyrus cognatus'')
Paleontology
During the
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
Period (145–66 million years ago), the Great Plains were covered by a shallow inland sea called the
Western Interior Seaway
The Western Interior Seaway (also called the Cretaceous Seaway, the Niobraran Sea, the North American Inland Sea, and the Western Interior Sea) was a large inland sea that split the continent of North America into two landmasses. The ancient sea ...
. However, during the
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...
to the
Paleocene
The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pal ...
(65–55 million years ago), the seaway had begun to recede, leaving behind thick marine deposits and a relatively flat terrain which the seaway had once occupied.
During the Cenozoic era, specifically about 25 million years ago during the
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
and
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58niche
Niche may refer to:
Science
*Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development
*Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species
*Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...
for mammals, including many
ungulate
Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Ungulata which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. These include odd-toed ungulates such as horses, rhinoceroses, and tapirs; and even-toed ungulates such as cattle, pigs, giraffes, ...
s and
glires
Glires (, Latin ''glīrēs'' 'dormice') is a clade (sometimes ranked as a grandorder) consisting of rodents and lagomorphs ( rabbits, hares, and pikas). The hypothesis that these form a monophyletic group has been long debated based on morp ...
, that switched from browsing diets to grazing diets. Traditionally, the spread of grasslands and the development of grazers have been strongly linked. However, an examination of mammalian teeth suggests that it is the open, gritty habitat and not the grass itself which is linked to diet changes in mammals, giving rise to the " grit, not grass" hypothesis.
Paleontological
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of foss ...
finds in the area have yielded bones of
mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks an ...
mastodon
A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammut'' (family Mammutidae). Mastodons inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of th ...
s, and
American lion
''Panthera atrox'', better known as the American lion, also called the North American lion, or American cave lion, is an extinct pantherine cat that lived in North America during the Pleistocene epoch and the early Holocene epoch, about 340,0 ...
– that dominated the area of the ancient Great Plains for thousands to millions of years. The vast majority of these animals became extinct in North America at the end of the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...
(around 13,000 years ago).
A number of significant fossil sites are located in the Great Plains including
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument
Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is a U.S. National Monument near Harrison, Nebraska. The main features of the monument are a valley of the Niobrara River and the fossils found on Carnegie Hill and University Hill.
The area largely consists of ...
(Nebraska),
Ashfall Fossil Beds
The Ashfall Fossil Beds of Antelope County in northeastern Nebraska are rare fossil sites of the type called lagerstätten that, due to extraordinary local conditions, capture an ecological "snapshot" in time of a range of well-preserved fossil ...
Dinosaur Valley State Park
Dinosaur Valley State Park is a state park near Glen Rose, Texas, United States.
History
Dinosaur Valley State Park, located just northwest of Glen Rose in Somervell County, Texas, is a scenic park set astride the Paluxy River. The land fo ...
(Texas),
Hudson-Meng Bison Kill
The Hudson-Meng Bison Bonebed site, officially named the Hudson-Meng Education and Research Center, is a fossil site located in the Oglala National Grassland of Sioux County, Nebraska 20 miles northwest of Crawford. It contains the 10,000-year-o ...
(Nebraska),
Makoshika State Park
Makoshika State Park ("ma-KO-sh(ih)kuh" from the Lakota ''Maco sica,'' meaning 'bad land' or 'land of bad spirits') is a nature preserve and public recreation area located on the southeast side of Glendive in Dawson County, Montana. The state ...
(Montana), and
The Mammoth Site
The Mammoth Site is a museum and paleontological site near Hot Springs, South Dakota, in the Black Hills. It is an active paleontological excavation site at which research and excavations are continuing. The facility encloses a prehistoric sink ...
(South Dakota).
Public and protected lands
Public and protected lands in the Great Plains include National Parks and National Monuments, administers by the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...
with the responsibility of preserving ecological and historical places and making them available to the public.National Park Service About Us (referenced April 9, 2022) The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service manages the National Wildlife Refuges, with the primary responsibility of conserving and protecting fish, wildlife, plants, and habitat in the public trust.United States Fish and Wildlife Service: https://www.fws.gov/ (referenced April 9, 2022) Both are agencies of the Department of the Interior.
