Webblog

One Shining Moment is a documentary on the history of the North Dakota State B tournament. Being a part of this during high school it had an instant appeal to me. The basketball in North Dakota is just how the movie says it is, it’s the super bowl of North Dakota. With poor weather and no professional sports in the state sports like basketball and football have always been huge. This movie right away reminded me of some of the big games in my basketball career, and while schools like M-P-C-G and Hillsboro were mentioned on the show I remembered all the games that my home town of Northwood played against them. Everybody has their one shining moment at their own high school. For me I remember an 8th grade finals match against Thompson high school. It was a close game all throughout, and the fourth quarter was no different. Our star player Blake Prosser really came through however. We were taking the ball out on the opposite side of the court and we had about five seconds left on the clock with us being two points behind. The ball was passed to Blake Prosser who dribbled twice and then from a few feet behind the half court line and he chucked it up. First came the swish of the net and second came the dog pile by the bench it was very exciting. This movie was a very excellent testament to the North Dakota State B Tournament. Excellent movie, also very informative about the top five state B players and other fun facts like that.

By Justin Nygaard

As it turns out, I don't think we'll have the discussion of Sharp tomorrow, Thursday, after all. I want to defer on that until Tuesday. Instead, we'll have lecture material on agriculture. I'll do some set-up tomorrow for the Sharp discussion on Tuesday.

The Black Hills of South Dakota sit as an interesting geological and cultural cross roads. As an island of terrain and trees the Hills against everything Webb would describe as the Plains. The extreme juxtaposition makes the Hills a center for Native American traditions while it also fueled interest for Eastern Anglo Americans. On a site visit to Homestake Mine in the heart of the Black Hills I got to see first hand the sites that the Native Americans hold so dearly and shear determinism of American entrepreneurs and the learn what happens when the two collide.

Until just recently the Homestake Mine was the largest open pit gold mind in the world extracting literally tons of gold in its 120 year history. The gold discover lead to a huge influx of population on the Plains establish boom towns such as Rapid City, SD and even promoting development in places as far away as Bismarck, ND (some 350+ miles). While the development was deemed progress by Eastern Settlers the Native Americans viewed it as the destruction of sacred grounds. The differences was the root for many skirmishes between Native Americans and settlers and would be a large contributer of conflict in the American- Indian wars of the 1800's.
Seeing the mine itself was spectacular beyond description. The huge rock crater terracing down 400 feet and spanning half a mile in Diameter. The thought of turning a mountain into a crater is surreal, and endeavor I can't even fathom but standing on the side of the cliff, seeing it is breath taking. The mine now sits abandoned no longer able to justify digging deeper to extract the gold. What remains is a symbol of conflict between a cultures with perseverances to harness nature and one that wishes to live within it. I am curious of how nature will reclaim the mine and what conclusions future civilizations elude based existence.

During the trip we were privileged (if that is the word for it) to use the site of the old power houses as a camp. The powder houses once store all of the explosives used to carve out the old mountain. The small brick storage sheds were placed over a mile away from the actual mine for the simple reason of accidental explosion. The site of the old powder houses is full of ruins of old storage house foundations, water pumps, and bridges. It was humbling and inspiring to see the decay of mans creation and reminds me of what our place really is in the planet.

In lecture 6 we learned about the perception of the Plains go from 'The Great American Desert' to land of opportunity. The changing mindset can be attributed to the cattle boom of the early to mid 1800's. In this time great cattle towns were developed such as Ogallala, Dodge City, Wichita, et cetera. These communities have been portrait as being lawless anarchy societies, but the reality is that they were relatively peaceful communities with the few, but highly remembered skirmishes. As people from the East continued to settle the West, the unregulated cattle towns became places of Law and Order with the introductions of such sheriffs as Wild Bill Hickok. As more people continued to farm the land the once cattle towns would mature into a farm town. As quickly as the cattle market exploded with investors the market fell out. Though people at the time believed the cattle depression to be to harsh winters and overgrazing modern analysis suggests the recession was only a reflection of how the industry actually was. Isern suggested that it may have been a saturation may have been only in the record books not the land. The result was the liquidations of huge cattle empires into smaller more manageable herds and as the land became fenced in the day of the free cattle range came to an end.
Today the cattle industry must face the issues of ever changing consumer taste, environmentalists, animals rights activists, and packer oligopoly. The meet the demands of these pressures the industry has had to be flexible and will have to continue to be flexible in the future.

Though unstated in the summary I was most intrigued by Isern's interpretation of cowboy weddings. As a romanticist I am inspired by regionally scaled culture and the idea of being identified by clothing, dialect, traditions, et cetera. Unfortunately, we are becoming a generic society largely dominated by national chains and media. I feel it would be much more interesting if cowboy weddings were the norm or if we did talk like in the movie Fargo. But I would suspect that is what the people are looking for is a unique sense of Identity different from New York or California. The idea is really not much different from someone dyeing there hair to stand out from their surrounding.

One thing that I am curious about after the lecture is that in Whoop Up Country there was a large court case in the Canadian Courts regarding a skirmish between traders and Native Americans. Would the American government be as involved in the in the ongoings of the Cattle Lands as the Canadian government? What was the relationship between the cattle towns and the rest of the American nations as far as voting, taxation, courts, et cetera?

When traveling down to Sioux Falls to play Augustana College in a club soccer match, some of my teammates and I traveled through downtown and stumbed upon a pair of gates that lead us to a park of the falls.

People have been attracted to the powerful "Soues Falls" of Sioux Falls, SD for over 2500 years. Europeans first made documentation of the place in August of 1804 when Lewis and Clark describe the falls. Over 14000 years ago, the pinkish stone was exposed when the last glacier redirected the flow of the water to the current river valley. The stone was created by an ancient, shallow sea and slowly deposited to the bottom of the sea and became quartzite bedrock.The ripping flow of the water over the beautiful pink rock is a landmark that many are amazed by. The site has an aura about it. It is a very inspirational place, but the power and flow of the water was seen by many as a money maker. When land in Minnesota and Iowa began to be speculated and sold the Dakota Land Company and Western Town Company decided to buy up land in the river valley, with such a source of water power, the site was a perfect place to make a profit and a city.

The city of Sioux Falls started with a building made of sod. "Fort Sod" was built buy the two land companies to protect their new investment from the natives. The site is now filled with scars of history. Buildings soon went from temporary sod buildings to massive buildings made of the pink stone. Ruins of buildings and old footing now lay scattered around the site as sculptures of the past. The falls is a lively place where many people gather to owe at its beauty. I observed many tourist as well as two separate wedding parties. Places that are graced with names on the prairie are places with topography change, have an abundance of water, or some other unique feature. Sioux Falls has been an attraction for thousands of years as long as the waterfalls people will gather.

