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The Pony Express (1860)
The Pony Express was founded by William H. Russell, William B. Waddell, and Alexander Majors. Plans for the Pony Express were spurred by the threat of the Civil War and the need for faster communication with the West. The Pony Express consisted of relays of men riding horses carrying saddlebags of mail across a 2000-mile trail. The service opened officially on April 3, 1860, when riders left simultaneously from St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. -
The First Transcontinental Telegraph (1861)
Workers of the Western Union Telegraph Company link the eastern and western telegraph networks of the nation at Salt Lake City, Utah, completing a transcontinental line that for the first time allows instantaneous communication between Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. -
Pacific Railroad Act (1862)
e "Pacific Railroad Acts" were a series of acts of Congress that promoted the construction of a "transcontinental railroad" (the "Pacific Railroad") in the United States through authorizing the issuance of government bonds and the grants of land to railroad companies. -
Homestead Act (1862)
A law passed in the 1860s that offered up to 160 acres of public land to any head of a family who paid a registration fee, lived on the land for five years, and cultivated it or built on it. -
Transcontinental Railroad (1869)
A train route across the United States, finished in 1869. It was the project of two railroad companies: the Union Pacific built from the east, and the Central Pacific built from the west. The two lines met in Utah. -
Yellowstone National Park (1872)
Yellowstone National Park is a nearly 3,500-sq.-mile wilderness recreation area atop a volcanic hot spot. Mostly in Wyoming, the park spreads into parts of Montana and Idaho too. Yellowstone features dramatic canyons, alpine rivers, lush forests, hot springs and gushing geysers, including its most famous, Old Faithful. It's also home to hundreds of animal species, including bears, wolves, bison, elk and antelope. -
Black Hills Gold (1874)
The Black Hills Gold Rush took place in Dakota Territory in the United States. It began in 1874 following the Custer Expedition and reached a peak in 1876-77. Rumors and poorly documented reports of gold in the Black Hills go back to the early 19th century. -
Barbed Wire Invented (1874)
Since its invention and perfection barbed wire has changed very little in design and function. But its symbolism and meaning have changed dramatically. Originally designed for restraining animals, it was quickly adapted for use against humans. Barbed wire is a simple concept and is equally simple to produce. Its practical uses span the agricultural, political, military, and economic realms of modern society. Barbed wire has played an essential role in the territorial expansion -
Wild Bill Hickok is Shot (1876)
In 1876, Hickok was shot from behind and killed while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory (now South Dakota), by an unsuccessful gambler, Jack McCall. The hand of cards which he supposedly held at the time of his death (black aces and eights) has become known as the dead man's hand. -
Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)
he Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to Lakota as the Battle of the Greasy Grass,[1] and commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes, against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. The battle, which occurred June 25–26, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in eastern Montana Territory, was the most prominent action of the Great Sioux War of 1876.
