Book Reviews

Pueblo Indian Agriculture.

By James A. Vlasich. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005. xix + 363 pp Cloth, $34.95.)

THE PUEBLO INDIANS of New Mexico have fascinated Euro-Americans for centuries. Their tenacity in retaining their culture, their still extant adobe, multistoried villages, and especially their communal irrigated agriculture (so unlike the agriculture of other Native-Americans in the area) has created an image in the popular consciousness of a timeless people who, even today, live exactly as their ancestors did. The value of James Vlasich’s book is to show that while there is a kernel of truth to this view, the Pueblos have also undergone enormous change over the years, and today the administration of tribal land a nd water is accomplished through a complicated mix of local, state, and federal agencies.

Vlasich has done a tremendous amount of research and the span of the book (from pre-historic times until the present) is impressive The most original part of the book is the discussion of Pueblo water rights during the Spanish, Mexican, a nd American eras. Anyone who has studied in this field knows the daunting complexity of the topic. The author, however, does a good job of moving the reader through these issues in a thorough, but not necessarily lively, way Vlasich also makes three interesting historical observations that have often been neglected by historians. One is the confusion over whether the Pueblos should be classified as roaming Indians like the Comanche, Apache, Ute or Navajo, or as citizen-farmers. This confusion began with the Spanish and continued into the American per iod. In fact it was not until 1913 that they were declared, once and for all, to be Indians and therefore wards of the federal government. The second point is that while Spanish, Mexican, and American governments acknowledged the primacy of Pueblo land and water rights, those rights have only been loosely enforced by unsympathetic locals. The final obser vation is that not all problems with Pueblo agriculture can be blamed on non-Indians. Flooding, excess silt, drought, and insect pests have plagued the Pueblo Indians from the time they began farming.

Reading this book one cannot but help to admire the pluck and determination of this group of people whose land and water have been constantly under siege first from Indian raiders, later by Spanish and American settlers, and finally by severe demands for water by a g rowing New Mexican population. Despite these pressures, the book ends with several positive notes. In the 1970s and 1980s there was a strong “back to the land” movement among the Pueblos that took advantage of the niche market for specialty foods such as blue corn. In addition the Pueblos have become much more aggressive in protecting their water rights. Finally, despite tremendous change, the agriculturally focused Pueblo religion is still widely observed even if the majority of the Pueblo people are no longer practicing farmers.

This book is based on Vlasich’s dissertation and, unfortunately, suffers f rom the same sorts of flaws generally found in student papers (dry writing, jumbled primary source anecdotes connected by vague and/or bland generalizations, and an extremely narrow focus that only occasionally addresses the “Big Picture”), although the writing does rally towards the end of the book. While this book will probably be chiefly of interest only t o water rights experts and Pueblo Indian scholar s, it does serve as a good reference source on this topic One thing that Vlasich is to be commended for is the absence of histrionics that sometimes mar Native-American historical writing.

D. M. DAVIS Utah State University

Mapping and Imagination in the Great Basin: A Cartographic History

By Richard V Francaviglia. (Reno and Las Vegas: Univer sity of Nevada Press, 2005. xviii + 231 pp Cloth, $44.95; paper $24.95.)

THE GREAT BASIN is an extremely large sub-region of the American West, yet through years of traveling in and studying and writing about its physical and cultural characteristics, Richard Francaviglia has been able to portray a desolate, rather sparsely populated region, in ways that have helped make it picturesque, less mysterious, and perhaps, even bucolic Because of his per sistent scholarly focus on the Great Basin, we are fortunate to have, among other things, a detailed identification of features that denote the Mormon Landscape, an insightful perspective on the region’s “spiritual geography,” and now we have, in Mapping and Imagination in the Great Basin, an extraordinarily readable cartographic history of the Great Basin.

Francaviglia states that Mapping and Imagination in the Great Basin: A Cartographic History is a book “about the process by which maps and related images reveal the character of places. More particularly, it is about how mapmakers have depicted the Great Basin in the tradition of Western, which is to say European and Europe an American, mapmaking. It is also about the people who make those maps and the other people who motivate them to do so” (xiv – xv). The author includes dozens of maps of the Great Basin, side-by-side, created over hundreds of year s, so that the reader can visually observe a “process of change or evolution,” or the geography of the Great Basin as it changed through time. This is, perhaps, historical geography at its best – a series of maps with associated narrative descriptions and explanations.

