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Paul Sharp wrote the book Whoop Up Country and it was based on the Whoop Up Trail that was created to connect Fort Benton in Montana to Fort Macleod in Alberta, Canada. We learned about the purpose of the trail and how it evolved over time. This trial that was once symbolized teh economic, social, and cultural ties is now a highway. Sharp compared the two parts of the trail, the north and south and how the Americans and Canadians had different perspectives especially when it came to Native Americans. From what I gathered, Sharp believed that the Canadians treated the Native Americans better than the Americans did. He used the Massacre at Cypress Hill to explain this further. The Canadians felt taht the Americans were "drunk with whiskey and greed." The Americans thought that they were very brave because they were fighting for their lives against all odds. This trail was used heavily for fur trading, which happned around the 49th parellel, and Sharp explained this greatly. As the fur trading was going on Fort Benton was a very popular place and everything happened around it, but once the fur trading declined, so did Fort Benton. The trail was also used however, for trading whiskey, guns, freight, and so on. Sharp talked about the importance of the trail and how it was extremely important to people such as merchants, military men, farmers, Native Americans, ranchers, and everyone else who used the trail for travel.
Overall, I thought this book was much better than the Great Plains by Webb. I liked how it wasn't about the south and was about the West, which I'm more familiar with. I also liked how it was a book with an actualy story; it was much more interesting than just facts. I found it interesting as to how the Americans and Canadians viewed each other so differently and had such different outlooks on things.