15. Tensions rise between the Sioux and the U.S. Government
Peace on the northern plains would not last long either. Under the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, the Sioux had been granted land in the Dakotas, Montana, and Wyoming. The treaty also permitted the Sioux to hunt buffalo outside the Great Sioux Reservation in the Black Hills and Powder River Country. In 1872, the Northern Pacific Railroad announced that it intended to lay a track north of the Great Sioux Reservation from Bismarck to the Yellowstone River valley.
The Sioux opposed the plan from the start. Apart from passing through their main buffalo-hunting range, the Sioux were well aware that a railway line would mean the arrival of more white settlers into the region. Two government officials were sent in 1873 to try and persuade the Sioux to allow the railway lines construction. The Sioux would not budge. The Northern Pacific would not take no for an answer. In June surveyors began mapping the route under army protection. With construction due to commence in the spring, Sherman, aware of Sioux opposition, was already drawing up plans for war. War was averted, albeit temporarily when Northern Pacific went bankrupt before construction could begin.