The book is organized chronologically so that Chapter 2 contains information about the oldest maps and Chapter 8 the most recent. The chapter titles and chronology areas follows: Chapter 2, “The Power of Terra Incognita (1540–1700)”; Chapter 3, “Maps and Early Spanish Exploration (1700 – 1795)”; Chapter 4, “In the Path of Westward Expansion (1795 – 1825)”; Chapter 5, “Demystifying Terra Incognita (1825–1850)”; Chapter 6, “Maps in the Sand (1850–1865) ”; Chapter 7, “Filling in the Blanks (1865 – 1900)”; and Chapter 8, “Maps of the Modern/Postmodern Great Basin (1900 – 2005).” This structure permits a visual portrayal of the Great Basin and allows for the Great Basin’s geography to be comprehended through maps and other visual images.

Four elements make this book especially enjoyable First, it is written in a remarkably lucid style that per mits one to read on-and-on. Francaviglia’s skillful narration removes what could have been a dry, tediously detailed, descriptive historical account of the numerous maps contained in the book. Second, the mapmakers’ lives were brought to life Francaviglia was able to capture personality traits of per sons involved in the construction of many of the maps. This adds a component to the book that increases its ability to captivate the reader Third, I appreciated the content of Chapter 1 , “Comprehending the Great Basin ” This chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book by providing an excellent, although short, account of the physical geography of the Great Basin. Fourth, Francaviglia’s insights a nd perspective presented in Chapter 9 , Comprehending Cartographic Change, and the Epilogue are particularly enjoyable Here he notes the important role that maps and other images play in our lives, yet by themselves, they are mere fragments of our total comprehension of places.

My only criticism of the book is with Chapter 8, “Maps of the Modern/Postmodern Great Basin (1900 – 2005).” I think that it should be divided into two chapters, one covering the period 1900 to about 1950 and the other covering the period from 1950 to 2005. While Francaviglia’s chronological portrayal moves through time in previous chapters methodically and at a reasonable speed, I feel that in Chapter 8, his presentation of maps, images, and his narration quickly gained speed as if he became tired of the project and was eager to complete it. Perhaps too much information was presented too rapidly in one chapter. A convenient break in Chapter 8 could occur with the construction of the Inter state highway system. That would allow for a separation of the modern from the postmodern era where remotely sensed imagery and technology provide our visual images of the Great Basin.

BROOKS GREEN University of Central Arkansas Conway, Arkansas

High, Wide, and Handsome: The River Jour nals of Nor man D. Nevills. Edited by Roy Webb (Logan: Utah State Univer sity Press, 2005. xii + 308 pp Paper, $21.95.)

THROUGHOUT THE LAST SEVENTY YEARS, r iver r unning has g radually emerged as a substantial tour ist and commercial activity, not only in the United S t a t e s , but a l s o t h rou g h ou t t h e wo r l d , w h e r eve r r ive r s f l ow t h rou g h ca nyo n s . White water rapids, the roller-coaster r ide, is often touted as the main attraction, but after a few days, most voyager s on any r iver, whether placid or rapid-filled, feel the exper ience as their sublimation into the environment, as if they become par t of the cliffs, the tumbling water, the scene of dusk f alling over a shadowy beach, or, in the mor ning, the creeping line of sunshine descending down gleaming red rocks. For the passenger s, identities established in other spheres become meaningless as the shared exper ience beg ins to dominate Only the expedition captain r ises above it all. And one of the best captains was Nor m Nevills.

Nevills was not a cultural aesthete, nor was he a poet. However, as much as he appreciated the flowing r iver, the sunsets and sunr ises, he was, first and foremost, a businessman. His f a the r dr ille d for oil, unsuccessfully, ne ar Mex ican H at , Utah, then sur rendered to his next alter native, the establishment of a motel alongside the San Juan River From this vantage point, young Nor man began his r iver career, first as contractor for a scientific investigation, then on his own, taking paying passenger s down the San Juan into Glen Canyon and on to Lee’s Fer r y. His boats were simple wooden aff air s (the fir st was called “hor se trough”), but they proved adequate for the generally flat, slow-moving cur rent.

Having vir tually no patter n to follow, Nor m and his wife, Dor is, in the mid1930s, initiated an intensive publicity campaign to lure boat passenger s. When on the r iver, he devoted full time to keeping his guests happy, and was almost never at rest. He was an “A” type per sonality if there ever was one As darkness fell on a r iver tr ip he would often push bur ning logs off a high ledge while sing ing a myster ious, creepy echoing chant. And the tour ists loved it. Dur ing daytime on the r iver he was also known to tiptoe out onto a floating log and stand on his head. A lo ng qu ie t s t retc he s o f t h e r ive r he wou ld re la t e h is t or i ca l t a l e s o f do ub t f u l veracity—but who knew the difference?

