Don Wildman

We're talking to Tori Olson about the American West and its facts and fictions.

How central was violence towards Native Americans in this frontier expansion?

Again, we see the cowboys in Indian movies, they're called.

All that sort of spectacular violence was not really part of regular life, wasn't it?

Tell me how the great hunts of these bison.

I mean, it was such an amazing visual that people back east got.

Where did that figure into this?

The connectivity of these things historically just gives me chills because you end up with this whole chain reaction where, yeah, you're getting rid of the buffalo.

Now you've cleared the ranch lands for cattle.

Then the railroad's coming out.

The railroad comes out.

Chicago develops.

Chicago gets supercharged by refrigerator cars later on, which suddenly, you know, the demand for meat increases as a result of that efficiency.

It's an amazing.

And then cowboys.

Yeah, exactly.

Add to that, and then, of course, more and more railroad expansion as lands are more and more exploited.

Add to that the mining booms, which are all over the place.

Colorado, my goodness, all over to this day, still discovering gold.

And, of course, down in Arizona.