DOCSLIB.ORG

Masaryk University Faculty of Education Department of English Language and Literature

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Masaryk University Faculty of Education Department of English Language and Literature Masaryk University Faculty of Education Department of English Language and Literature The Lawmen and the Outlaws of the Old West Bachelor Thesis Brno 2019 Supervisor: Author: Mgr. Zdeněk Janík, M.A., Ph.D. Jan Václavík Václavík, Jan. Strážci zákona a psanci Divokého západu. Bakalářská práce, Masarykova univerzita, 2019. Václavík, Jan. The Lawmen and the Outlaws of the Old West. Bachelor Thesis, Masaryk University, 2019. Anotace Bakalářská práce ‚‚ Strážci zákona a psanci Divokého západu ‘‘ si klade za cíl prozkoumat dějinné okolnosti období Divokého západu a zaznamenat jeho charakteristické znaky. V druhé části se práce zabývá životy strážce zákona Wyatta Earpa a psanců Butche Cassidyho a Sundance Kida a analyzuje o nich natočené filmy. Prvním závěrem je skutečnost, že obojí osoby ať strážce zákona či psance se mohly během svého života nečekaně přiklonit k odlišné straně zákona. Posledním závěrem je fakt, že i přes výslednou, vysokou kvalitu filmového zpracování může být představa diváků o Divokém západě značně zkreslená kvůli mýtům a nepřesnostem vytvořených tvůrci tradičních westernových filmů. Annotation The bachelor thesis ‘‘The Lawmen and the Outlaws of the Old West’’ aims to explore the historical background of the Old West period and mark its distinctive features. The second segment of the thesis inquires the lives and analyses the movies regarding the famous lawman Wyatt Earp and the outlaws known as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The first proposed conclusion is that both a lawman and an outlaw could have unexpectedly recourse their lives on the different side of the law. The last proposed conclusion is the fact that despite the eventual high-quality cinematisation, the audience’s perception of the Old West era can be heavily biased by the myths and inaccuracies the filmmakers have created in traditional western movies. 1 Klíčová slova Starý západ, Divoký západ, expanze na západ, První transkontinentální železnice, kovboj, honák, strážce zákona, psanec, Wyatt Earp, Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Divoká banda Keywords The Old West, the Wild West, Westward Expansion, the First Transcontinental Railroad, cowboy, wrangler, lawman, outlaw, Wyatt Earp, Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, the Wild Bunch 2 Declaration I hereby declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the sources listed in the References section. I agree with the placing of this thesis in the library of the Faculty of Education at Masaryk University with access for academic purposes. Brno, 30 March 2019 …………………………. Jan Václavík 3 Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor Mgr. Zdeněk Janík, M.A., Ph.D. for his help and scholarly comments. 4 Content Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 8 1 Westward Expansion ................................................................................................... 10 1.1 Heading West ........................................................................................................ 12 1.1.1 The story behind the Gateway to the West .................................................... 12 1.2 Resolution of the economic crisis ......................................................................... 15 1.2.1 The Battle of the Little Bighorn ..................................................................... 17 1.2.2 Fate of the Natives in the Old West ............................................................... 18 1.3 The Reconstruction era ......................................................................................... 20 1.4 The Cattle Kingdom .............................................................................................. 21 1.5 Urban development and the Old West .................................................................. 22 2 The Characteristics of the Old West ............................................................................ 25 2.1 Cowboy culture ..................................................................................................... 25 2.1.1 Being a cowboy ............................................................................................. 26 2.2 Retrieval of raw materials ..................................................................................... 29 2.3 Stagecoaches ......................................................................................................... 30 2.4 Firearms ................................................................................................................. 32 2.5 Ghost towns of the Old West ................................................................................ 34 2.6 Dime novels .......................................................................................................... 35 2.7 Path of the western pioneers ................................................................................. 36 3 Wyatt Earp ................................................................................................................... 39 5 3.1 Wyatt’s early life ................................................................................................... 39 3.2 Wyatt’s unusual career .......................................................................................... 40 3.3 Dodge City ............................................................................................................ 