Although the San Juan River business was f airly good, Nevills recognized that general public interest was more focused on stretches of white water rapids—the “wild” Grand Canyon, death-defying Cataract Canyon (Colorado River), or the S almon and S nake—the “River of No Ret ur n. ” Dur ing th e 193 0s, newspaper s and t he public we re avidly attract ed to a ny boa t par ty or le ader who ventured down one of these dangerous r iver s. To Nor m here was guaranteed publicity— cer t ain t o enhance his name and the possibility of m ore pay ing passenge r s. He therefore constr ucted newly designed wooden “Cataract” boats, with an upsweep b ow a n d s t e r n a n d w i t h wa t e r p ro of com p a r t m e nt s— a ct ua l l y p ret t y f a i r bo a t s before the advent of r ubber rafts.

Then he was off , in 1938, from Lee’s Fe r r y down throug h the Grand Canyon. Altog ether he made seven successful tr ips throug h t he Grand from 1938 to 1949, and was the first to take women through the canyon. Tirelessly he scout ed rapids, locat ed campsit es, and t hen direct ed his boat s t hrough tr icky cur rents, tr y ing t o avoid whir lpools and rocks. In his jour nals he occasionally chast ises associate boatmen for m istakes in judgment , but he also chides himself for near boat ing disasters.

Exclusively featured in the book High, Wide, and Handsome are Nevills’s white wat e r r iver j ou r nals, t ha t is, tr i ps d own Gr an d C anyon, Cataract, a nd Salm onSnake These are exciting and show the deter mination, ingenuity, and stamina of Nevills himself Because he had no major accidents or deaths, one should not surmise that his white water tr ips were easy Just as in his business pioneer ing of guest management, he also had to pioneer techniques of navigating oar-powered wooden boats through rocky rapids—a f ar more difficult task than piloting today’s r ubber rafts. Consequently, Nor m was confronted with new challenges around almost ever y bend in the r iver. Only by complete awareness and quick thinking was he able to avoid disaster More than anything, these jour nals reflect Nevill’s concentration, energy, and sound judgment as he confronted each new obstacle

N evi l l s b e c a m e a n a t i o n w i d e c e l e b r i t y, a n d h i s bu s i n e s s a t M e x i c a n H a t boomed. By 1949 he was making a good living and was anticipating a scheduled 1950 expedition down Glen Canyon with the Sier ra Club director s—ostensibly to show them what was to be inundated by Glen Canyon Reser voir. But the tr ip was cancelled.

On September 19, 1949, Nor m and Dor is took off in a light aircraft from the pr imitive Mexican Hat air por t, headed for Grand Junction. They were airbor ne over the rocky canyon only a few seconds before the eng ine died. Lacking power, their small plane nose-dived into the rocks, killing both Nor m and Dor is.

Roy Webb, an outstanding scholar of r iver r unning, acting as editor, has done a splendid job of editing Nevills’s jour nals, enter ing carefully researched notes about p la ce s m e nt i on ed , p e r so na l it i es e nco un t ere d an d a d ve n t u ro us e pi so de s. We b b ’s notes are absolutely essential t o a full under sta nding of N evills’s jour nals. These notes are substantive—not reference—and they should have been entered in the book as footnotes, that is on the same page as the jour nal reference, instead of as endnotes at the back of the book. To read Nevills’s jour nal without the editor’s notes close at hand is to miss half the stor y

So reading High, Wide, and Handsome takes a bit of per sistence, dedication, and interest. Yet it is all wor th it. Nevills was one of the most interesting individuals ever to r un commercial tr ips down the Colorado, Salmon, and Snake r iver s. And he was the founding f ather on how to do it, to keep passenger s excited and happy, to make a substantial profit, and to enlist prospective new customer s.

W. L. RUSHO Salt Lake City

Sacagawea’s Child: The Life and Times of Jean-Baptiste (Pomp) Charbonneau.