Whoop Up Country is a book written by Paul Sharpe about a specific region between Canada and Montana. This region is the Whoop Up Trail, which connects Fort Benton, Montana and Fort Macleod, Alberta. The original reasoning for Sharpe writing this book was so that he could test Walter Webb’s theories about how the environment determines the way that the people live. For that reason he chose the Whoop Up trail because the area is very similar on both the American and Canadian sides of the trail the only differences between the two is the nationalities of its inhabitants. Throughout the book you find that although the environments are very similar the people do not live the same. Some of the more common reasons on the Canadian side is the Mounties patrolling on the Canadian side while the American side was more or less lawless. The common thoughts of the Canadians on the trail were that the Americans were drunken idiots who didn’t and could not follow any laws; obviously the Americans had another point of view about themselves. Another difference that Sharpe found was that on the Canadian side the cattle were fenced in orderly area’s and rotated around from pen to pen so as to keep the grass growing in regular intervals. The American side only a few miles away used the range cattle grazing method. It was very interesting for me to learn some specific details about how different Americans and Canadians can be on such common terms. I also enjoyed learning about this because I have never been a strong believer in environmental determinism as the only factor in our lives. Sharpe in this book provides solid proof that environmental determinism is not the only factor in how we live even though it definitely is one of the factors.

By Justin Nygaard

Pow Wow Highway is the story of two good Cheyenne friends named Dilbert and Redbull. Redbull is a headstrong kind of guy that gets infuriated easy and likes to live life to the fullest, while Dilbert is shy and a dreamer. In this movie Redbull is fighting off the white mans greed for the natural resources of his reservation. Because of all the attention he draws from the community against the white men, some dirty cops decide to arrange for him to be out of town until after the voting for the natural recourses takes place. As a result Redbull’s sister Bonnie gets arrested on a bogus drug charge. This act starts Redbull and Dilbert out on their journey, originally toward Santa Fe to post bail for Bonnie, but they soon end up off course. While driving Dilbert hears from a trucker about a butte that the great Cheyenne prophet White Cloud got his power from. Next they visited a river that holds sacred honor among the Cheyenne, it was here that Dilbert finds his first totem. To be a fierce warrior he would have to find 3 totems in a special manner. From there they visited Pine Ridge for a Pow Wow. Fort Robinson was then the place where Dilbert found the second totem near the memorial marker. The whole time this is all going on Redbull was angry all the way because he had to get his sister out of jail in Santa Fe and here Dilbert was verging off track and visiting all sorts of off course destinations. When they make it to Santa Fe Bonnie’s friend had already tried paying the bail to get her out of jail but the cops were stalling out until the voting was finished. So Dilbert and Redbull get there to find his sister and children in jail for the Christmas weekend. While Redbull tries to figure out a plan, Dilbert decides to tie a rope to the jail bars and then tear them off the wall. He does so and breaks Bonnie out of jail. The three of them and the kids then make a dashing escape in Dilbert’s “pony” (a piece of junk old car). While escaping the chief of the tribe who had been keeping an eye on them lets out his cattle nearby and blocks the road for them, however Dilbert’s “pony” unfortunately loses it’s breaks, everybody jumps out except for Dilbert. The car starts on fire and just as everybody starts to think that Dilbert is dead he comes waltzing up the hillside, with his third totem in hand. All that he has to say is “my pony threw me”.
This movie was great hilarious and for the most part practical. I enjoyed watching it quite a bit and thought that it showed well how the native Americans thought about the white man during that time period and how they were also treated by the white man.

By Justin Nygaard

The book Whoop-Up Country by Paul F. Sharpe was about the Whoop-Up Trail and a study of the Canadian-American frontier. This trail was one that connected Fort Benton in Montana to Fort McLeod in Alberta. Fort Benton was the commercial center of the region for fur and buffalo hide trading, while Fort McLeod was where the trail ended so both were very important along the trail. Law was pretty much non-existent along the trail, this was evident in a letter that “Snookum Jim” wrote to a friend in 1873. It went something like “My friend was being a jerk, so I shot him. Potatoes are doing really well this year though.” That made me laugh. Lawlessness was also apparent in the fur traders dealing with Indians. They would get the Indians good and drunk off whiskey and then take their furs. Even more appalling they wouldn’t even give them good whiskey; it would more than likely be second-class and highly diluted with water. Other things that were discussed was the impact of steamboat trade along the Missouri River. Steamboats made farther and faster trade possible. But the demise of the steamboat came with the creation of the railroad, which led to more people permanently settling in the area to farm, which in turn lead to people wanting boarders to divide land.
This book was much more interesting to read than Webb’s. The first page caught my eye, unlike Webb’s book. Or maybe it caught my eye simply because it wasn’t Webb’s book. Either way, Sharpe wrote colorfully, passionately, and poetically. I couldn’t believe that from 1874-1885 this trail carried 1/3 of all freight handled through Fort Benson! Sharpe discussed how the name “The Great American Desert” confused many people. Some people called it the Great American Desert because it was deserted and desolate, and other people said it was a desert similar to the Sahara in Africa. Other people like Captain Lewis said the opposite speaking of a “beautifully, picturesque country.” Then he moved onto talk about the Chinook, that made me long for the days of old when western North Dakota was my home and we would a nice break from the sub-zero temperatures.

In Corner Gas episodes 4-6 the ordinary town life continues with a lot humor. Brent agrees to babysit Wanda’s son Tanner while the town bets on how badly he’ll be injured by the young hellion. Karen investigates who spray painted 'Grad 68' on the town water tower and is puzzled by the hostility and silence of the town’s reaction to her investigation. Lacey is rejected by the town newspaper after several wholehearted attempts at writing stories for the Dog River Howler. Hank has an idea to attract tourists by building the world’s largest thing, and the mayor's grandmother thought to honor the town's agricultural heritage by building a big hoe. Unfortunately, she is the only one who does not realize the double meaning of her suggestion. The mayor approves the suggestion because his grandmother suggested it and many other small towns had profited from building large things. Sadly, we find out at the end of the episode, that another town already has the world's biggest hoe.

I find the continuing theme of grammatical accuracy and font facility to be intriguing. Is this a Canadian phenomenon? Is Corner Gas poking fun at Americans and British? Or is it just Dog River folk at their syntactical finest? In episode three, Lacey was constantly barraged for her quotes and font choice on a flyer. Can she not get a job as a newspaper writer because she is 'not from around here' or because her writing standards don't measure up to Dog River standards? In several episodes there are references to font types and the finer differences between similes and metaphors. I am interested in whether this is meant to be a plains attribute or merely comic relief for a TV show.

Lecture 6 discusses the legends of cowboys and the lifestyle inspired by cattle. The process of raising cattle went through many changes before it came to its present state. Before barbed wire or fencing in general became popular in the West, cattle grazed on open range, land not really owned by the cattlemen. Because of better prices north of where the cattle were raised, they were taken to cattle towns on foot to be sold. Trains facilitated the movement of cattle towards urban centers where the meat was needed. The golden age of cattle ended in the 1880s/1890s after a series of hard winters and droughts. Cattlemen now fenced cattle and grew hay to feed the cows in the winter. Consumer tastes in cattle changed with the introduction of other European breeds and health concerns about saturated fat.

I’m a vegetarian, so I'm not interested in whether or not it is necessary to trim the fat off a steak before cooking, but my dad is a farmer/rancher. He raises mostly wheat in the summer and also grows hay for his Angus cattle. I sympathize with anyone who ever had to fix fence for cattle and certainly understand why rancher used to open range wouldn't want to change to such a laborious system. My father always seemed to wait for a day when the weather wasn't cooperating well enough to do anything else, then he would fix fence. If I wasn't at school I had the dubious pleasure of accompanying him. My dad is allergic to beef, and I find it ironic that both of us, who will never eat his cows or anyone else's cows, will go through so much trouble to fence these animals.