42 3.4 Tombstone ............................................................................................................. 43 3.4.1 The gunfight at the O.K. Corral ..................................................................... 45 3.4.2 The Vendetta Ride ......................................................................................... 46 3.5 The final years of Wyatt Earp ............................................................................... 47 3.6 Analyses of the movies Tombstone (1993) and Wyatt Earp (1994) ..................... 48 3.6.1 Plot summary of Tombstone (1993) ............................................................... 49 3.6.2 Plot summary of Wyatt Earp (1994) .............................................................. 49 3.6.3 Historical inaccuracies and fictions in Tombstone (1993) ............................. 50 3.6.4 Historical inaccuracies and fictions in Wyatt Earp (1994) ............................ 52 4 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid .......................................................................... 55 4.1 Robert LeRoy Parker ............................................................................................. 55 4.2 Harry Alonzo Longabaugh .................................................................................... 56 4.3 Butch, Sundance and forming of the Wild Bunch ................................................ 58 4.4 The Wild Bunch operations .................................................................................. 59 4.5 Heading towards a new life in South America ...................................................... 62 4.6 The final years of Butch and Sundance ................................................................. 63 4.7 The concluding events of San Vicente .................................................................. 64 4.8 Analysis of the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) .................... 66 6 4.8.1 Plot summary of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) ..................... 66 4.8.2 Historical inaccuracies in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) ....... 67 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 70 Appendices ........................................................................................................................... 72 References ............................................................................................................................ 78 7 Introduction I have decided to write a thesis which deals with the Old West from two main reasons. The first one was undoubtedly the passion for miscellaneous kinds of Western movies as well as video games. As regards to the games, there is one particularly exceptional which is called Red Dead Redemption1. Although a hard-core gamer might find it quite old these days, as it was released in 2010, I had the opportunity to experience it on my own for the first time in 2016. Despite its arguably high age, I was utterly astonished even six years after its release. The game offered me something utterly unique which I had been looking for many years. The combination of complete freedom of choice, intriguing story and especially intense atmosphere of the Old West induced me to become more interested in the era of gunslingers. As I am very fond of watching various kinds of movies, the next step I took was browsing through a movie database and choosing well-rated pictures. Ultimately, I fell in love with the work of Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood and other personas of the Western- themed motion pictures. Moreover, it was exactly at that time I encountered the movie Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid which I consider as the second reason for writing the thesis dealing with the Old West. Unlike Leone’s westerns, the movie about Butch and Sundance draws the inspiration from the real-life events and therefore it is at least partially based on historical facts. Since I am a student of English language and literature in combination with history, I thought the
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Butch Cassidy Roamed Incognito in Southwest New Mexico
    Nancy Coggeshall I For The New Mexican Hideout in the Gila Butch Cassidy roamed incognito in southwest New Mexico. Hideout in the Gila utch Cassidy’s presence in southwestern New Mexico is barely noted today. Notorious for his successful bank Butch Cassidy roamed and train robberies at the turn of the 20th century, incognito in southwest Cassidy was idealized and idolized as a “gentleman out- New Mexico wilderness Blaw” and leader of the Wild Bunch. He and various members of the • gang worked incognito at the WS Ranch — set between Arizona’s Blue Range and San Carlos Apache Reservation to the west and the Nancy Coggeshall rugged Mogollon Mountains to the east — from February 1899 For The New Mexican until May 1900. Descendants of pioneers and ranchers acquainted with Cassidy tell stories about the man their ancestors knew as “Jim Lowe.” Nancy Thomas grew up hearing from her grandfather Clarence Tipton and others that Cassidy was a “man of his word.” Tipton was the foreman at the WS immediately before Cassidy’s arrival. The ranch sits at the southern end of the Outlaw Trail, a string of accommodating ranches and Wild Bunch hideouts stretching from Montana and the Canadian border into Mexico. The country surrounding the WS Ranch is forbidding; volcanic terrain cleft with precipitously angled, crenelated canyon walls defies access. A “pretty hard layout,” local old-timer Robert Bell told Lou Blachly, whose collection of interviews with pioneers — conducted PROMIENT PLACES - between 1942 and 1953 — are housed at the University of New OUTLAW TRAIL Mexico. What better place to dodge the law? 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Hill's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