In contrast, U.S. Forest Service, an agency of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, administers the National Forests and National Grasslands, under a multiple-use concept. By law, the U.S. Forest Service must consider all resources, with no single resource emphasized to the detriment of others, including water, soil, grazing, timber harvesting, and minerals (mining and drilling), as well as recreation and conservation of fish and wildlife.United States Forest Service Managing the Land (referenced April 9, 2022) Each individual state also administers state lands, typically smaller areas, for various purposes including conservation and recreation.
Grasslands are among the least protected biomes. Humans have converted much of the prairies for agricultural purposes or to create pastures. Several of the protected lands in the region are centered around aberrant and uncharacteristic features of the region, such as mountains, outcrops, and canyons (e.g. Devil's Tower National Monument,
Wind Cave National Park
Wind Cave National Park is an American national park located north of the town of Hot Springs in western South Dakota. Established on January 3, 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, it was the sixth national park in the U.S. and the first ca ...
,
Scotts Bluff National Monument
Scotts Bluff National Monument is located west of the City of Gering in western Nebraska, United States. This National Park Service site protects over 3,000 acres of historic overland trail remnants, mixed-grass prairie, rugged badlands, toweri ...
), and as splendid and worthy as they are, they are not primarily focused on conserving the plains and prairies.
*Alberta: Elk Island National Park (48,000 acres),
Suffield National Wildlife Area
Suffield National Wildlife Area (SNWA) is a National Wildlife Area located within the boundaries of CFB Suffield in Alberta, Canada.
SNWA was formally created on the 19th of June, 2003 when it was officially gazetted under Canada Wildlife Act R ...
(113,263 acres).
*Colorado:
Comanche National Grassland
Comanche National Grassland is a National Grassland located in southeastern Colorado, United States. It is the sister grassland of Cimarron National Grassland and contains both prairie grasslands and canyons. It is separated into two sections, ...
(443,081 acres),
Pawnee National Grassland
Pawnee National Grassland is a United States National Grassland located in northeastern Colorado on the Colorado Eastern Plains. The grassland is located in the South Platte River basin in remote northern and extreme northeastern Weld County be ...
Cimarron National Grassland
Cimarron National Grassland is a National Grassland located in Morton County, Kansas, United States, with a very small part extending eastward into Stevens County. Cimarron National Grassland is located near Comanche National Grassland which i ...
Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge
Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is located in Linn County, Kansas along the Marais des Cygnes River. The 7,500 acre (30 km2) Refuge was established in 1992 to protect one of the northwesternmost examples of bottomland hardw ...
(7,500 acres),
Quivira National Wildlife Refuge
Quivira National Wildlife Refuge is located in south central Kansas near the town of Stafford. It lies mostly in northeastern Stafford County, but small parts extend into southwestern Rice and northwestern Reno Counties. Its proximity to the Ce ...
(22,135 acres),
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located in the Flint Hills region of Kansas, north of Strong City. The preserve protects a nationally significant example of the once vast tallgrass prairie ecosystem. ...
(10,882 acres).
*Manitoba:
Riding Mountain National Park
Riding Mountain National Park is a national park in Manitoba, Canada. The park is located within Treaty 2 Territory and sits atop the Manitoba Escarpment. Consisting of a protected area , the forested parkland stands in sharp contrast to the sur ...
(733,400 acres),
Turtle Mountain Provincial Park
Turtle Mountain Provincial Park is a provincial park located in the southwestern portion of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Within it are the Adam Lake and Max Lake campgrounds. The park is known for its bike trails, fishing, back country cabi ...
(46,080 acres).
*Oklahoma:
Black Kettle National Grassland
The Black Kettle National Grassland, in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma and Hemphill County, Texas, contains of which are in Oklahoma.
Named for the Indian leader Black Kettle, the grassland is managed by the Cibola National Forest, which also ...
(31,286 acres),
Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge
The Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge is part of the United States system of national wildlife refuges. It is located in Alfalfa County in northern Oklahoma, north of Jet (pop. 230), along Great Salt Plains Lake, which is formed by a dam on t ...