Last Saturday (11/27) when I was home for the weekend I got the opportunity to attend the Bainville Harvest Festival. The Bainville Harvest Festival was a first annual fall chili supper that I heard was organized by a few wives of local farmers, to celebrate the awesome yields and record high spring wheat and durum prices. I was home for the weekend to do some mule deer hunting in eastern Montana, as I get a tag out there every year and have always had fun out there. Anyway, when my brother and I stopped in at the Welcome Stop Saturday evening, the local (and only) gas station in Bainville and saw my dad and uncle were there and they told us there was a chili feed downtown at the Legion that they were going to check out, so we decided to meet them down there. Arriving downtown, just a couple blocks down, we noticed there were a lot of people out in the streets and my brother remarked that he hadn't seen this many people in Bainville since the centennial celebration back in July of 2006. We found a place to park a few blocks down and walked down to the Legion. As soon as we walked in we were both greeted by almost everyone, since we pretty much grew up there (it’s only a mile from our family farm) and hadn’t seen a lot of them for awhile. The supper was a simple one. It consisted of chili that was served out of several crockpots that people had brought with them, and there was also garlic bread and cheese bread. It was interesting to take note of how everyone acted as I had never done this before, the room was mostly segregated men and women and after people finished eating they would sit and visit or move over to another table to visit someone else they hadn’t seen in awhile. The local farmers and ranchers, my dad and uncle included, sure were celebrating over the high prices they received for their durum and spring wheat this fall. The elevator reached a peak price of $17.85/bushel of durum and many farmers were able to sell when the price was between $16-$17/bushel. These were phenomenal prices and certainly record highs, many also sold their spring wheat for about $7-$8/bushel. This fall certainly contained profits and good times to be had by all, and the celebration didn’t stop with the harvest festival as many went to the bar when the dinner ended. The Bainville Harvest Festival was the first of its kind, and everyone enjoyed themselves and the chili. It sounds like it will become a fall tradition, regardless of commodity prices.

Last Friday my girlfriend and I had the experience to visit the Heritage Hjemkomst Interpretive Center in Moorhead. This year the museum is celebrating the 25th year anniversary of the sailing of the Hjemkomst ship from Duluth, MN to Norway. Although the museum is known for the ship it also had three other displays on site. This includes: The history of the development of the Red River Valley, a traveling exhibit called Children of the World and finally the Hopperstad Stave Church Replica. For those not familiar with the Hjemkomst ship it was built by Robert Asp a counselor at a local Moorhead Public School. As he was ill in the hospital he read about the Viking Warriors and decided to rebuild one of their ships they used to sail across the world. He spent many years building this ship in Hawley, Minnesota and when he finished it he moved it to Duluth to see if it would actually float. When it did he was ecstatic but unfortunately he died of Leukemia so he never was part of its maiden and only journey across the Atlantic. Instead four of his children along with a crew of nine did sail it all the way to Norway making a stop in New York City.

We visited all four exhibits and recieved a personal tour of the Hopperstad church. We also watched a film on the sailing of the Hjemkomst ship. It is a great museum because it has the history on how this area was formed thousands and millions of years ago and also has history on the strong Norwegian ties to this area. Growing up in Fargo I have been to the museum a few times to see different traveling exhibits they have had including: Dinosaurs and etc... Overall, it was a great trip and we spent a little more than two hours exploring it.

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.

Paul F. Sharp's book Whoop Up Country focused on the way of life of the people located near the Whoop Up Trail. The Whoop Up Trail connected Fort Benton in Montana and Fort Macleod in Alberta, Canada. The lives of these two prairie towns evolved greatly over time. Beginning with the Whiskey Trading that took place illegally amongst the Native Americans in the area. This trade was frowned upon by Easterners as well as the more law abiding locals and often had atleast a small part (or huge part) in causing conflicts between the traders and the Natives that were being robbed. Along with the practice of horse stealing that was never really understood by whites events such as the Cyprus Hills Massacr, episodes of extreme violence, broke out in Whoop Up Country. These events showed a great need for some sort of law enforcement on this plains. Vigilante justice was common on the frontier, where angered citizens would take the law in their own hands, often without trial, and usually brutal in their tactics. This situation appalled people in the more "civilized" east and in Canada led to the creation of the Northwest Mounted Police. A force of Canada's finest military and police personel that was trained and eventually sent went in hopes of closing down the whiskey forts in the West. This force was trained with the expectations of a war with the whiskey traders. Oddly enough, however, they met little resistance besides the fact that they were ill prepared for the journey west and had little experience with the frontier and barely survived the trek. With the institution of law in the West the two forts were allowed to create a more civilized culture on the plains. Town leaders in Fort Benton began to take the steps to create what they called "Chicago of the Plains." This attempt at civilization was often difficult with the very little traffic that entered the town being made up of stagecoaches hauling freight and often citizens heading towards the west coast. Despite this Fort Benton became the last outpost before the Rockies and developed into a strong city with a hotel a paper and many other business. The final battles with Native Americans and borders however were not at an end. The Indian Wars on the Plains raged on with Custer and the Big Horn and The Canadian Mounted Police felt the need to guard their border against the Americans, who were rumored to be planning attacks into Canada against Sitting Bull's forces and later annexationist visions aimed more to the North in hopes of making Canada another state in the United States. This relationship exists today with diplimacy and unfortunately still many missunderstandings between the people across the 49th Parallel.

My favorite part of this book was the Narratives. Sharp does a good job of including the often humorous stories of the people that inhabited these two forts. My favorite story involved a wagon of one barrel of flour and forty barrels of whiskey, which led an inhabitant of Fort Benton to question, "what in the world do they want with all that flour?" These stories made the book very readable and allowed the reader to learn the history of this tumultuous area all the while feeling like he was reading a work of fiction. Another interesting part to me was the journey of the Mounted Police west. It seemed hard to believe that a planned and trained force for a specific purpose could be so ill prepared for their exact mission, yet through sheer guts and determination managed to finish their journey and rid the area of the whiskey forts that mark a dark past and give the Whoop Up Country its name.

Picture this...."rolling terrain, grotesquely eroded badlands, wind-scarred buttes, deeply trenched river valleys, numerous mountain groups and glacially created surfaces." It sounds like something a geologist would dream about but the beauty described in this passage is that of the North American Plains or Whoop Up Country as found in the book Whoop Up Country by Paul Sharp. In the book, Sharp depicts much more than just the visual beauty of the land but also the action that took place on the land in the years gone by...way back when. Then the land was more easily described as Blackfoot country or Fur Trade country or even a highly coveted Railway Destination. Through his depictions, Sharp gives his readers a great idea of what really went on in those days. Between the Indian nations, the white man society moving in and Canada trying to keep up appearances, it is quite an action packed read.

One aspect of the book I found rather interesting was the evolution of the Canadian/American relationship that occurred during this time period. Before the fur trade era, it seemed as though there were few ties between Canada and the United States. During the era, a sort of cooperation-like bond was formed between the two and then the railway came to these parts of the country and the two nations no longer needed each other. I always wondered why there isn't a closer bond between the U.S. & Canada. Finally at the very end Sharp is sure to point out that peace between the two nations is fitting.