    1 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Poster by Tom Beauvais Courtesy Wikipedia Reviewed by Garry Victor Hill Directed by George Roy Hill. Produced by John Foreman. Screenplay by William Goldman. Cinematography by Conrad Hall. Art Direction by Jack Martin Smith & Philip M. Jefferies. Music by Burt Bacharach. Edited by John C. Howard & Richard C. Meyer. Sound George R. Edmondson. Costume designs: Edith Head. Cinematic length: 110 minutes. Distributed by 20TH Century Fox. Companies: Campanile Productions and the Newman–Foreman Company. Cinematic release: October 1969. DVD release 2006 2 disc edition. Check for ratings. Rating 90%. 2 All images are taken from the Public Domain, The Red List, Wikimedia Commons and Wiki derivatives with permission. Written Without Prejudice Cast Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy Robert Redford as the Sundance Kid Katharine Ross as Etta Place Strother Martin as Percy Garris Henry Jones as Bike Salesman Jeff Corey as Sheriff Ray Bledsoe George Furth as Woodcock Cloris Leachman as Agnes Ted Cassidy as Harvey Logan Kenneth Mars as the town marshal Donnelly Rhodes as Macon Timothy Scott as News Carver Jody Gilbert as the Large Woman on the train Don Keefer as a Fireman Charles Dierkop as Flat Nose Curry Pancho Córdova as a Bank Manager Paul Bryar as Card Player No. 1 Sam Elliott as Card Player No. 2 Charles Akins as a Bank Teller Percy Helton as Sweetface Review In the second half of the 1960s westerns about the twilight of the Wild West suddenly became popular, as if both filmmakers and audiences wanted to keep the West within living memory.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area
    Museums M 191 MPNHA Absorb the Old West through anti, U hundreds of interactive N displays of pioneer history, orth Mormon heritage, outlaw T 84642 stories, and nature and UNDER THE RIM M Artists, Artisans, Crafters wildlife. Experience a new Big Water ain understanding of the settlers Big Water Visitor Center Museum/Grand Inspired by this rugged who shaped the social, Staircase Escalante National Monument Pal landscape, the artists and cultural and historic life crafters of the area are and lore of the American Kanab Grand Staircase Escalante National winners of the Best of West. Museum hours vary His Monument Geo Arc State Award. Handmade Kanab Heritage House by season. Call ahead His treasures include porcelain for schedule (See Visitor Kanab Heritage Museum Mt. Carmel dolls and carved wooden Information box at right). Kanab Visitor Center Museum The Old Rock Church Gallery Art caricatures, antique HEADWatERS BOULDER LOOP / furniture reproductions, Circleville HEADWatERS contemporary woodcraft, LittlE DEnmarK Butch Cassidy’s Childhood Home His HEritagE AREA MARKERS pottery, appliqued western Fairview Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Old Rock Schoolhouse, Marysvale clothing, hand tooled boots Art Hatch Fairview Museum and Art His Area Markers showing local travel Escalante Tithing Office, 1884 William Derby Johnson, Jr., House and saddles, unique jewelry, Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum His maps and historic sites. Historic Red Brick Homes (Cole’s Hotel), 1884, Kanab Native American crafts, Fountain Green Open by appointment M. Parker (Butch Cassidy), Perry Lodge, Home to the Move Stars fine art and more. Beautiful Mt. Pleasant, corner of Main Street and Hwy 89 objects and memorable Fountain Green Daughters of Utah Pioneers Marysvale Cabin, c.
    [Show full text]
  • Chafin, Carl Research Collection, Ca
    ARIZONA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 949 East Second Street Library and Archives Tucson, AZ 85719 (520) 617-1157 [email protected] MS 1274 Chafin, Carl Research collection, ca. 1958-1995 DESCRIPTION Series 1: Research notes; photocopies of government records including great (voters) registers, assessor’s rolls, and Tombstone Common Council minutes; transcripts and indexes of various records of Tombstone and Cochise County primarily dated in the 1880s. The originals of these materials are housed elsewhere (see f.1). There are typed transcripts of early newspaper articles from Arizona and California newspapers concerning events, mining and growth in Cochise County. Extensive card indexes include indexes by personal name with article citations and appearances in great registers as well as an index to his published version of George Parson’s diaries. There is also a photocopy of the Arizona Quarterly Illustrated published in 1881. Series 2: Manuscripts and publications include: manuscripts and articles about environmental issues, the Grand Canyon, and Tombstone, AZ. Also included are Patagonia Roadrunner from 1967-1968 and Utopian Times in Alaska from 1970, two publications for which Chafin wrote. The collection contains correspondence, mostly pertaining to environmental issues, and a Chafin family genealogy. Finally, there is printed matter on Sidney M. Rosen and Lipizzan Stallions, as well as photographs of Lipizzan Stallions and other miscellaneous material. 23 boxes, 1 outside item, 14 linear ft. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Carl Chafin was born in San Francisco, CA. While employed at Hughes Aircraft Company in Tucson, Arizona in 1966, Chafin began his life-long research into Tombstone, Arizona history and particularly the diaries of George Whitwell Parsons.