(32,080 acres),
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge
Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, located in southwestern Oklahoma near Lawton, has protected unique wildlife habitats since 1901 and is the oldest managed wildlife facility in the United States Fish and Wildlife Service system. The refuge's l ...
Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge
Straddling the headwaters of the Minnesota River in west-central Minnesota, Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge is within the heart of the tallgrass prairie's historic range. Today, less than one-percent of tallgrass prairie remains.
Big Stone Ref ...
(11,586 acres),
Glacial Lakes State Park
Glacial Lakes State Park is a state park of Minnesota, USA, approximately south of Starbuck. It was founded in 1963 to preserve some of the remaining rolling prairie which previously covered much of the state. Located in the Leaf Mountains, t ...
Makoshika State Park
Makoshika State Park ("ma-KO-sh(ih)kuh" from the Lakota ''Maco sica,'' meaning 'bad land' or 'land of bad spirits') is a nature preserve and public recreation area located on the southeast side of Glendive in Dawson County, Montana. The state ...
(11,538 acres),
Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge
Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located in the northeastern region of the U.S. state of Montana. The refuge is part of the Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge Complex which also includes the Northeast Mont ...
UL Bend National Wildlife Refuge
UL Bend National Wildlife Refuge is a protected area that is located in central Montana, United States. The refuge, located at the extreme southernmost tip of Phillips County, is managed and bordered on three sides by the Charles M. Russell Nat ...
(56,048),
Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument
The Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument is a national monument in the western United States, protecting the Missouri Breaks of north central Montana. Managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), it is a series of badland areas charac ...
(377,000 acres).
*Nebraska:
Scotts Bluff National Monument
Scotts Bluff National Monument is located west of the City of Gering in western Nebraska, United States. This National Park Service site protects over 3,000 acres of historic overland trail remnants, mixed-grass prairie, rugged badlands, toweri ...
Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge
Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge is located in the U.S. state of Nebraska and includes 19,131 acres (77.42 km2). The refuge borders the Niobrara National Scenic River on the west and is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ...
(19,131 acres),
John and Louise Seier National Wildlife Refuge
John and Louise Seier National Wildlife Refuge is located in the U.S. state of Nebraska and includes 2,400 acres (9.71 km2). The refuge protects a portion of the largest remaining area of tall and mid grass prairie remaining in the U.S. C ...
Valentine National Wildlife Refuge
Valentine National Wildlife Refuge is located in the U.S. state of Nebraska and includes 19,131 acres (77.42 km2). The refuge protects a portion of the largest remaining area of tall and mid grass prairie in the United States.
Developm ...
Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge
Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge is located in the U.S. state of North Dakota. Arrowwood NWR is a part of the Arrowwood National Wildlife Refuge Complex, and is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The refuge parallels 16 miles (2 ...
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Theodore Roosevelt National Park is an American national park of the badlands in western North Dakota comprising three geographically separated areas. Honoring U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, it is the only American national park named direc ...
Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area
Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area is a National Wildlife Area (NWA) in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The protected area is in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America, which extends throughout three Canadian provinces and f ...
(38,553 acres).
*South Dakota:
Badlands National Park
Badlands National Park ( lkt, Makȟóšiča) is an American national park located in southwestern South Dakota. The park protects of sharply eroded buttes and pinnacles, along with the largest undisturbed mixed grass prairie in the United Sta ...
(242,756 acres),
Black Hills National Forest
Black Hills National Forest is located in southwestern South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, United States. The forest has an area of over 1.25 million acres (5,066 km²) and is managed by the Forest Service. Forest headquarters are locate ...
(1,253,308 acres),
Custer State Park
Custer State Park is a South Dakota State Park and wildlife reserve in the Black Hills, United States. The park is South Dakota's largest and first state park, named after Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer. The park covers an area of over of v ...
Wind Cave National Park
Wind Cave National Park is an American national park located north of the town of Hot Springs in western South Dakota. Established on January 3, 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, it was the sixth national park in the U.S. and the first ca ...
(33,847 acres).
*Texas:
Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge
290px
Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a protected area in Randall County in the Texas Panhandle. Its shortgrass prairies spill into marshes, woodlands, riparian habitat, croplands, and water-carved canyon walls that together form of h ...