An inquiry I have that Sharp brought to my attention is that of Indian medicine bags or "magic" as he describes. This aspect of the Native American culture has always interested me but I have heard little mention of it. I once saw a medicine bag pinned to the inside of a small Native American boy's shirt and tried to look closer at it but was told not to touch his medicine for it would mean bad luck for the boy for the rest of his life. This is almost as intriguing as Sharp's descriptions of Whoop Up Country! Can anyone give me any input on this?

"What the difference a day makes", states the old song. I'd like to change that and point out that, "What a difference a great story teller makes".
Although its often frowned upon for the author of a history text to insert too much of him or herself into a work; if its done right, it can make the difference between a bland and a massively exciting work. Sharp, in his book "Whoop-Up Country" manages to do just this; although one can pick up his biases and opinions, they somehow make the work even more engaging than it otherwise would be. It hands a touch of humanity to the description of events.
And what events there are! Sharp happily veers into the territory of story telling on more than one occasion; some of the yarns he spin do well to illistrate the point he is trying to make. Others, one gets the opinion, he just wanted to put the story down on paper for the world to see. One of the ones which leaps up and grabs me as I write this is the one told about the Sheriff who was lynched for stealing money from drunks in a small town; he happily went off and got the rope for the mob, not understanding until it was to late that he was their intended target!
I spoke of biases earlier, and its easy to find Sharp's. He has a great deal of respect for the 'Mounties' and seems to generally favor the Canadian view of the plaines and their methods in comparison to the patterns laid out South of the border. This isn't to say that he doesn't find things to admire about the American West; the attention he gives to American lawmen points to his respect. However, in the end, his Canadianess wins out over his love of those colorful Americans; and one can tell that he certainly prefers the way things developed in his own nation over the course taken in the United States.
I actually learnt a great deal about the activities in the Whoop-Up Country; a region that, prior to opening this book, I have no knowledge of (a fact that is distressing when you realize that I lived with a Montanan who talked about her home state only a hair less than I've been known to rattle on about my beloved Wisconsin). It was interesting to see the divergent ways in which settlement occured in the United States and Canada; I agree with Sharp's thesis that the arrival of 'the law' before settlement had a major inpact upon the culture of the region.
One other interesting point of difference was the the divergence of Sharp's views from those of Webb. I can not remember the exact quote; but he on more than one occasion seemed to indicate that he found culture and types of government to have had a greater impact upon the people of the region than on mere adaption to the environment. In fact, by setting up the stories of the American Whoop-Up Country and its Canadian counterpart in opposition he effectively works to refute Webb's main point, whether he wished to do it or not; if environment was the sole motivation of life of the plaines, thn the American and Canadian settlements would have had nearly identicle histories and cultures.

Paul Sharp's book, Whoop- Up Country is based on the Whoop-Up trail that started at Fort Benton, Montana, and ended at Fort Macleod, Alberta. The book starts out with explaining what the purpose of the trail is, and how it has changed over time. When the trail was first created, "...the trail symbolized the economic, social, and cultural ties that for many years defied a politically inspired division of the northern plains." Now days, it is used as one of the major international highways. Next, Sharp focuses on the climate and the fur traders of this area. He then explains how different Canada was compared to Americans dealing with the trail. One example of this is that the Canadian government was worried about what was happening to the traders along the trail, so they established a police force just for that area. Later in the book, Sharp talks about how Fort Benton was the Chicago of the plains. What he meant by this was that everything was based out of Fort Benton, and the attitude of the citizens was very high. He then explains how the attitudes changed, as fur trading declined. He talks about the life on the plains and how people would travel. One of the most common methods was by traveling in a team of wagons. Overall, his book talks about life in the high plains, and what it was like to travel, and to work with the Indians, not just economically, but also in terms of surviving.
The part that I liked the best was when they were talking about trading with the Indians, and how they would trick them, especially when the Indians bought whiskey, the traders would mix their own cheap version. I also liked when they talked about the life in Fort Benton, and comparing to Chicago. I feel that the book was not any more interesting than Webb's, and there were a lot of times when I had to stop and really think about what was going on in the book, as it was kind of confusing. I do think that the book provides an insight on what life was like as a trader and how they dealt with the Indians, and comparing the two countries. The book also opened my eyes on how much Montana played an important role in the U.S. economy. I don't really have any questions about the book; it just was not that interesting to me.

For me, Whoop-Up Country was a much more enjoyable read then The Great Plains, primarily because it focused its information onto a smaller region. This region covered the Whoop-Up Trail that ran from Fort Benton, Montana to Calgary, Alberta. I enjoyed how Sharp compared the trail's differences south and north of the boarder, providing a good view into how things differed between American and Canadian ideals, especially about the treatment of Native Americans. The trail provided a main trade route for the surrounding area, trading a wide variety of products across the 49th parallel, especially fur. Whoop-Up Country appealed to me more because it discussed an area that is more like where I grew up, unlike The Great Plains that focused mainly on the south. Along with that, I preferred how Whoop-Up Country wasn't just a rambling of facts, but instead actually contained a story about the trail, the area around it, and the people that depended on what the trail provided. Back when the trail was thriving, its surprising to me that there would have been that much of a difference in kindness and attitude between the two sides of the border. Being the edge of civilization, I would think that all the people in that area would consider themselves one people, not divided by their nation.

Does Alexander Mackenzie from Fort Union have any relation to the railroad tycoon and North Dakota enemy of the state Mackenzie from the late 1800's and early 1900's? I'm not sure but for some reason I wanted to say his name was Alexander Mackenzie, also. I know it was Mackenzie, anyway.

Thanks everyone for the posts. Keep it up!

Dave Mills

I think there was something wrong with my copy of Woop-up Country by Paul Sharp. It seems that the words where the same, but I had a different perspective from the reading. First of all, Is it possible that Webb changed his name and wrote about the portion of the plains he left out? Wether sharp wants to admit it or not, there is a definite common underlying in his book that environment shapes people. He may say not completely, and I would agree, but it is a major contributing factor. For example, early in the fur trade, The Hudson bay company would not build trading posts near the Blackfoot indians. By not adapting to regional needs, the Hudson Bay company inadvertently opened the market to free traders and currupt trading practices. The farmers, ranchers, and even the mounted police all adapted to the ways of the plains either by trial and error and error and more error, or by adapting to American ways.

Answer me this, would you ask a tobacco CEO the dangers of smoking, or the chief of police about his criminal mischief. Why then, does everyone seem to be accepting Sharp without contest? I tend to find a biased opinion about Canada in Sharp's depiction of the Northern Plains. The difference I see in Webb and Sharp is that Sharp is much more entertaining to read. I like many of his stories, though they would often drag on, but he had a lot of interesting facts to present. With as much contempt as I have for Sharp, it will never be any different for any historian. Therefore I would have to say this is quite possibly my favorite history book. It combined the facts of history and explained them in a quite interesting way.

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.

Sharp’s whoop up country gives us a view of the Northern plains in a way that’s much easier to read and understand than the Webb text we read earlier. It tells about the whoop up trail that existed between the Great Falls, MT and up into Alberta that was used for trade in the 1800’s. It basically tells us of the trading that went on there and how that changed the area as a whole.

I found the chapter on the Chicago of the plains interesting. It seems ridiculous now to think there could be a Chicago like city in northern Montana but I can see how it would have completely made sense back then with a major river being a precursor to most major cities. It seems that one of the major contributors to Fort Benton not becoming a larger city was the lack of fuel to keep its people warm in the long winter months of the northern plains.

