Great Plains

The American region called the “Great Plains” is a large area of flat land, and is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains. American explorer and writer Jonathan Carver (1710-1780) used “great plains” twice in the book he wrote about his three years of travels, 1766-68.
   
The Oxford English Dictionary contains a citation of “Great Plains” from 1794.  “Great plains” was also printed in newspapers in January 1796, in a letter dated from December 1795. “Great plains” was used in the book The travels of Captains Lewis and Clarke from St. Louis, by way of the Missouri and Columbia Rivers, to the Pacific Ocean (1809) by Meriwether Lewis.
   
 
Wikipedia: Great Plains
The Great Plains (sometimes simply “the Plains”) is a broad expanse of flat land (a plain), much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland, located in the United States and Canada. It lies west of the Mississippi River tallgrass prairie in the United States and east of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S. and Canada. It embraces:
 
. The entirety of Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota
. Parts of Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming
. The southern portions of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba
 
The region is known for supporting extensive cattle ranching and dry farming.
 
(Oxford English Dictionary)
Great Plains, n.
With the or in attributive use. A vast expanse of prairie to the east of the Rocky Mountains in central North America, extending from Texas into southern Canada.
1794   Morning Chron. 30 Sept.  He then crossed the Great Plains and came to the village of the Atakapa Indians.
1796   Free-mason’s Mag. Jan. 34   He continued down till he came to the north branch [of the Red River], and so continued along its banks in the great plains till he came to the Pawnee nation of Indians.
1801   Eccentric Biogr. 305   He came..from the Pawnies to the Cadom nation, who live in the Great Plains.
         
1 May 1796, The Rural Magazine, or, Vermont Repository (Rutland, VT), “Account of Spillard’s Travels,” pg. 219:
(A letter from London dated December 31, 1795.—ed.)
Here he fell in with the fourth branch of the Red River, which he continued down till he came to the north branch, and so continued along its banks in the great plains till he came to the Pawnee nation of Indians, and so on to the Cansee Indians, continuing his route till he arrived again at Nachitoches, and so down to the mouth of the river.
     
Google Books
Three Years Travels Throughout the Interior Parts of North America (1766-1768—ed.)
By Capt. Jonathan Carver
Charlestown, MA: Printed by Samuel Etheridge, for West and Greenleaf
1802 (Originally printed in 1794. Parts were printed in newspapers by at least 1785.—ed.)
Pg. 52:
... or the blades of grass on your great plains, ...
Pg. 53:
... and as there are now several of your chiefs here, who came from the great plains towards the setting of the sun, whom I have never spoke with in council before, ...
 
Google Books
The travels of Captains Lewis and Clarke from St. Louis, by way of the Missouri and Columbia Rivers, to the Pacific Ocean
By Meriwether Lewis
London, UK: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme
1809
Pg. 243:
This river derives its appellation from the name of an Indian tribe formerly resident on its banks; the remnant of which, it is said, went into the great plains to the westward, and either compose a small tribe themselves, or are incorporated into another nation.
 
Google Books
July 1828, The North American Review, “The Chippewa Indians,” pg. 101:
But we believe it has produced far less effect upon the institutions and customs of the Indians, as they now exist in the great plains and forests of the Mississippi and the Lakes, than is generally believed.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Incidents of travel to California, across the great plains ; together with the return trips through Central America and Jamaica; to which are added sketches of the author’s life.
Author: John Udell
Publisher: Jefferson, O., Printed for the author, at the Sentinel Office, Louisville, Lost Cause Press, 1856. 1960.
Series: Wagner-Camp. Plains and Rockies, 281
Edition/Format:   Book   Microform : Micro-opaque : English
     
OCLC WorldCat record
The prairie and overland traveller : a companion for emigrants, traders, travellers, hunters, and soldiers traversing great plains and prairies
Author: Randolph B Marcy
Publisher: London : S. Low, 1860.
Edition/Format:   eBook : Document : English
   
OCLC WorldCat record
The Great Plains of North America
Author: William Ainsworth
Publisher: [London] : [Collins, .], [1861]
Edition/Format:   Print book : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Old Rube, the Hunter : Or, the Crow Captive : a Tale of the Great Plains
Author: T C Harbaugh
Publisher: New York : American News Co., 1865.
Series: Plains and Rockies ; 417B.; Nineteenth Century American Literature and History.
Edition/Format:   Book   Microform : Micro-opaque : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Report of the Special committee of the United States Senate on the irrigation and reclamation of arid lands. Vol. 3. - Rocky Mountain Region and Great Plains, Part 4.
Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Select Committee on the Irrigation and Reclamation of Arid Lands.; Geological Survey (U.S.)
Publisher: Washington, D.C. : U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1890.
Edition/Format:   Print book : National government publication : English