By Susan M. Colby. (Spokane: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 2005, 203 pp. Cloth, $28.50)

J E A N - B A P T I S T E C H A R B O N N E AU ( 1 8 0 5 - 1 8 6 6 ) , t h e h a l f b r e e d s o n o f Tou ss a in t C ha r b on ne a u, a F re n ch C a n a di a n f u r t r ad e r a nd in t e r p ret er f o r t h e Lewis a nd Cla rk E xp edit ion, an d his S hosho ne I ndian wif e, Sacagawea, l ived a lo ng a nd eve nt f ul lif e pa r t i cipa t ing in even t s of ou r n at io na l hi st or y t ha t have largely gone unnoticed. That over sight has now been rectified by Susan M. Colby whose most recent work does much to place Jean-Baptiste in histor ical per spective, tracing the stor y of the development of a half-breed Indian child into a highly educated per son who could be equally at home in two diver se cultures. The wo r k c o m m e n c e s w i t h t h e c u l t u r a l a n t e c e d e n t s o f t h e p a r e n t s , t h o ro u g h l y descr ibing the physical and social conditions, which influenced their worldview It then moves on to a descr iption of the Lewis and Clark Expedition emphasizing the role that the Charbonneau family played in it Thereafter, the focus of the study is entirely on Jean-Baptiste.

Subsequent to the retur n of the Cor ps of Discover y from the Pacific, William Clark willingly assumed the guardianship of Jean-Baptiste and dur ing the ensuing year s educat ed t he boy in a ma nner con sistent wit h t he wo r l d v i ew of Thomas Je f f e rson and the idea ls of t he E nl ightenment S ometime dur ing his eig hteenth year Jean-Baptiste had the good for tune to come under the influence of Fr iedr ick Paul Wilhelm, duke of Wur ttemberg, a twenty-five year old man of royal parentage who likewise espoused the ideals of the Enlightenment. Together they sailed to Ger many whe re f or the ne xt five year s the young N at ive Amer ican re c e ived a “cla ssic educat ion.” By 183 0, Jean -Ba pti ste retur ned t o t he Amer ican Wes t a nd entered into the Rocky Mountain fur trade dur ing which time he came into contact with the major per sonalities of the fur trade With the advent of the Mexican War in 1846 he was contracted by General Stephen Watts Kear ny to ser ve as a g uide fo r C olon el Phi lip S t . G eor ge C ooke’s Mor mon Ba ttal ion on t he ir e pic overland march to San Diego. Subsequently he held the office of mag istrate in the civil gover nment of Califor nia at the for mer San Luis Rey Mission before resigning and heading nor th t o the g old fields on t he Middle For k of t he Amer ican River where for the next eighteen year s he at fir st mined and later went into par tn e r s hi p w i t h J i m B e ck wo u r t h t o op e r a t e a h o t e l . U p o n h e a r i n g o f t h e g o l d discover ies in Montana he depar ted Califor nia in early spr ing and while fording a r iver in southeaster n Oregon he soaked his clothing, contracted pneumonia and died May 16, 1866, at Inskip’s Station near present-day Danner

Colby, a distant cousin of Jean-Baptiste, had no easy task in the preparation of this biog raphy Despite an education unordinar y in his time, Jean-Baptiste left this world without a memoir or, for that matter, hardly a parag raph or scarcely a signat u re M ost o f wh at i s kn ow n a bo ut hi m com es t o u s by way of t he re c o rd e d obser vations of his contemporar ies. That aside, Colby’s bibliog raphy testifies to her exhaustive effor ts to gar ner ever y available pr imar y document relating to her subject. Her work differs from other previous works in that her s fills in the lapses in the histor ical record with carefully crafted oblique literar y devices, which create t he il lusion of hist or i ca l cer t aint y bu t a re unf or tuna t ely quit e specula tive (e.g., “ p e r h a p s ,” “ s u g g e s t s ,” “ m u st h ave, ” a n d “ p ro b a bl y,” a re a bu n d a n t l y di s t r i bu t e d throughout the text).

Ha ndsomely bound in red line n cl oth wit h gol d foil st am ped let ter ing, well indexed and illustrated, containing a thorough bibliog raphy and adequate maps, Sacagawea’s Child is a good read and will be a welcomed addition to the librar ies of Lewis and Clark aficionados, fur trade enthusiasts, and Wester n Amer icana bibliophiles in general.

TODD I. BERENS Dale L Morgan Memorial Library of Wester n Americana Ripon College, Wisconsin

Junius & Joseph: Presidential Politics and the Assassination of the First Mor mon

Prophet. By Rober t S Wicks and Fred R. Foister (Logan: Utah State Univer sity Press, 2005. xi + 316 pp. Cloth, $45.95; paper, $24.95.)

