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1. Wild West. I have long thought that the violence in the wild west was highly exaggerated in movies. Recent reports have shown that is correct. I was thinking that in most cases, it was fairly peaceful. It would have to be. And the people who lived out west generally had the mentality that they themselves are the peacekeepers.

2. Rose, you are nearly correct. In the 24 years we lived in the Redoubt, we visited hundreds of locations (murders, massacres, ambushes, fights) and worked with historians, guiding them to various sites.

   The facts are that after the Astorian crew transitted the Redoubt, the population of people who could write and actually recorded what is now historical record for us, was very small until the 1870’s.

   Interpersonal violence was present in proportion to the population, and in places like northern Wyoming deadly intent violence was done primarily by ambush or from long range. Conflict between Indians and non-Indians is much more popular information and was so sensationalized that historical documents are widely available.

   Face to face killings did occur but were a far smaller percentage, such as one neighbor that killed another at their common mail pickup location along what is now Highway 59 forty miles north of Gillette back during the homestead era.

   Killing two cowboys accused of stealing cattle by burning their cabin and shooting them as they ran out of it at Kaycee, or hiding under a bridge to shoot a homesteader in the back as he headed home from town in his buckboard wagon 10 miles south of Buffalo, did occur.

   The increased number of homesteading families generally provided a percentage of population that was smaller, involved with violence, but knowledgeable locals can show you many locations where murder and ambush occurred. Of course, some areas had much more than others.

   We used to live in Johnson County Wyoming and our kids went to school with the grandkids and great grandkids of the participants in the war between the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association and local ranchers/homesteaders/and sheepmen.

   When we lived in the area between Casper and Canada, I had a rifle rack in my pickup window half full, unless my old Ford pickup had the rifle laying on the dashboard (another reason besides EMP threat to drive those 1970’s pickups). My revolver belt was wrapped around the steering column with loaded holster hanging down.

   People were friendly from Chugwater WY, and on north to the area from Superior to Wolf Point, MT. But times changed.

   The fact is, an armed society is a polite society. A partially armed but mostly defenseless society is an extremely dangerous place to live. Look at South Chicago today.

   God Bless,

3. Fitting in this modern day of insanity.
   “I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them;
   If I find them to obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am responsible for everything I do. An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” ~ Robert A. Heinlen

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