We also see in other chapters how the harsh weather was a big obstacle of life on the northern plains, something that continues even today. I know myself I had to trade off an old car with low mileage mainly because it was not a good winter running car and was afraid to drive it across the state. It was interesting to see how people dealt with the cold weather and adapted to the land.

I have to agree with others by saying this was a much more interesting read than Webb. I found myself actually wanting to keep reading but having to quit because of the glare of the cpu screen hurting my eyes and my cheapness preventing me from just printing it off. It was easier to relate to as this area is not far from where I grew up in Crosby, ND.

For our second book of the class we read Whoop-Up Country by Paul Sharp. This book takes place mainly on the land in the Northern Plains, which is East of the Rockies in Montana and parts of Alberta which is in Canada. This book turns our attention from Webb's book which was mainly about the Southern Plains to the Northern Plains where we live and go to school. Paul Sharp named the book after the Whoop-Up Trail trade route that people used for fur trade with the Native Indians. Some locales in the book are Fort Benson and Fort McLeod. This is an important area for military posts, ranches, and fur trading with the Indians.


This book was a lot better than Webb's book for me because I am a lot more connected with the area of Montana then Kansas and Texas. It brings a little more regional flavor and thus makes me a little more interested in reading it. This is why I look forward to Dr. Isern's book the most because I enjoy his stories and also because I know I will be a lot more connected to it. Unlike Webb, Sharp uses a lot more small stories that keep the reader a little more interested although there are a few stories that are pretty boring and pointless. It was also interesting to learn about Canada for a change. It is hard to remember that Canada is actually a part of the plains and not some far-off country; so it's nice to hear about how they place in the history of this continent. Like the Canadian Mounties and others. Overall, the book was okay but still not a book I would pick-out to read. Fortunately Dr. Isern's book is coming up.

Paul Sharp's book, Whoop Up Country, would be the polar opposite from Webb's book, The Great Plains. Sharp focuses his attention on the Northern Plains, mainly on the Whoop Up Trail, which is from Northern Montana to Alberta. This book focused on the life in or around Fort Benton, Montana. Fort Benton was created to serve the area of Montana in the popular and successful fur trade. Fort Benton was established in the 1840's by the American Fur Company for that purpose. Sharp focuses on how the different countries policed the area. The American government used federal troops and the Canadian government created the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or "mounties". Both countries needed to protect the interests of the Whoop Up trail. Sharp shows the different views that each country had at the time. The Americans thought of this area as a lawless land, but the Canadians view was that order was maintained. Sharp also talked about how the Indians needed the trading posts for their survival. They used the goods that were traded for their every day life. They received guns, and whiskey. I think that this shows how unaccustomed they were to this life. They also dealt with more severely than settelers. I think the best example of this would be the Cypress Hills Massacre. This shows that both sides, maybe not in the same way, would not accept incident of this nature. This culture was replaced by the railroad and cars.

I found that this book was very interesting,especially being from Northwestern North Dakota , I can relate to the material. We have the same fur trading posts, and military forts similar to the one in Fort Benton. They are seem to a common theme in the area.

Whoop-Up Country by Paul Sharp is a book that focuses on the area around the Whoop up trail in Fort Benton, MT and Calgary, Alberta. This is a lot different then the book that we have previously read, The Great Plains, and is an area that is nothing like Texas. Sharp discusses the trail and the transformations that it had gone through in the years, mainly between Fort Benton and Fort McLeod. Sharp describes the differences between the land above and below the 49th parallel, and to my surprise; it wasn't just the fact that Canadian's are rather slow. Their treatment of the Native American's was a rather interesting point brought up in the discussion of the difference. The Canadian's were really big on fair treatment, and pointing out how unfair the American's were. That was one point that stuck out to me greatly. But the book was more than just that. Sharp describes vividly through personal stories about many other aspects of the area of the Whoop up trail. Fur trading, whiskey, and guns were all very apparent in the story that was told. It was also implied that the trading of such goods also affected the relationships between the white people and the Native Americans; I’m still rather confused on that.

Whoop Up Country takes the time to tell a story about the land that most people forget exists, and the people that moved through there. Sharp, through personal narratives and facts, informs the readers about the land that, I feel, should be taught about way more. He did an amazing job, and added some personal feel, which made it a whole lot better than The Great Plains, not to say anything bad about Webb at all. But this was way more interesting then barbwire.

Paul Sharp's Whoop-Up Country pulled us quickly from the Southern Plains of Webb to the Northern Plains. The Northern Plains Sharp focused on lay east of the Rockies and mainly in Montana and parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The title of the book comes from the Whoop-Up Trail. This trail crossed the forty-ninth parallel and was a trade route between Fort Benson, or the "Chicago of the Plains," and Fort Macleod. According to Sharp, this trail wrote its history in "whisky, guns, furs, freight, and pioneer enterprise." The main trade good that traveled this trail were the buffalo hides. The Americans also sold watered down whiskey to the Native Americans from Whoop-Up. Treatment of the Indians was one thing that set apart the Americans and Canadians. The Canadians tried to treat the Indians fairly and the Mounties helped that. One part of Whoop-Up Country that interested me was when he talked about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. When the Mounties are portrayed on TV or in the movies they are often shown as very comical characters. Sharp shows them as law abiding good men, while he portrays Americans as lawless men, doing anything to make a dollar.
I enjoyed reading this book (or CD) much more than Webb. Sharp kept my attention and learning some Canadian history was interesting. Before this class, I don't think I've ever learned Canadian history. Also, unlike Webb, Sharp refers to this area as the Northern Plains. He realizes that there is more to the plains than just his area.

Paul Sharp's Whoop Up Country is about the Whoop Up trail that was on the North American Plains. At the very beginning he tells you exactly where the trail is in today's terms and locality. Sharp shows just how important the trail was to military forts, cattle ranches, Indian reservations, and army camps. This trail helped the fur trade get their supplies so that they could trade with the local Indians. They would trade guns, whiskey, knives, and other things for buffalo robes. These fur forts were necessary for the Indians to survive. The steamboats were also a vital part of the trail because it was the fastest way to get any supplies to the plains. The steamboats could only operate in this country due to freezing, but they did their job well.
Sharp describes the American and Canadian view of Indians and how different they were. The Americans had a sense of lawlessness on the Plains. The Canadians had a lot of different Mounted Police and made sure that no one was doing that they weren't supposed to do. They made the settlement possible in Canada. In the U.S., the policing came from the settlement that was already there.
This book was very interesting because it talked about a regional area. It was how this part of the world survived and came to be. The way that the area was policed was really cool to learn about because the way that the Canadians did a whole lot and the Americans did some, but it was slow going. This book is was very well researched and written and shows a great picture that slowly faded away due to railroads and automobiles.
Thomas Casler

In the book Whoop-Up Country, Paul Sharp discusses the Whoop-Up trail that led from northern Montana to Alberta, Canada. This trail was commonly used for trade purposes around the late 19Th century. The trail starting around Fort Benton Montana to Fort McCloud, Alberta. The book compares and analyses the differences in the frontier between Canada and America. It also shows how American events effected both Frontiers, especially in northern Montana. One common factor both nations shared, was the cultural genocide that Native Americans/First Nations people had to endure. Also, the two Plains frontiers also had to eventually make the transition from a trading society to secular farming society. The book was really interesting, for the time the book was written in, Whoop-Up country seemed to be fairly impartial. One funny portion is the description of the Canadian Mounties, whenever I think of Canadian Mounties it is usually of Dudley Do Right.

