The truth is vastly different from these notions, and much more interesting. By 1800, there were very substantial and established populations of French, Spanish, Mexican, British, Russian, and Americans living in the west, within a society and culture that was dominant Native American. The groups intermarried to a stunningly high degree. The most important economic activity was the fur trade, and most of the groups were involved in the hunting, preparation, trading, and transportation of the furs. The fur trade, and later the trade in bison hides, was the cornerstone of the trading culture, through which all parties exchanged a vast variety of items to be able to live – food, guns, shoes and other clothing, tools, and on and on. A good example of the co-operative trading culture is provided by this passage from page 147:

• In the summer of 1832… William (Bent) recognized two (Cheyenne) men and greeted them politely in Cheyenne….The Cheyennes, led by Little Wolf, Wolf Chief, and Yellow Wolf, had just completed a very successful raid against the Comanches and were eager to trade with the Bents. After inviting his guests for coffee and pipe smoking, William, who spoke some Cheyenne, and (his brother) Charles, who spoke some Lakota and some sign language, described their plan to build a fort at this site. The Cheyenne men seemed happy with this news, but they recommended locating the fort further east along the river in the heart of the Cheyenne wintering grounds. William saw the soundness of this advice and discussed the advantages carefully. After more coffee, the Indians named the four Bent brothers (White Hat, Little White Man, Little Beaver, and Green Bird), accepted more tobacco, and continued on their way. The careful observation of manners, the acceptance of good advice, and ritual naming made this a successful beginning to the Bent family business enterprise.

The author, Anne Hyde, is a Professor of History at Colorado College. She has broken new ground in studying the diaries and correspondence of the players in much more detail than other writers. As the documents are primarily (though not exclusively) from upper-class Europeans, this is not a bottom-up history, but rather more of a middle-out. Nonetheless, it is much more revealing of the people and conditions on the ground than reviewing the documents in presidential libraries. The very large number of unfamiliar people, events, and locales described by Professor Hyde make this a somewhat difficult, but well worthwhile, book.

One remarkable aspect of this society was how much it differed from the Native society that existed before the arrival of the White man. Native Americans absorbed or accommodated horses, guns, forts, many languages and legal systems, survived diseases, and survived the earlier displacement of tribes from the east. The notion that the First Nations could not adapt to change is mistaken. In addition, these were clearly nations, different in some ways from our concepts of the word, but nations nonetheless.

A fascinating angle of the book is the author’s inclusion of Mormons in Utah among Native American nations. The author argues, convincingly, that Mormons wished to live outside the realm of the American norms and were persecuted for it. The much greater prosperity of the Mormons than the other Native Americans, long term, resulted from a large element of luck. The Mormon division during the Mexican-American War “conquered” southern California while facing no significant opposition. Mormon carpenters built and were present at Sutter’s fort upon the discovery of gold there, which precipitated the California gold rush. The Mormons were rewarded greatly for both of these fortunate events.

The co-operative nature of the trading society was possible with the lack of any single dominant power in the west this era. By the end of the time frame of the narrative, the number of American settlers who demanded their land and development rights was so large as to overpower everyone else within a couple more decades. The earlier business model of the British trading monopolies (Hudson’s Bay and Northwest) and the Spanish Missions was just not plausible for Americans who has fought to overthrow aristocratic systems. The failure to continue to share governance was so utterly tragic for the Native Americans. One can’t help but wonder whether any other outcome was possible. Given the huge differences between American settler and Native American societies, I’m not optimistic.