I find your lack of faith...disturbing...
-Darth Vader
No understanding of the west is complete without inclusion of Terry Anderson's The Not So Wild, Wild West: Property Rights on the Frontier. Blurb from Amazon.com reads
Mention of the American West usually evokes images of rough and tumble cowboys, ranchers, and outlaws. In contrast, The Not So Wild, Wild West casts America's frontier history in a new framework that emphasizes the creation of institutions, both formal and informal, that facilitated cooperation rather than conflict. Rather than describing the frontier as a place where heroes met villains, this book argues that everyday people helped carve out legal institutions that tamed the West.
The authors emphasize that ownership of resources evolves as those resources become more valuable or as establishing property rights becomes less costly. Rules evolving at the local level will be more effective because local people have a greater stake in the outcome. This theory is brought to life in the colorful history of Indians, fur trappers, buffalo hunters, cattle drovers, homesteaders, and miners. The book concludes with a chapter that takes lessons from the American frontier and applies them to our modern "frontiers"―the environment, developing countries, and space exploration.
Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler
BenjaminO (09-22-2020),Peter1469 (09-22-2020),Private Pickle (09-22-2020)
Liberals are a clear and present danger to our nation
Pick your enemies carefully.
I had an uncle that was a history teacher and read Zane Grey and the rest. There were never any shootouts where each guy would "draw". They were more than likely to sneak up on a guy and shoot'em in the back of the head ala Wild Bill Hickok. The fame and romance of the west came from dime novels. My uncle's claim to fame was that he once worked at a Texas gas station that was knocked over by Bonnie and Clyde.
And! Wyatt Earp is buried in the city of Colma here in the Bay Area.
Earp Grave.jpg