ROBERT S. WICKS AND FRED R. FOISTER have combined, in their ver y first effor t in the field of Mor mon studies, a fresh, provocative, and award-winning (John Whitmer Histor y Association Best Book Award for 2005) reexamination of the old evidence on the 1844 murder of Joseph Smith. Often challeng ing the current telling of the stor y, they argue that Smith’s murder was, in fact, a thoroughly orchestrated, “militar y-style execution” by a conspiracy that extended well beyond the political limits of Hancock County—even reaching beyond the residence of the Illinois Democratic Gover nor in Spr ingfield nationally to the inner circle of the Whigs’ presidential hopeful, Henr y Clay They attempt, with some success, to unmask the identity of the four men who shot Smith as he lay stunned against the stone cur b of t he now-f am ous well.They continue to plow new g round when they highlight the larger Amer ican political landscape dur ing a presidential election year, providing im por t ant contex t f or the events on t he wester n pr air ie of Illinois in June 1844.

Their effor t s are som etimes mar red by missteps a long t he way For example, they do not know the church changed its name in 1838, not 1837 (16); Sidney Rigdon was baptized before he met Joseph Smith, not after (17); Jackson County, Missour i, was identified as the Garden of Eden, not Far West in Caldwell County (18); the name of the newspaper in Independence, Missour i, was the Evening and t he M o r n i n g S t ar , n o t t he E ven i n g an d M o r n in g S ta r , a pa p e r pu bl is he d la t e r i n Kir tland, Ohio (18); and so for th.

Ironically, as they attempt to provide an accurate word-picture of the events at Car thage, they per petuate a f alse visual image of the physical setting of the assassination. They emphasize Freder ick Piercy’s 1855 sketch of the jail showing a post1844 frame summer kitchen on the nor theaster n side of the br ick building (160) by providing, on the f acing page, a rather large, moder n, detailed “Reconstr uction of the Jail” (161), showing the same frame building. Yet, seemingly unaware or less concer ned for such details, they provide the ver y sources that could have saved them from this misguided visual re c o n s t r uct ion when t hey re p roduce t he 1845 “Sketch of the environs of the Car thage jail” (230) and the 1845 “Illustration from William N. Daniels” (277), which clearly show that no frame str ucture existed at the time of Smith’s murder

In some instances, they depar t from their innovating reconstr uction of the stor y w he n t h ey a cce p t , wi t ho ut q u es t io ni ng , t he o ld a nd wo r n- o ut s t or y l i n e s . Fo r example, they do not acknowledge Glen M. Leonard’s recent conclusion that John Taylor was not saved by his watch (182). They emphasize the stale, yet sensational, inter pretation that Smith’s last cr y, “O Lord, my God,” was a Masonic distress call (178) without asking the significance or acknowledg ing Willard Richards’ similar gesture and cr y just moments later (reminding one of the Jewish attitude of prayer and the cr y of the r ighteous petitioner in the book of Psalms). In f ailing to ask new questions of such old inter pretations and sources, they are unable to provide the kind of thoughtful analysis present in other sections of the book.

Nevertheless, Wicks and Foister are to be congratulated for an imaginative reconstruction of some of the most significant aspects of the story. The book, therefore, will become required reading for anyone interested in this pivotal moment in Mormon history.

RICHARD NEITZEL HOLZAPFEL Brigham Young University

Gathering in Harmony: A Saga of Southern Utah Families, Their Roots and Pioneering Heritage, and the Tale of Antone Prince, Sheriff of Washington County.

By Stephen L. Prince, (Spokane: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 2004, 334 pp Cloth, $39.95.)

NEARLY A DECADE AGO Los Angeles dentist Stephen L. Pr ince br ushed off a challenge from his brother, Greg, to wr ite a biography of their g randfather Antone Pr ince, longtime sher iff of Washington County, Utah. Stephen later reconsidered and set to work on what evolved into Gather ing in Har mony, not so much a biography of Antone, as a deeply researched and wide rang ing f amily histor y.

As Pr ince sees it, his f amily’s stor y is best under stood when envisioned as an hourglass, the sands at the top funneling through a nar row neck in the per son of A n t o n e, a n d t h e n d i s p e r s i n g w i d e l y a g a i n i n t h e g e n e r a t i o n s t h a t f o l l owe d . Gather ing in Har mony focuses upon the top half of that hourglass, represented here in Mor monism’s doctr ine of gather ing. Antone Pr ince and New Har mony, Utah, a small ranching outpost in Washington County, become the per son and place at the center of the hourglass and the culmination of this stor y.