(7,664 acres),
Caddo National Grassland
Caddo National Grassland is a national grassland in the southern Great Plains, consisting of two separate sections located in northeastern and southeastern Fannin County, Texas, United States. It is a protected area that was purchased in the 1 ...
Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge
Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge (HNWR), a haven for migratory birds and other wildlife, lies in northwestern Grayson County, Texas, on the Big Mineral Arm of Lake Texoma, on the Red River between Oklahoma and Texas. This National Wildlife Refu ...
Rita Blanca National Grassland
Rita Blanca National Grassland is a National Grassland on the Great Plains near the community of Texline in northwest Dallam County, Texas, in the Texas Panhandle, and in southern Cimarron County, Oklahoma, in the western Oklahoma Panhandle ...
Glendo State Park
Glendo State Park is a public recreation area surrounding Glendo Reservoir on the North Platte River in Platte and Converse counties in Wyoming in the United States. The state park is located near the town of Glendo, about southeast of the c ...
(ca. 10,000 acres of land).
History
Original American contact
The first Peoples ( Paleo-Indians) arrived on the Great Plains thousands of years ago. Historically, the Great Plains were the range of the Blackfoot,
Crow
A crow is a bird of the genus '' Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifica ...
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...
,
Arapaho
The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) 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 ba ...
, Comanche, and others. Eastern portions of the Great Plains were inhabited by tribes who lived at
Etzanoa
Etzanoa is a historical city of the Wichita people, located in present-day Arkansas City, Kansas, near the Arkansas River, that flourished between 1450 and 1700. Dubbed "the Great Settlement" by Spanish explorers who visited the site, Etzanoa ma ...
and in semi-permanent villages of earth lodges, such as the
Arikara
Arikara (), also known as Sahnish, ''Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation.'' (Retrieved Sep 29, 2011)
,
Mandan
The Mandan are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still re ...
,
Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language:
* Pawnee people
* Pawnee language
Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States:
* Pawnee, Illinois
* Pawnee, Kansas
* Pawnee, Missouri
* Pawnee City, Nebraska ...
, and Wichita. The introduction of corn around 800 CE allowed the development of the mound-building Mississippian culture along rivers that crossed the Great Plains and that included trade networks west to the Rocky Mountains. Mississippians settled the Great Plains at sites now in Oklahoma and
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...
.
Siouan language
Siouan or Siouan–Catawban is a language family of North America that is located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east.
Name
Authors who call the entire ...
speakers may have originated in the lower
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
region. They were agriculturalists and may have been part of the Mound Builder civilization during the 9th–12th centuries. Wars with the
Ojibwe
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
Lakota
Lakota may refer to:
* Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes
*Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples
Place names
In the United States:
* Lakota, Iowa
* Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County
* La ...
(Teton Sioux) west onto the Great Plains in the mid- to late-17th century. The Shoshone originated in the western Great Basin and spread north and east into present-day Idaho and Wyoming. By 1500, some Eastern Shoshone had crossed the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
into the Great Plains. After 1750, warfare and pressure from the Blackfoot, Crow, Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho pushed Eastern Shoshone south and westward. Some of them moved as far south as Texas, emerging as the Comanche by 1700.
Arrival of horses
The first known contact between Europeans and Indians in the Great Plains occurred in what is now Texas, Kansas, and Nebraska from 1540 to 1542 with the arrival of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, a Spanish conquistador. In that same period, Hernando de Soto crossed a west-northwest direction in what is now Oklahoma and Texas which is now known as the De Soto Trail. The Spanish thought that the Great Plains were the location of the mythological ''
Quivira
Quivira is a place named by Spanish conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1541, for the mythical Seven Cities of Gold that he never found.
Quivira was a province of the ancestral Wichita people, located near the Great Bend of the Arkans ...
and CĂbola'', a place said to be rich in gold.
People in the southwest began to acquire horses in the 16th century by trading or stealing them from Spanish colonists in New Mexico. As horse culture moved northward, the Comanche were among the first to commit to a fully mounted
nomad
A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...
ic lifestyle. This occurred by the 1730s, when they had acquired enough horses to put all their people on horseback.
