Dr. Jeffrey Means, University of Wyoming's History Department Chair on March 11th.
The presentation, "From Bison to Beeves: Cattle Ranching on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 1868-1920," was part of an opening reception for a photo exhibit featuring winning photos from WPM’s Wyoming’s History Through Listeners’ Eyes Photo Contest. (View the virtual exhibit online). This website also includes a link to a 2026 calendar featuring winning photos that you can download. The exhibit will travel around Wyoming throughout 2026.
Title: From Bison to Beeves: Cattle Ranching on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 1868-1920
Biography: Jeff Means, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, is the Chair of the History Department and an Associate Professor of History at the University of Wyoming. His field of study is Native American History. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1987-1991, and then went back to school, receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma in 2007. His primary area of interest is Oglala Lakota history in the 18th and 19th century.
Presentation Summary: From Bison to Beeves examines the evolution of the Oglala Lakota’s political economy during a liminal transition period after contact with Europeans. Beginning with the signing of the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868, it examines the Lakota attempt to replace bison with cattle during the early reservation decades of the 19th and early 20th centuries. I argue that the Oglala actively and innovatively moved to enhance and protect their way of life to meet the diverse challenges each period presented. This presentation reveals that from 1868 to 1920 the Oglala actively sought to maintain control of their political economy, and culture, until outside forces disenfranchised the tribe politically and economically from their land. After reservation confinement the Oglala sought to continue their culture unchanged.
Oglala sought to continue their culture unchanged.This project is funded in part by the Wyoming Semiquincentennial grant from the Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources office.