    [Show full text]
  • Tombstone, Arizona Shippensburg University
    Trent Otis © 2011 Applied GIS with Dr. Drzyzga Tombstone, Arizona Shippensburg University Photo © dailyventure.com. Photographer unknown. Tombstone and the Old West The People Wyatt Earp Virgil and Morgan Earp Tombstone established itself as a boomtown after The tragedy that occurred at Tombstone, Arizona involved Wyatt has been most often Virgil and Morgan Earp are the silver was discovered in a local mine in 1877. It quickly characters who were as interesting as the time period. From characterized as a strict, no nonsense brothers of Wyatt. Virgil held various became a prospering community which attracted all lawmen turned silver prospectors, dentists turned gam- person who prefered to settle disputes law enforcement positions throughout walks of life. blers, outlaws and worse, these men all had their stakes in with words rather than confrontation. his life and was appointed as a Deputy the events at Tombstone. Following are short descriptions U.S Marshal before moving to of these men. Wyatt is arguably one of the most Tombstone. Later on, he was The American Old West has captured the minds and inuential individuals in the Old West. appointed as acting marshal for the imaginations of the American people since the West He encoutered some initial hardship in town after the current marshal was became more civilized in the late 1800s to early 1900s. his life when his rst wife died. accidentally slain by one of the Earp In the early 1880s, a specic event occurred that would Eventually, his sutuation improved and antagonists. capture the essence of the old west in one story.
    [Show full text]
  • Marc Simmons; Historian of the Southwest
    New Mexico Historical Review Volume 80 Number 3 Article 11 7-1-2005 Review Essay: Marc Simmons; Historian of the Southwest Richard W. Etulain Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmhr Recommended Citation Etulain, Richard W.. "Review Essay: Marc Simmons; Historian of the Southwest." New Mexico Historical Review 80, 3 (2005). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmhr/vol80/iss3/11 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in New Mexico Historical Review by an authorized editor of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. Review Essay MARC SIMMONS: MAVERICK HISTORIAN OF THE SOUTHWEST Richard W. Etulain arc Simmons, New Mexico's leading historian, has always ridden a Mhorse ofanother kind. Freed from aCCiclemic turfsquabbles, working primarily outside the classroom, and writing most often for newspaper and other lay historians, Simmons remains his own historian. Launched as a doctoral graduate in the mid-196os from the University of New Mexico (UNM), Simmons's subsequent historiographical journey, although indi­ vidualistic, followed more closely the paths ofFrance V. Scholes and Herbert Eugene Bolton than the newer revisionist writings of scholars like Ramon Gutierrez. But to be more precise, Simmons is sui generis, a historian ofhis "­ own stripe, different from most other historians of New Mexico and the Southwest. The volume under review, librarian Phyllis Morgan's exceptionally use­ ful bio-bibliography, thoroughly displays the extraordinary dimensions of Marc Simmons ofNew Mexico: Maverick Historian. By Phyllis Morgan.
    [Show full text]
  • Amy Abrams Brandelyn Andres Rudy Arena Vicki Barnes Wilfred Beaupre
    Amy Abrams Amy Abrams is an award-winning author, widely-read journalist, literary journal/book editor, and former publishing executive at art magazines (including Antiques in New York City). She has published over 200 stories, contributing to The Wall Street Journal, Art in America, Village Voice Media, Southwest Art, Arizona Highways, and Phoenix Magazine, as well as appeared on TV and radio programs including NPR. She has lectured to university, museum, and writing conference audiences across America including The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. As a writing workshop leader, she has taught at The Writer’s Center and Writopia in Washington, DC environs.Two new book releases include a novel, The Cage and The Key, and a 212-page illustrated coffee table book, Schenck in the 21st Century: The Myth of the Hero and the Truth of America, which won the 2013 U.S. Literary Award for Fine Arts and True West magazine’s Best of the Western Books for 2014 in Modern Western Art category. As Communications Consultant to corporations, her clients include The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Writing her latest book in a renovated farmhouse in Prescott, she shares her writing knowledge with workshops. More information can be found at www.AmyAbramsWrite.com Brandelyn Andres Brandelyn is a professor of art history at Yavapai College. Her specialties are post-modernism and feminist critical theory. She gave a presentation on photography during the Civil War as part of the OLLI Munch & Learn series in 2017. For the 2016 Yavapai faculty art exhibition, she created an appropriation series which featured historical works of art with contemporary additions.