The real beginning of the horse culture of the plains began with the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 in New Mexico and the capture of thousands of horses and other livestock. In 1683 a Spanish expedition into Texas found horses among Native people. In 1690, a few horses were found by the Spanish among the Indians living at the mouth of the
Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, RĂo Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...
of Texas and the Caddo of eastern Texas had a sizeable number.Haines, Francis. "The Northward Spread of Horses among the Plains Indians. ''American Anthropologist'', Vol 40, No. 3 (1988) p. 382
The French explorer
Claude Charles Du Tisne Claude may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People and fictional characters
* Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Claude (surname), a list of people
* Claude Lorrain (c. 1600–1682), French landscape painter, draughtsman and etcher ...
Verdigris River
The Verdigris River is a tributary of the Arkansas River in southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma in the United States. It is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, ...
in 1719, but they were still not plentiful. Another Frenchman, Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont, Bourgmont, could only buy seven at a high price from the Kaw (tribe), Kaw in 1724, indicating that horses were still scarce among tribes in
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...
. By 1770, that Plains Indians culture was mature, consisting of mounted buffalo-hunting nomads from Saskatchewan and
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
southward nearly to the Rio Grande.
The milder winters of the southern Plains favored a pastoral economy by the Indians. On the northeastern Plains of Canada, the Indians were less favored, with families owning fewer horses, remaining more dependent upon dogs for transporting goods, and hunting bison on foot. The scarcity of horses in the north encouraged raiding and warfare in competition for the relatively small number of horses that survived the severe winters.
Comanche power peaked in the 1840s when they conducted Comanche–Mexico Wars, large-scale raids hundreds of miles into Mexico proper, while also Texas–Indian wars, warring against the Anglo-Americans and Tejanos who had settled in Republic of Texas, independent Texas.
Fur trade
The fur trade brought thousands of colonial settlers into the Great Plains over the next 100 years. Fur trappers made their way across much of the region, making regular contacts with Indians. The United States acquired the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and conducted the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804–1806, and more information became available concerning the Plains, and various pioneers entered the areas. Fur trading posts were often the basis of later settlements. Through the 19th century, more settlers migrated to the Great Plains as part of a vast United States territorial acquisitions, westward expansion of population, and new settlements became dotted across the Great Plains.
The settlers also brought diseases against which the Indians had no resistance. Between a half and two-thirds of the Plains Indians are thought to have died of smallpox by the time of the Louisiana Purchase. The 1837 Great Plains smallpox epidemic spread across the Great Plains, killing many thousands between 1837 and 1840. In the end, it is estimated that two-thirds of the Blackfoot population died, along with half of the Assiniboines and Arikaras, a third of the Crows, and a quarter of the Pawnees.
Pioneer settlement
* Fort Lisa (North Dakota), Fort Lisa (1809), North Dakota
* Fort Lisa (Nebraska), Fort Lisa (1812), Nebraska
* Fort Atkinson (Nebraska) (1819), Nebraska
* Fontenelle's Post (1822), Nebraska
* Cabanne's Trading Post (1822), Nebraska
* Fort Kiowa (1822), South Dakota
* Fort Laramie National Historic Site, Fort Laramie (1834), Texas
* Fort Parker Massacre, Fort Parker (1834), Texas
* New Braunfels, Texas, Zinkenburg (1845), Texas
* Fort Kearney (1848), Nebraska
* Fort Martin Scott (1848), Texas
* Fort Croghan (1849), Texas
* Fort Gates (1849), Texas
* Fort Graham (1849), Texas
* History of Fort Worth, Texas, Fort Worth (1849), Texas
* Fort Belknap (Texas), Fort Belknap (1851), Texas
* Fort Mason (1851), Texas
* Fort Chadbourne (1852), Texas
* Fort McKavett State Historic Site, Fort McKavett (1852), Texas
* Fort Phantom Hill (1852), Texas
* Coleman, Texas, Camp Colorado (1855), Texas
* Fort McPherson, Nebraska, Fort McPherson (1863), Nebraska
* Fort Mitchell, Nebraska, Fort Mitchell (1864), Nebraska
* Fort Concho (1867), Texas
* Fort Griffin (1867), Texas
* Fort Richardson (Texas), Fort Richardson (1867), Texas
* Fort Sidney (1867), Nebraska
* Fort Omaha (1868), Nebraska
* Fort Hartsuff State Historical Park, Fort Hartsuff (1874), Nebraska
* Fort Sill (1869), Oklahoma
* Fort Robinson (1874), Nebraska
* Camp Sheridan (Nebraska), Camp Sheridan (1874), Nebraska
* Fort Niobrara (1880), Nebraska
* Fort Elliott (1875), Texas
Beginning in 1821, the Santa Fe Trail ran from the Missouri River to New Mexico, skirting north of Comancheria. Beginning in the 1830s, the Oregon Trail led from the Missouri River across the Great Plains.
