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Whoop-Up Country, by Paul Sharp was a book that told the story of the old Whoop-Up Trail of the Northern Plains, running from Fort Benton, Montana up into Fort Macleod, Alberta. In the beginning of the book Sharp describes the present-day trail, which is parallel to Highway 91 running from Great Falls, Montana to Calgary, Alberta. The land is now primarily wheat fields and cattle range, but in its early days the Whoop-Up trail was used as a trading route, "writing its history in whisky, guns, furs, freight, and pioneer enterprise," with the primary good being buffalo hides. Sharp tells stories from both the north and south side of the 49th parallel, and describes the differences between the Canadian ways and the American way. He goes into much detail about the treatment of Indians on the trail and believes the Canadians treated them much better. One chapter describes the Massacre at Cypress Hills and explains how the Canadians viewed Americans as being "drunk with whiskey and greed" and slaughtering innocent Indians for no reason; while Americans viewed the same story as brave and valiant frontiersmen "fighting for their lives against fearful odds." The book tells many stories of the trail, and of its vast importance to commerce and trade before the railroads, the trail was beneficial to many including: the military, merchants, farmers, ranchers, Indians, the Canadian Mounties, and countless other people who traveled the old trail.

I found Whoop-Up Country to be a much more enjoyable read than Webb’s Great Plains, and the regional history was much stronger and easier for me to relate to since I grew up just a couple hundred miles away from this. I especially enjoyed the chapter on "Graziers and Grangers", because it tells the story of diversified farming and ranching in the area, not just that of single enterprise farming and ranching that most people believe existed. I had never heard of the Whoop-Up Trail before and probably never would have if it wasn’t for this book, and find it sad that history like this is unknown and untold. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys learning about some regional history.