    [Show full text]
  • List of Western-Themed Games
    List of Western-Themed Games Key action (A) adventure (ADV) card game (C) duel (D) first-person shooter (FPS) laser disc/multimedia (LD) other (O) pinball (PB) platform (PL) puzzle (PUZ) real-time strategy/manager (RTS) role-playing game (RPG) strategy/wargame (S) target shooting/reaction (TS) Year Games 1939 Buckaroo (PB), Ride “M” Cowboy (PB) 1941 Texas Mustang (PB) 1945 Wagon Wheels (PB) 1946 Dynamite (PB) 1947 Broncho (PB), Ranger (PB) 1948 Round Up (PB) 1949 Oklahoma (PB), Tumbleweed (PB), Utah (PB) 1950 Buffalo Bill (PB), Six Shooter (TS) 1954 Stage Coach (PB) 1955 Smoke Signal (PB), Southern Belle (PB), Wild West Gallery (TS) 1957 Arrow Head (PB) 1959 Gunsmoke (TS) 1960 Pony Express (TS), Texan (PB), Wagon Train (PB) 1961 Double Barrel (PB), Indian Scout (TS), Mr. Quick Draw (TS), Mr. Top Gun (TS), Wild West (TS) 1962 Arrowhead (PB), Flipper Cowboy (PB) 1963 Bronco (PB), Texas Ranger Gatling Gun (TS) WiderScreen 1/2015: Villin lännen uudet visiot – New Visions of the Wild West 1964 Bonanza (PB), Championship Fast Draw (TS) 1965 Buckaroo (PB) 1966 Six Shooter (PB) 1967 Rifleman (TS), Wild West Rifle Gallery (TS) 1968 Civil War (S), Dogies (PB), Gun Smoke (PB), Stage Coach (PB) 1969 Lariat (PB) 1970 Bonanza (TS), Cowboy (PB), Gun Fight (D), White Lightning (TS) 1971 Gold Rush (PB), Lawman (PB) 1972 Rodeo Shooting Gallery (TS), Texas Ranger (PB) 1974 Big Indian (PB), Cowboy (A), Wild Gunman (TS) 1975 El Dorado (PB), Fast Draw (PB), Gun Fight [Western Gun] (D) 1976 Cherokee (PB), Outlaw (TS), Plinker’s Canyon (TS), Top
    [Show full text]
  • Settlement of the West
    Settlement of the West The Western Career of Wild Bill Hickok James Butler Hickok was born in Troy Grove, Illinois on 27 May 1837, the fourth of six children born to William and Polly Butler Hickok. Like his father, Wild Bill was a supporter of abolition. He often helped his father in the risky business of running their "station" on the Underground Railroad. He learned his shooting skills protecting the farm with his father from slave catchers. Hickok was a good shot from a very young age, especially an outstanding marksman with a pistol. He went west in 1857, first trying his hand at farming in Kansas. The next year he was elected constable. In 1859, he got a job with the Pony Express Company. Later that year he was badly mauled by a bear. On 12 July 1861, still convalescing from his injuries at an express station in Nebraska, he got into a disagreement with Dave McCanles over business and a shared woman, Sarah Shull. McCanles "called out" Wild Bill from the Station House. Wild Bill emerged onto the street, immediately drew one of his .36 caliber revolvers, and at a 75 yard distance, fired a single shot into McCanlesʼ chest, killing him instantly. Hickok was tried for the killing but judged to have acted in self-defense. The McCanles incident propelled Hickock to fame as a gunslinger. By the time he was a scout for the Union Army during the Civil War, his reputation with a gun was already well known. Sometime during his Army days, he backed down a lynch mob, and a woman shouted, "Good for you, Wild Bill!" It was a name which has stuck for all eternity.