After 1870, the new railroads across the Plains brought hunters who killed off almost all the American bison, bison for their hides. The railroads offered attractive packages of land and transportation to American farmers, who rushed to settle the land. They also took advantage of the homestead laws to obtain farms. Land speculators and local boosters identified many potential towns, and those reached by the railroad had a chance, while the others became ghost towns. Towns flourished if they were favored by proximity to the railroad.
Much of the Great Plains became open range where cattle roamed free, hosting ranching operations where anyone was free to run cattle. In the spring and fall, ranchers held roundups where their cowboys branded new calves, treated animals, and sorted the cattle for sale. Such ranching began in Texas and gradually moved northward. Between 1866 and 1895, cowboys herded 10 million cattle north to rail heads such as Dodge City, Kansas and Ogallala, Nebraska; from there, cattle were shipped east.
The U.S. passed the Homestead Acts of 1862 to encourage agricultural development of the Great Plains and house a growing population. It allowed a settler to claim up to of land, provided that he lived on it for a period of five years and cultivated it. The provisions were expanded under the Kinkaid Act of 1904 to include a homestead of an entire section. Hundreds of thousands of people claimed such homesteads, sometimes building houses out of the very turf of the land. Many of them were not skilled farmers, and failures were frequent. The Dominion Lands Act of 1871 served a similar function for establishing homesteads on the prairies in Canada.
File:Homesteader NE 1866.png, Homestead Acts, Homesteaders in central
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
in 1886
File:Johnson 1920 HighPlains.jpg, The Great Plains before the native grasses were plowed under, Haskell County, Kansas, 1897, showing a man near a buffalo wallow
File:Cowboy1902.jpg, Cattle herd and cowboy, c. 1902
File:"Wheat field on Dutch flats near Mitchell, Nebr. Farm of T.C. Shawver." - NARA - 294480.tif, Wheat field on Dutch flats near Mitchell, Nebraska, 1910
Social life
The railroads opened up the Great Plains for settlement, making it possible to ship wheat and other crops at low cost to the urban markets in the East and overseas. Homestead land was free for American settlers. Railroads sold their land at cheap rates to immigrants in the expectation that they would generate traffic as soon as farms were established. Immigrants poured in, especially from Germany and Scandinavia. On the plains, very few single men attempted to operate a farm or ranch by themselves; they understood the need for a hard-working wife and numerous children to handle the many responsibilities. During the early years of settlement, farm women played an integral role in assuring family survival by working outdoors. After approximately one generation, women increasingly left the fields, thus redefining their roles within the family. New technology encouraged women to turn to domestic roles, including sewing and washing machines. Media and government extension agents promoted the "scientific housekeeping" movement, along with county fairs which featured achievements in home cookery and canning, advice columns for women regarding farm book keeping, and home economics courses in the schools.
The eastern image of farm life in the prairies emphasized the isolation of the lonely farmer and wife, yet plains residents created busy social lives for themselves. They often sponsored activities which combined work, food, and entertainment, such as barn raisings, corn huskings, quilting bees, The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, Grange meetings, church activities and school functions. Women organized shared meals and potluck events, as well as extended visits among families.
20th century
The region roughly centered on the Oklahoma Panhandle was known as the Dust Bowl during the late 1920s and early 1930s, including southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, the
Texas Panhandle
The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a square-shaped area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east. It is adjacent to ...
, and extreme northeastern New Mexico. The effects of an extended drought, inappropriate cultivation, and financial crises of the Great Depression forced many farmers off the land throughout the Great Plains.