The sale of alcohol to Native Americans, was a universal practice that was effective to an extent. The sad portion of this history is that American Indians were seemingly addicted to alcohol, and like an addict they needed their fix. The book was good, not great, some of the small stories were boring to read; but without a doubt the section on the Cypress Hills Massacre was the best portion in the book, for me.

Sharp opens his book with some introduction of Whoop-up country. he is not trying to explain all of the plains but rather a certain part of the plains. The Northern plains and especially Montana and Canada. The trail its self reaches across Canada and America and to Sharp carries many interesting stories. Most centered around travel or life in Fort Benton. Stories as interesting as the ones Webb discussed in his book. That brings me to my next point. This man had to be aware of Webb. Right on page 206 last sentence is a direct response to Webb essentially calling him on his environmental determinism thesis, "Westerners, whether Canadians or Americans, built institutions only slightly influenced by the environment around them. I think Sharp was trying to shift focus from the southern plains to the northern plains since anything south of his "Whoop-up Country" receives little attention.

Again this is a regional book it talks a lot about Fort Benton and law enforcement, especially Canadian Mounties and American Federal troops. Some of the discussions on the degree of lawlessness in the frontier towns. If they were a lawless as shown in Gun smoke were there is violence in every day life, why did not the social fabric of the towns simply disintegrate? Sharp makes a good point they were no more violent than Chicago or New York and Prof. Isern points out they are less violent than the cities. Now my brother watches the History channel and has pointed out that some of the things they shoot each other over we just stupid, like loosing a game of cards. How much of this is true? How much of this is exaggerated? If I was in a cattle town and shot someone and I was a nobody would the town just live with me, or most likely run me out? Most of Sharp and class have focused on removing the myth of the Wild Wild West but I want to know what "real" (as best we can tell) events shaped these myths. If they were not, "eating a man for breakfast" were they eating on for dinner? On Fridays? The point is did violence happen enough in even one frontier town that you could be desensitized to it?

Paul Sharp's Whoop-Up Country is about the Whoop-Up Trail and why it was so important to the Great Plains. This trail ran east of the Rockie Mountains and connected Canada and the American West. It was a trading route for many fur traders and Indians. The major trading site was Fort Benton. This fort was built in the 1840s by the American Fur Company and was located near present day Great Falls, MT. Fort Benton was not able to be constructed until the 1840s because of the Blackfeet Indians. The Blackfeet were feared by all and were troublesome until the early 1860s. Traders used the fort to trade with the Indians. The Indians would trade their furs for watered down whiskey. This free trade with the Indians came to an end in 1874 when the Canadian Mounted Police came to the Whoop-Up Country. The book then goes on to tell of the Massacre at Cypress Hill. This became an important trial because it showed the Indians that whites would be harshly punished for their crimes too. The chapter Life on the Trail was about the extreme weather on the Plains and different peoples views of the Plains. Some of them talk about how bad the blizzards were and others about the harsh summers.

I thought this book was a much better read then The Great Plains by Webb. There were many good stories and more interesting facts. This book also went very well with the lectures and went into very good detail about the fur trade.

After reading the book Whoop Up Country by Paul Sharp, I have more knowledge of the North American Plains and the habitants of them. In this book I learned a lot about trading up the Mississippi and along the Whoop-up trail. This trail covered most of the land east of the Rocky Mountains and up around Alberta and the Saskatchewan area. In this part of eastern Montana and up into Canada it talks of the free roaming trading that took place between Indians and the settlers and the dangers that came with it. This trading took place only after trading began along the Mississippi River with the help of steamboats. People traveled the River going to different military forts in hope of good trade. Forts that were talked about in this book included Fort Benson and Fort McLeod. This trading consisting of mostly whiskey, guns and fur according to Sharp. This lead to further development and eventually what we know today as the Northern Pacific Railroad. This railroad encouraged movement west and was what brought people to the area of the Whoop-up trail. Once in this area, settlers were able to encounter Native American, particularly the Sioux and Blackfoot, who helped with trade progress and ultimately people settled there after years of trading with the Natives and altered the area into a vast farmland.
Through this book we were able to see the different migration routes and patterns they had from what we’ve learned in class in comparison with what Sharp thought. It enhanced out knowledge in the development of the area in eastern Montana and up into Canada and helped create a sense of how habitants of that area of the Whoop-up trail got started and settled down. This is not a book that I would’ve picked out on my own to ready but after reading it I’m glad I did, it was and interesting and intriguing way to learn about the settlements in that part of the country.

The so called whoop-up country and or trail is located in the northern plains, it is the strip of land east of the Colorado Rockies and up into parts Saskatchewan and Alberta of Canada. The books goes into depth about the history of the trade of the trail and leaks into subjects of drunken fools, to mounted heroes. The story of the trail is based upon the trade between the Canadians and Americans and what effects it had on the surrounding people. Many Natives were taken advantage of; traders even went as low as robbing them of fine or whiskey by watering it down. Sharp describes the trade of whiskey, fur, and bison goods up and down the trail with the main center being Fort Benson. A trading post that grew in size and quickly gained noticed amongst the trail, Sharp even goes as far as comparing it to Chicago. Whoop-up country tells a story of fearless Canadian Mountys who push through the rugged and violent terrain to restore law and order to the savage and ruthless ways of the Americans. Natives living on the American side of the border were being treated much differently on the Canadian side. This could be explained by comparing how many settlers were pushing west in each country and also looking at the density of natives in each country. The Canadians learned from example, by watching the Americans fail with policies and regulations the were cast upon the Natives, the Canadians had much more time and thought involved in the decision making.

This book keeps your attention with small stories that I imagined Dr. Isern telling himself. It was a good book went very well with our lectures by backing up points and repeating important information. The book does explain, thoroughly, how the evolution from open trading county to a more permanent system of trains and agriculture.

Paul Sharp's Whoop-Up Country is about the Whoop-Up Trail located between Fort Benton and Fort McLeod, in the Whoop-Up Country, which is from Montana up to Saskatchewan and Alberta, and east of the Colorado Rockies. Sharp talked of this trail and how it pertained to the traders of the Whoop-Up Country; how it was a trail of more than just trade, but how it was a trail of life for many people. This Whoop-Up Trail began as a way for whiskey traders to trade whiskey for furs from Indians; most of the time these furs would be buffalo furs and according to some whiskey traders would only be worth a few cups of whiskey which had been watered down. Eventually the Indians were getting tired of this unfair trade and began to cause more trouble than they had before. In order to control this extra trouble the Canadian government decided that they would create a special force that would deal with these troubles. This force was known as the Scarlet force, in other words: The Canadian Mounties. This Scarlet force then made its way across the Canadian plains almost losing their lives in the process. Sharp also talked of how many of the marshals were whiskey traders to begin with and they did not really deal with the Indians the way that the settlers wanted them to.

I think that it is funny that the Mounties were unable to find their way across the plains without the help of others at forts because the Indians had been doing it for hundreds of years with only themselves as guides. I also thought that it was interesting that Fort Benton became Chicago for the people of Canada; I am always interested in cities, or forts in this case, that become the epicenter of growth and expansion.