It is an intr iguing tale, especially as it br ings into shar p focus the wide reaching, a lb ei t so m et i m es f ee ble n at u re o f e ar l y Mo r m o n i s m ’s m iss io na r y e f f or t s . E ve n more clear are the f amilial and per sonal results of those effor ts as Mor monism’s vast net brought newly conver t ed La tter-day Saints from dispara te backg rounds together into a common cause and, in this case, a common f amily. Antone’s g reatg r a n d p a re n t s , G eo rge a nd S a r ah Bowm a n Pr i n c e, f or e x am pl e, res pon de d t o a s h o r t live d Mo r m on in cur s io n i nt o S ou t h A f r i ca in t h e 1 8 5 0 s a nd even t ua l ly gathered to Utah. Over the year s they and their children and g randchildren met, mingled with, and mar r ied into the William Taylor, Isaac Allred, John H. Redd, James H. Imlay, Hosea Stout, and John D Lee f amilies.

Upon conver sion, the f ate and for tune of these var ious f amilies largely became one with that of the frontier relig ion that they embraced. Stephen Pr ince, therefore, methodically chronicles the stor y of the Latter-day Saints’ troubled histor y in Missour i and Nauvoo, Illinois, the trek of the Mor mon Battalion, the Utah War, colonization effor ts in the Great Basin, and the ensuing difficulties with Native A m e r i c a n s . S t ud en t s o f Mo r m on a nd U t ah hi st o r y w il l f in d t h e t a l e f a m i l i a r, a l t h o u g h P r in c e d o e s p e pp e r i t w i t h a n e c d ot e s f ro m t he va r io u s f a m i l i e s h e follows and largely relies upon pr imar y source mater ials.

The final two chapter s on Antone Pr ince are especially enjoyable They offer f res h s t o r i e s o f l i f e i n s o u t h e r n U t a h d u r i n g t h e f i r s t h a l f o f t h e Twe n t i e t h Centur y. The author, for example, highlights New Har mony’s little known mohair i n d u s t r y a nd it s eve nt u al de m is e a s a re su lt o f t he Gre at D ep re s s i o n . A n t o n e ’s tenure as Washington County Sher iff from 1936 to 1954 is even more colorful. For Antone, those year s were filled with the excitement of manhunts, roadblocks, ro b b e r i e s , ca t t l e r u s t l i n g , a n d mu rd e r. A n t o n e ’s k n ac k a t t ra c ki ng su sp e ct s , h i s for thr ight and tr usting attitude toward his pr isoner s, and his proclivity for enter ing dangerous sit uat ions unar me d creat ed in him not onl y a po pula r she r iff , but a souther n-Utah folk hero

A n t o n e ’s e x p lo i t s n o t w it hs t a nd i n g , t he s e f i n a l ch a p t e r s a l m o s t s t a n d a l on e. T h e re i s n ot a s t ro ng l in k b et we en A nt o ne a s s he r if f a nd t he va st f am i ly an d Mor mon histor y that dominate the rest of the book. In what ways did Antone’s r ich her itage shape him into the fine public ser vant that he was and in what ways did he represent something new at the middle of the hourglass, especially as the Pr ince f a mi ly t ra nsit ione d f rom t he M or m on g a th er ing t o a f a mi lia l disp er sal? Answer ing such questions would more fully unify the stor y and solidify Stephen’s vision of his f amily, with Antone at the center linking past and future generations. Even st ill, Gather i ng in Har mony is a f ine pie ce of f am ily and loca l hist or y t hat should find a ready audience among Mor mon, Utah, and f amily histor y enthusiasts alike

W. PAUL REEVE University of Utah

Goodbye Judge Lynch: The End of a Lawless Era in Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin.

By John W Davis. (Nor man: Univer sity of Oklahoma Press, 2005. xiii + 266 pp Cloth, $32.95.)

T H IS CA R E F U L LY R E S EA RC HE D B OOK is a bo ut t h e Bi g H o r n B as in ’ s passage from the lawlessness of its frontier status to social stability, with state and c o u n t y g ove r n m e n t s i n p l a c e, w i t h e l e ct e d o f f i c i a l s , c o u n t r y co m m i s s i o n e r s , s h e r i f f s , d e p u t i e s , a n d w i t h j u d g e s a n d c o u r t s t h a t c o u l d p rov i d e “ l e g a l l aw enforcement.” It is an infor mative jour ney through the legal histor y of the area, and into the subtle changes that impact what “society” accepts or demands.