    [Show full text]
  • Ways of Life Continuing Ways of Life
    BOUNDLESS LANDSCAPES & SPIRITED PEOPLE NORTHWEST COLORADO CULTUR A L HER ITAGE ways of life The remoteness of northwest Colorado has always attracted self-determined and resilient explorers. There is a legacy of connection here—between spirited people and boundless landscapes. SURVEYORS MINERS RANCHERS LOGGERS Photo courtesy of Library of Congress Photo courtesy of Tracks and Trails Museum Photo courtesy of Tread of Pioneers Museum Photo courtesy of U.S. Forest Service Vast and diverse, the region offered rich Fortieth Parallel The Miner’s Life Time Honored Life Gould, Colorado yet rugged ways of life. Here, people created John Wesley Powell: Argo Mine & Haybro Mine: Working the Land: Bockman Lumber Camp: strong traditions and cultures that were In 1869 the Powell Expedition ran the Green Mining booms—coal ore, gold, and silver— Abundant grasses and water lured early cattle One hundred men and their families once lived sustained by the land. River and camped at its convergence with the brought men and their families to the region to and sheep men to the region. Cowboys trailed in Colorado’s largest logging camp. Tie hacks Yampa River (Echo Park). Two years later, at the labor in the open cut and underground mines. large herds into the mountains during summer felled trees, cut them to length, and flattened top of Harpers Corner, the expedition penned, After the bust times, many stayed to ranch and back to the valleys before winter snowfall. four sides with a broadax to make railroad ties. “We could look over Echo Wall [Steamboat Rock] and build northwest Colorado communities.
    [Show full text]
  • Bears Ears National Monument Proclamation
    THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release December 28, 2016 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BEARS EARS NATIONAL MONUMENT - - - - - - - BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION Rising from the center of the southeastern Utah landscape and visible from every direction are twin buttes so distinctive that in each of the native languages of the region their name is the same: Hoon'Naqvut, Shash Jáa, Kwiyagatu Nukavachi, Ansh An Lashokdiwe, or "Bears Ears." For hundreds of generations, native peoples lived in the surrounding deep sandstone canyons, desert mesas, and meadow mountaintops, which constitute one of the densest and most significant cultural landscapes in the United States. Abundant rock art, ancient cliff dwellings, ceremonial sites, and countless other artifacts provide an extraordinary archaeological and cultural record that is important to us all, but most notably the land is profoundly sacred to many Native American tribes, including the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah Ouray, Hopi Nation, and Zuni Tribe. The area's human history is as vibrant and diverse as the ruggedly beautiful landscape. From the earliest occupation, native peoples left traces of their presence. Clovis people hunted among the cliffs and canyons of Cedar Mesa as early as 13,000 years ago, leaving behind tools and projectile points in places like the Lime Ridge Clovis Site, one of the oldest known archaeological sites in Utah. Archaeologists believe that these early people hunted mammoths, ground sloths, and other now-extinct megafauna, a narrative echoed by native creation stories. Hunters and gatherers continued to live in this region in the Archaic Period, with sites dating as far back as 8,500 years ago.
    [Show full text]
  • Federal Writers' Project Guy Rader March 20, 1939 Calamity Jane Lived
    ·~~ Federal Wri t ers' Project Guy Rader March 20, 1939 CALAMI TY JANE Calamity Jane lived i n the we st when it was newly s ettled country. There were many hardships for t he people. Gold dis- coveries made pioneer life exciting. Indian wars sometimes mad e it dangerous . There was much hostility from the Indians to whom the white settlers were intruders . On both sides there was bravery and courage. Long afterward these became the basis of frontier Ill.. rtfj sto.Aes. Many stories have been told about Calamity Jane . Not all of them are true. But even those t hat ar e legends tell us something of her adventurous life on the frontier. Martha Jane Canary, born i n Princeton, Mi ssouri, May 1, 1852, was the oldest of seven children of whom five were girls and two bo ys. She was fond of adventure and liked to r ide horses from · the time she was able to walk. People called her a tomboy. When she was 13 years old the f amily moved to Montana. They came in a covered wagon from Missouri to Virginia City. The j ourney took five months . There were many other people traveling . in wagons to the rich mining fields , and they banded together to help one another over the rough roads and bridgeless rivers . I n this way they were also safer f rom hostile I ndians who often attack­ ed 'small parties, but were less li ke~y to attack large parties . During the long journey Martha Jane rode ahead with the me n.
    [Show full text]