The Powder River Country refers to an area of the Great Plains in northeastern Wyoming in the United States. The area is loosely defined between the Bighorn Mountains and the Black Hills, in the upper drainage areas of the Powder, Tongue, and Little Bighorn rivers.
During the late 1860s, the area was the scene of Red Cloud's War between the Lakota and the United States. The Lakota victory in the war resulted in the preservation of their control of the area for the next decade.
After control fell to the U.S. government in 1870s following the end of the Great Sioux War of 1876-77, the area was opened to white settlement, one of the last such areas opened for homesteading in the continental United States. In 1892, the area was the scene of the Johnson County War.
In the early 20th century, the discovery of petroleum in the area led to the development of the area's oil fields.
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