John W. Davis, a resident of the area and an exper ienced attor ney, br ings his exper tise to examining the official records, newspaper s, and pr ivate accounts, to t el l t his int e re st ing a nd com ple x st or y Whil e f ro nt ier v iol ence is a n Amer ican phenomenon, he reviews violence in Wyoming thoroughly, but focuses on the Big Hor n Basin by examining two water shed cases: the fir st in 1902, the second in 1909 when Judge Lynch presided.

Wyoming came into existence as a ter r itor y in 1869, with the building of the transcontinental railroad. Statehood followed in 1890. Gover nance, directed from the south, was limited and remote Additionally, the geog raphy of the Big Hor n B a s i n f u r t h e r i s o l a t e d t h e r e g i o n , b e i n g s u r rou n d e d by m o u n t a i n r a n g e s : t h e P r yo r s t o t he no r t h , t h e A b s a ro ka s t o t he we s t , t h e Owl C ree k s t o t h e sou t h throug h which t he Win d Rive r f lowed t o be come the Big H or n River at th e “wedding of the water s” south of Ther mopolis. The Big Hor ns ranged nor th and south as the Basin’s easter n boundar y Getting there was not impossible, but from any direction, it was difficult.

The economic base for the Basin was its excellent rang elands, fir st exploited by cattlemen as early as 1879. T h ey could trail t heir large herds in t o g raze, and trail t hei r “beef ” out to ma rke ts a t t he ra ilroad: Rawl ins t wo hu ndred m ile s t o th e s o u t h , a n d e ve n t u a l l y B i l l i n g s , M o n t a n a , o n e h u n d r e d m i l e s t o t h e n o r t h . Thousands of head of cattle were broug ht in and did well until the severe winter of 1 8 8 6 - 8 7 , whe n m any h erds we re de cim at e d. At t he sam e ti me t he ca t t le me n’s tenuous claims on the rang es were beg inning to be challenged by sheep m en who also want ed the r ich ranges for g razing. C attlem en/sheepm en conflicts are histor ic

Another challenge to the cattlemen’s dominion came from the homesteader s, both individuals and those attracted to the major ir r igation projects being developed in the Basin. Among them were Mor mons from Utah who settled on the Greybull River (1890s) and Shoshone River (1900s), tr ibutar ies to the Big Hor n River.

Law enforcement in the reg ion had been the pur view of the rancher s and their cowboys. More than twenty people were killed in the Basin before 1900, with no convictions. Official action was remote with some coming from Johnson County to the east (Buff alo), and from Fremont County to the southwest (Lander). While Big Hor n County had been designated as a county in 1892, it did not beg in functioning until 1895, with Basin City as its county seat.

The fir st major case that Davis reviews in depth is State v James Gor man (1902). J im G or m a n wa s c ha r g e d wi t h k i ll i ng h is b ro t h e r, To m . To m ’s b e a ut i f ul w if e, Magg ie, was also charged, but she tur ned state’s evidence against Jim, with Judge Joseph L. Stotts from Sher idan presiding. Public sentiment was against Jim, since his brother Tom had been well liked generally. His attor ney, E. E. Enterline, provided an able defense for his client, who was charged with fir st-deg ree murder In such cases, the seating of the jur y is cr itical, both for the prosecution and for the defense In the Gor man tr ial, the patr iarchs of the area were well represented on the jur y. They retur ned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter.

For reasons st ill unclear, Jim Gor man a ske d for a re t r ial, eve n thoug h t o his attor ney, the chance for acquittal seemed remote. The second jur y had a few more Mor mons on it, and retur ned a decision of murder in the fir st deg ree. Davis speculates that the Mor mon peoples’ own her itage of mob violence likely made them l es s t o le r an t of t h os e w ho cho se t o t a ke t he l aw int o t he i r ow n h an ds Ju d g e Car penter sentenced Jim to be hanged on June 26, 1903. An appeal demanded a review and delay of execution.