Whoop Up Country: Paul F. Sharp

Not quite a picture of a "book," I guess, but nevertheless, this was a pretty good read. Sharp does a much better job of writing than Webb did hands down. This book kept my attention.

Sharp starts off defining the whoop up country. It lies east of the Rockies and into Montana, as well as stretching north into Canada. Sharp briefly points out some previous history, but quickly gets going. The Whoop Up Country got its name from the Whoop Up Trail, which ran north and south across the 49th parallel and served as a way to trade American whiskey for Canadian furs and buffalo products. Most of the trading took place at the biggest fort on the trail, Fort Benton. Sharp compares Fort Benton to Chicago in that it was thee economic location in the area. During the trading, we see how the Americans weren't being honest with the Indians. They would dilute their whiskey to waterlike proportions, and still make a bundle off the addicted Indians. It surprised me that the Indians could still get drunk off near water! This treatment led to bad relations and violent outbursts.

Since the area was becoming hostile, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were created and sent out to restore justice. Before reading this book, I had a comic view of the Mounties, but afterward, I respected them and saw them in a new light. They upheld their values and sought out ferverently for lawbreakers while keeping to the laws of the government. Sharp's description of the Americans during this time was that of wild, lawless men, while the Canadians were gentile and quite 'English' in nature. Things remained the same in the area for a long time based on transportation. In was a long time before railroads breached the whoop up country, and Sharp talked about it's importance and how it contributed to Fort Benton's decline.

We still saw the difference on both sides of the 49th parallel. It surprised me that the thing connecting the two countries would cause them to drift further apart and be a center for bad relations among Americans and Indians. You would think commerece would bring groups together.

I enjoyed this CD (book). There were a lot of similarities between this and topics we have recently covered in the lectures, so it makes sense this book was assigned.

McLintock, starring John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, and Patrick Wayne is a hilarious comedy. John Wayne is George Washington McLintock, a cattle baron, who has to spend most of the movie defending his land. Katie (Katherine as she would have it) used to be a rugged wife of McLintock's and they reminisce about the old tough times and Indian fighting throughout the movie. She was brainwashed by the East and the city life, which has partially affected their daughter as well. McLintock basically has a steak in everything in the town life and is depicted as the white man’s only real means of communication with the Indians. The Indians are depicted in a very derogatory way as only wanting to go on the war path, get guns, and they are lead by one drunken Indian that is in eternal whiskey party mode. During a town festival, they are given guns and ride through the town shooting up the place with the cavalry hot on their tail. McLintock has to go and settle a dispute between new settlers who want their steak and McLintock does not want to give up his acres of cattle land. In the end, the unruly women are spanked and taught a lesson and they live happily ever after.

This movie told of the ruggedness of the plains and the changing times, which resulted as more settlers came to towns and were looking for land. Also, it demonstrated a sense of how the Indians felt after being chased off their lands by the white man. This depiction of the Indians was very stereotypical for westerns at the time.
All around, it was a funny movie with good clean Great Plains humor. Only one question arises… why didn’t they have more Wild West gunfights?

In Whoop-Up Country Paul Sharp describes the history of an area that encompasses parts of Montana, North Dakota, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. This area was home to the Whoop-Up trail that served as major commercial artery in the northern great plains. In the book he talks about how the town of Fort Benton had to deal with various issues that came from being on the trail and also how being on the trail had transformed the town over time. Sharp also tells of the struggle to bring lawfulness into the region through the use of different policies and security groups.

One of the most interesting themes of the book was how the Canadians differed in their policies regarding Indians versus what the United States was doing. The Canadian policy seemed to be one that focused more on trying maintain the peace between Indians and traders rather then just getting rid of the Indians in the name of progress. One of the major problems in keeping the peace was the whiskey trade. This practice was used by traders to take advantage of the Indians while trading furs and horses. The Indian would be taken advantage with whisky and would usually end up giving away his valuable furs for nothing more then some watered down whiskey. This practice outraged many Canadians and forced the government into action. To stop this the government formed the Northwest Canadian Mounted Police who were ordered to cross the plains and put a stop to this practice. The Mounties succeeded in driving out the whiskey traders and ended up winning the respect of local natives. In fact the Mounties were so successful that some south of the border wished that Washington would enact such a policy. Hearing about how Canada treated the Indians definitely made wonder what would have happened if the United States had done the same?

Overall, I think Sharp did a great job at telling the history of this largely forgotten area of North America. He was able to put forward an honest look into the many characters and events that occurred from when the trail came to be until the railroads moved in and the region became less prominent.

I'm not a big fan of ghost stories, I think they are all really lame. The whole concept of super natural powers is rediculous. But I do recognize their influence on the media, stories, and movies. The Blair Witch Project almost gave me motion sickness and got me to apreciate tripods for cameras.

I will tell of one story from Blanche Lake. There was this old couple who were out fishing and the husband fell overboard. They were both too old to get him in the boat and they got tired and he slipped down into the depths and drowned. She goes out some nights to look for her husband's body but no one has been able to find it. You can see her in her boat just rowing along some dark nights.

Yep, whatever, it is all hocus pocus.

In Paul Sharp's book, Whoop-Up Country, the history of history of the Canadian West is described and explained in great detail. Sharp’s book begins by defining this area as the land beginning in Montana and continuing to southern Alberta and Saskatchewan east of the Rocky Mountains. This area was home to the Whoop-Up Trail, which connected Fort Benton and Fort McLeod, and was a vital area of commerce. A major area of commerce for this trail was the whiskey, guns, and furs, especially buffalo hides. Sharp describes the life of inhabitants of this region, telling of the trail life encountered through trading between forts, the importance of wheeled transportation since no rivers were available, and the effects of the gold rushes (especially in Montana) to the local economies. The Whoop-Up Country area began to decline once development began to transform the region; especially the introduction of the railroad and the settlers that came with it. The Railroad transformed the land, changing it from a free-roaming, lawless expanse of country into one of settlement and agriculture.
One of the areas that Sharp covers that was of particular interest to me was his calling Fort Benton the "Chicago of the West." I have studied the development of Chicago in the past and find it very interesting how one town can come to dominate a region. Being located at the base of the Whoop-Up Trail and on the Missouri River, Fort Benton was that town for the West. After reading this book I would have liked him to elaborate more on the process undertaken getting the goods to their markets, and where the markets were for these goods. I understand this might stray from his main intentions, but I find it fascinating where the goods go after the trade.

Undaunted Courage is a superb work that describes the Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery. The book's main focus is on Lewis, whose early life is described in great detail. Lewis, under orders from President Jefferson, organized and launched the expedition into the Louisiana Purchase. He personally selected many of the men, the equipment and supplies, and the background of a pretty much unknown region of the continent. He chose Clark as co-captain, and they both led the party up the Missouri and across the continent. Lewis describes many new plant and life species in the new country they are traveling through. He also provides invaluable descriptions of Indians of the northern plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Columbia River region. Both captains were able leaders, and they were able to avoid bloodshed in all but one instance. This seems incredible, because when Lewis and Clark were conversing with Indians, they often had to have the conversation be translated between four or five people. They also avoided being annihilated by Indians (especially by the Nez Perce and the Shoshone) on several occasions when it would have been to the tribes advantage to do so, because the tribes would have gained a huge arsenal, which would have given them immense power.

