First settled by the Osage Indians in 1796, the area is now part of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, a protected remnant of the original North American prairie, a 500-mile wide stretch of land in the central part of the United States that extended from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The tallgrass prairie exists today only in those areas which are not tillable or have soils not conducive to farming. Rich grasses in the prairie have sustained cattle-grazing operations since the 1880s.