From the 1950s on, many areas of the Great Plains have become productive crop-growing areas because of extensive irrigation on large land-holdings. The United States is a major exporter of agricultural products. The southern portion of the Great Plains lies over the Ogallala Aquifer, a huge underground layer of water-bearing strata. Center pivot irrigation is used extensively in drier sections of the Great Plains, resulting in Overdrafting, aquifer depletion at a rate that is greater than the ground's ability to recharge.
Population decline
The rural Plains have lost a third of their population since 1920. Several hundred thousand square miles of the Great Plains have fewer than , the density standard that Frederick Jackson Turner used to declare the American frontier "closed" in 1893. Many have fewer than . There are more than 6,000 ghost towns in Kansas alone, according to Kansas historian Daniel Fitzgerald (writer), Daniel Fitzgerald. This problem is often exacerbated by the consolidation of farms and the difficulty of attracting modern industry to the region. In addition, the smaller school-age population has forced the consolidation of school districts and the closure of high schools in some communities. The continuing population loss has led some to suggest that the current use of the drier parts of the Great Plains is not sustainable,Amanda Rees, ''The Great Plains region'' (2004) p. xvi and there has been a proposal to return approximately of these drier parts to native prairie land as a Buffalo Commons.
Wind power
The Great Plains contributes substantially to wind power in the United States. T. Boone Pickens developed wind farms after a career as a petroleum executive, and he called for the U.S. to invest $1 trillion to build an additional 200,000 MW of wind power in the Plains as part of his Pickens Plan. He cited Sweetwater, Texas, as an example of economic revitalization driven by wind power development.
See also
* 1837 Great Plains smallpox epidemic
* Bison hunting
* Conservation of American bison
* Dust Bowl
* Great American Desert
* Great bison belt
* Great Plains Art Museum
* Great Plains Conservation Program
* Llano Estacado
* Northern Great Plains History Conference
* Territories of the United States on stamps
International steppe-lands
* Eurasian Steppe
* Kazakh Steppe
* Pampas, in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil
* Pontic–Caspian steppe
* Puszta
References
Further reading
* Bonnifield, Paul. ''The Dust Bowl: Men, Dirt, and Depression'', University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1978, hardcover, .
* Courtwright, Julie. ''Prairie Fire: A Great Plains History'' (University Press of Kansas, 2011) 274 pp.
* Danbom, David B. ''Sod Busting: How families made farms on the 19th-century Plains'' (2014)
* Eagan, Timothy. ''The Worst Hard Time : the Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl''. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006.
* Michael Forsberg, Forsberg, Michael, ''Great Plains: America's Lingering Wild'', University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, 2009,
* Gilfillan, Merrill. ''Chokecherry Places, Essays from the High Plains'', Johnson Press, Boulder, Colorado, trade paperback, .
* Grant, Michael Johnston. ''Down and Out on the Family Farm: Rural Rehabilitation in the Great Plains, 1929–1945'', University of Nebraska Press, 2002,
* Hurt, R. Douglas. ''The Big Empty: The Great Plains in the Twentieth Century'' (University of Arizona Press; 2011) 315 pages; the environmental, social, economic, and political history of the region.
* Hurt, R. Douglas. ''The Great Plains during World War II.'' University of Nebraska Press. 2008. Pp. xiii, 507.
* Mills, David W. ''Cold War in a Cold Land: Fighting Communism on the Northern Plains'' (2015) Col War era excerpt * Peirce, Neal R. ''The Great Plains States of America: People, Politics, and Power in the Nine Great Plains States'' (1973)
* Raban, Jonathan. ''Bad Land: An American Romance''. Vintage Departures, division of Vintage Books, New York, 1996. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.
* Rees, Amanda. ''The Great Plains Region: The Greenwood Encyclopedia of American Regional Cultures'' (2004)
* Stegner, Wallace. ''Wolf Willow: A History, a Story, and a Memory of the Last Plains Frontier'', Viking Compass Book, New York, 1966, trade paperback,
* Wishart, David J. (ed.). ''Encyclopedia of the Great Plains'', University of Nebraska Press, 2004, complete text online