This book is hard to describe in 300 words. It covers many topics, although most relate to Lewis in one way or another. However, it must be noticed that the time the Corps of Discovery spent on the plains seems to be their most enjoyable. They were able to eat their fill of buffalo and other animals on the plains. From their account, the buffalo were the most important part of the plains. They provided ample food, invaluable skins for the group as well as the Indians. Lewis and Clark were able to see the plains untouched by civilization, a state of which will never return.

Paul Sharp's Whoop-Up Country covered the area just East of the Colorado Rockies and up into Saskatchewan and Alberta. It focused on the old trail which eventually was replaced by Highway ninety-one. The trail began in Montana and ended in Alberta. Sharp elaborates on the whiskey trade which ran wild and the eventual scarlet (Canadian Mounties) force that stopped it. "The Thin Red Line" barely survived the march across the harsh plains environment and was hailed heroes, even though natives had been doing it for hundreds of years. These same Indians suffered greatly on both sides of the border from disease and genocidal policies, Sharp used the Black Feet as an example. Fort Benton rose from a fur trading post to a status comparable to Chicago. Sharp also illustrated how the gold rush encouraged farming in the Whoop-Up Country. Another major factor of Whoop-Up Country was the steamboat. It was a vital lifeline for the frontier.

The primary reason for reading this book in class is to see the transition from wild migratory free traders to the sedimentary farming life which dominates the plains today. This whole lifestyle of trading whiskey, guns, furs, freight, and pioneer enterprise is a history to the history of modern day Great Plains history. By that I mean it is a deeper history to what we commonly think of as the plains culture of farming, tractors, and small town sports.

While reading Paul F. Sharp's Whoop-Up Country, I could not help but think of what I had learned in Canadian history class… Canadians pride themselves on being as un-American as possible. Why didn’t Sharp include some short stories when he talked about the Whiskey trade? How can we see the influences of the Whiskey trade on today's Whoop-Up Country?

Ann Erling

October 28, 2007

Paul F. Sharp’s book “Whoop-Up Country: The Canadian-American West, 1865-1885” discusses the history of the area of Montana east of the Rocky Mountains, and part of Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan). It was in this country that the fur trade held on until past 1865. Sharp includes history and descriptions of the activity along the Whoop-Up Trail, whose main centers of business were Fort Benton and Fort McLeod.

Included in this book is information on the fur traders themselves, their activities, and the challenges they faced supporting the last of the fur trade. One of the most dangerous challenges was the trade with local Native Americans, mostly the Blackfoot and the Sioux. Sharp discusses how for many years traders, Indians, and settlers roamed freely in this western country. The land in this border country supported the trade on the Whoop-Up Trail for many years, especially steamboat trade on the Missouri River, but with the coming of the Northern Pacific Railroad, came the end of the steamboat trade and eventually the end of the Whoop-Up trail. In the end, the Whoop-Up County transformed from the land of migratory traders and settlers, to a land of permanent farmers.

With the use of various historical and personalized narratives, Sharp paints a vivid picture of life on the Whoop-Up Trail, especially among the people who lived and traded in the area. This is the aspect of the book I enjoyed the most; the portraits of the people who lived and worked the trail. Sharp writes life into the trail from Fort Benton to Fort McLeod. While, overall, I enjoyed the way in which Sharp introduces many subjects briefly, I would have liked him to illuminate the topic of the restlessness and wandering quality of people on the Whoop-Up Trail.

The Whoop-Up Trail was an important post-Civil War trade route between Fort Benton, Montana and Fort McLeod, Alberta, two early settlements on the northern Great Plains bisected by the American-Canadian border. Sharp demonstrates that despite the communities’ common natural environment and shared sense of regional identity, the boundary line served to demarcate and reinforce cultural differences in the two nations’ approaches to settlement.

Perhaps most significantly, Sharp notes the preeminence of law in British Canadian culture. In Canada, the establishment of law in the form of the federal Mounted Police preceded settlement, and indeed made it possible. Through patiently assertive diplomacy and the appearance of evenhanded law enforcement, the Mounties earned the respect of First Nations in the West that made colonization of the region possible. In the United States, on the other hand, law enforcement and other institutions emerged slowly from the settlements themselves, where hatred of Indians and a strong distrust of federal authority were endemic. Canadians despised lynch mob justice and the warlike propensity of American settlers; they preferred instead a more gradual and orderly form of expansion, just as they had opted for a more peaceful, gradualist path to independence.

An armed conflict in 1873 between a group of North Assiniboin Indians and a team of hunters and traders from Fort Benton created an international incident that further reinforced differences between Canadians and Americans. Canadians tended to view the American wolf hunters as criminal perpetrators of a wanton massacre that needlessly antagonized Indians, while many Americans viewed the accused men as national heroes and victims of Canadian justice. Sharp disputes both accounts as exaggerated, but he observes that the incident much impressed Natives in Canada, despite the ultimate failure of the prosecution.

Sharp thus demonstrates that Webb’s thesis is at best incomplete. Culture and historical experience indisputably shape or at least influence individual and collective strategies of adaptation to the natural environment.

The movie Friday Night Lights is a movie about the 1988 Permian Panthers attempt to win the Texas football state championship. It focuses around the lives of the players, and how much football means to their lives and the community as a whole. The movie begins with the first day of the football team’s fall practices. Right from the beginning the viewer is shown how important football is to the community when one of the parents charges the field, interrupting practice, to yell at his son for fumbling the football. As the season continues the star player, Booby Miles, is suffers a season ending injury. This is significant because not only does it force the team to grow closer together, but also it show how much each player has invested in the season and that each player relied on football as the means of getting out of the community one day. The team makes it to the state championship game but suffers a heart-breaking defeat in the final seconds of the game.
I think the movie is a very accurate depiction of the Great Plains lifestyle. The physical landscape shown in the movie is flat, arid, treeless; all characteristics of Webb’s Great Plains. The lifestyle of the Great Plains is illuminated by the communities’ involvement and obsession with the high school football team. This region is so overlooked by our culture that residence of the Plains have a longing for something worth national recognition. I think this is displayed in the support of Plains universities athletics programs by the community. Athletics are looked up to so much because it unites the community and showcases to the nation that there is something out here and that the Plains are a region not to be underestimated or overlooked.

The movie Capote is based on the true life and events of a famous mid-1900s writer named Truman Capote. The movie starts out with Capote learning about a murder of four in Holcomb, Kansas. Thinking it an interesting topic for his next book, Capote and his friend, Nelle Harper Lee, travel to the town to interview the imprisoned killers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. Capote befriends the two men, especially Perry Smith, and over time develops a very caring friendship with them. He even goes to such lengths as to provide them with new council so they have better representation in court. As Capote learns about these men’s backgrounds, and mixes it with his own feelings towards the men, the book takes on such a characteristic of forming sympathy for these killers; something that caused much controversy. The main struggle Capote has is the need to finish the book, an ending that can only come through his new friend’s execution, and thus ultimately ending his friendship with the men. Capote gets his ending with their execution in 1965, and finishes his crowning achievement, In Cold Blood, shortly afterwards.
After evaluating the film, I think that it portrays an accurate depiction of the Great Plains with both obvious and underlying f