Preface vii Acknowledgments x Introduction xi

PARTONE FOUNDATIONS FOR A WESTERN MYTHOLOGY 1 CHAPTER 1 Mapping the Terrain 3 Introduction 3 Emmanuel Leutze Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way (1861) 6 Hector St. John de CrEvecoeur from “What Is an American?” from Letters from an American Farmer (1782) 7 Frederick Jackson Turner “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (1893) 12 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark from Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804—1806 (1905) 19 Bret Harte “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” (1869) 31 Focus on Film John Ford (director), Stagecoach (1939) 42 Topics for Research and Writing 43

CHAPTER 2 Crossing Frontiers 45 Introduction 45 George Catlin Buffalo Bull’s Backfat, Head Chief, Blood Tribe (1832) 50 Lewis Hector Garrard “The Village” from Wah-to-Yah and the Taos Trail (1850) 51 Karl Bodmer Bison Dance of the Mandan Indians in Front of Their Medicine Lodge(1836) 58 Edward Ellis from Seth Jones; or, The Captives of the Frontier (1860) 59 George Caleb Bingham The Concealed Enemy (1845) 73 A. B. Guthrie, Jr. “Mountain Medicine” (1947) 73 William Tylee Ranney Advice on the Prairie (1853) 85 Focus on Film Elliot Silverstein (director), A Man Called Horse (1970) 86 Topics for Research and Writing 86

CHAPTER 3 Working the Land 89 Introduction 89 N. C. Wyeth Rounding Up (1904) 94 Owen Wister “The Jimmyjohn Boss” (1900) 95 Charles Schreyvogel The Summit Springs Rescue—-1869 (1908) 126 Frederic Remington A Dash for the Timber (1889) 127 CharlesNahl Sunday Morning at the Mines (1872) 128 Cassily Adams and Otto Becker Custer’s Last Fight (1896) 129 Willa Cather “El Dorado: A Kansas Recessional” (1901) 130 Charley Russell Smoke of a .45 (1908) 148 Zane Grey “The Ranger” (1927) 149 Focus on Film Howard Hawks (director), Red River (1948) 182 Topics for Research and Writing 183

CHAPTER 4 Spiritual Landscapes 185 Introduction 185 Asher Durand Kindred Spirits (1849) 191 Albert Bierstadt Among the Sierra Mountains, California (1868) 192 John Muir from My First Summer in the Sierra (1869/1911) 193 Thomas Moran The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (1872) 204 Gilbert Munger Eocene Bluffs, Green River, Wyoming (1878) 205 Edward S. Curtis Caiion de Chelly—N«who(1904) 206 Georgia O’Keeffe Mule’s Skull with Pink Poinsettias (1936) 207 Focus on Film Lawrence Hott and Diane Garey (directors), The Wilderness Idea (1990) 208 Topics for Research and Writing 208

PART TWO CHALLENGES TO A WESTERN MYTHOLOGY 211

CHAPTERS Satires and Entertainments 213 Introduction 213 Beadle’s New York Dime Library Kit Carson (1878) 217 Mark Twain from Roughing It (1872) 218 Great Wild West Exhibition (1883) 227 Stephen Crane “The Blue Hotel” (1898) 227 Dorothy Johnson “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” (1949) 255 James Earle Fraser The End of the Trail (1915) 270 Thomas Schatz from “The Western” from Hollywood Genres (1981) 270 Focus ON Film Robert Altman (director), McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971) 296 Topics for Research and Writing 296 CHAPTER 6 Women in the West 299 Introduction 299 Angeline Mitchell Brown from “Diary of a School Teacher on the Arizona Frontier” (1881/1990) 305 W. H. D. Koerner Madonna of the Prairie (1922) 315 Mary Hunter Austin “The Fakir” and “The Walking Woman” from Lost Borders (1909) 316 Sui Sin Far “In the Land of the Free” (1909) 334 Linda Hasselstrom “Spring,” “Seasons in South Dakota,” and “Homesteading in Dakota” from Dakota Bones (1993) 344 Evelyn A. Schlatter “Drag’s a Life: Women, Gender, and Cross-Dressing in the Nineteenth-Century West” (1997) 350 Focus on Film King Vidor (director), Duel in the Sun (1946) 362 Topics for Research and Writing 362

CHAPTER 7 Native American Images and Voices 365 Introduction 365 Sarah Winnemucca from Life Among the Piutes (1883) 369 Salish Handbag, Montana (ca. 1915-1920) 380 N. Scott Momaday from “The Priest of the Sun,” from House Made of Dawn (1968) 380 Ray A. Young Bear “morning talking mother”(1980) and “The Language of Weather” (1990) 389 David Bradley American Indian Gothic (1993) 394 Louise Erdrich “Indian Boarding School: The Runaways” (1984) 394 Mary Brave Bird “Civilize Them with a Stick” from Lakota Woman (1990) 397 Diane Glancy “Black Kettle National Grasslands, Western Oklahoma” (1988) 408 Bennie Buffalo Cheyenne in the Moon (1991) 412 Sherman Alexie “How to Write the Great American Indian Novel” (1996) 413 Focus on Film Chris Eyre (director), Smoke Signals (1998) 416 Topics for Research and Writing 416

CHAPTERS The New West 419 Introduction 419 Wakako Yamauchi “And the Soul Shall Dance” (1966) 426 Raymond Barrio “The Campesinos” from The Plum Plum Pickers (1969) 435 Richard Hugo “Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg” (1973) 446 William Kittredge “Redneck Secrets” from Owning It All (1987) 448 Linda Hogan from “A Different Yield” from Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World (1995) 458 } 1 Focus on Film John Huston (director), The Misfits (1961) 467 Topics for Research and Writing 468

APPENDIX: How to Watch a Film 471 Credits 480 Index 482