Gor man’s problem was compounded because of another murder Joseph Walter s had killed a widow, Agnes Hoover of Otto, (1902) because she refused to mar r y him. In State v. Walters, he was found guilty of murder in the fir st deg ree. However, an ap pea l wa s reque st ed beca use his d ef ens e a ttor ney, R. R. McCabe, had not bee n g ive n adeq uat e ti me t o pre p a re a proper def ense Walter s’ attor n ey in t he appeal was also E. E. Enterline. Consequently, in 1903, Basin City had two men on “death row, ” with both appealing their sentences. Davis wr ites: “Something else was stir r ing in Big Hor n County, something ugly, and quintessentially Amer ican” (80).

When sher iff Fenton heard that a par ty of deter mined citizens from Shell and Paint Rock was coming to lynch Gor man and Walter s, he decided to hide them in one of the canyons nearby Gor man managed to escape by swimming the Big Hor n River, only to be captured a few days later, and retur ned to jail in Basin City Fate seemed to str ike another blow against Gor man, as sher iff Fenton had to leave Basin City to pick up a pr isoner in Ther mopolis. His depar ture left the jail under manned with only his deputy George Mead in charge The ang r y vig ilantes fer r ied across the r iver, then approached the cour thouse, where they fired into it, killing clerk/deputy Earl Pr ice instantly They tr ied to break the two pr isoners out to hang them, but the cell was too secure They shot and killed both men, with Walter s standing f acing the attacker s, while Gor man tr ied to hide under his bed. Pro secu ti on o f t he pe r petrator s was at t em pt ed , but a ll char g es were dis mi ssed Davis obser ves: “The society was still immature, and it was hard to know when this would change” (116).

The cat tlemen’s ra iding and killing of shee p herds had be en f a irly com mon. But the Sheep Creek raid in Apr il 1909, resulted in the deaths of three herders. Rancher s and sheep men had established a deadline dividing their ranges in 1897. S heepm en Joe All emand and Joe Em ge in Apr il 1 909 cha lleng ed t hat a rbit rar y line by moving their herds onto Spr ing Creek, near Ten Sleep, Wyoming.

Seve n local ra nch er s chose to ra id th e t wo cam ps result ing in t he d eaths of Emge, Allemand, and a herder, Lazier Ang r y public reaction called for prosecution an d punis hme nt o f t he per petrator s. This t im e, sher iff Fel ix Alst on a nd coun ty a t t o r n ey Pe rcy M e t z, ha d g o o d su p p o r t a s t h ey b e g a n t he inve s t i g a t i o n . T h e m o n ey f ro m t he Wyo m i n g Woo l G rowe r s A s s o c i a t i o n , a n d t h e he l p o f r a n g e detective Joe LeFor s, were pivotal to the prosecution, directed by E. E. Enterline and fellow attor ney Will Metz, f ather of the young prosecuting attor ney.

But the cattlemen were not g iving up easily They put most of the attor neys in the Basin on retainer, and even bought up several newspaper s to present their version of the case. I t wa s at t his poi nt tha t sher if f Alst on asked for t he m ili tia , a requ est g r ant e d by t he g over nor, t o be st at ione d in Ba sin C it y, in spit e of th e objection of mayor Collins. The g rand jury indicted all seven men. Davis notes that several Mor mon men were on that jury also.

Herbert Brink was tried first. Two of the men charged tur ned state’s evidence, ma king the prosecution’s case even stronger. The rem aining f ive we re all found guilty of murder or ar son or manslaughter Still, the cattlemen “honored” them as they left Basin City for pr ison.

Davis g ives a good review of what happened to the people affected over the year s. In his infor mative summar y account, Davis notes: “Under moder n law, Jim G o r m a n ( 1 9 0 3 ) wou l d h ave b e e n co nv i c t e d o f m a n s l a u g h t e r ” A n d , a s Ju d g e Pa r m al e e t ol d t h e 1 9 0 9 g r an d j ur y : “N o b od y of m e n , h oweve r wi se o r we l l i n t e n t i o n e d , m ay sa f e l y b e e nt r us t e d t o p ron o un ce u p on o r t o re d re s s p u bl i c wrongs or pr ivate g r ievances outside the for ms of the law” (210-11). Davis concludes: “Judge Lynch should never have rendered a decision” (211).

MELVIN T. SMITH St. George, Utah

A Navajo Legacy: The Life and Teachings of John Holiday.

By John Holiday and Robert S McPherson. (Nor man: University of Oklahoma Press, 2005. xxii + 394 pp Cloth, $29.95.)

W I TH O U T A D OU B T, R o b e r t Mc Ph e r so n is o ne o f t h e m o st p rol i f i c a n d conscientious wr iters on the Navajo people in this generation, and an advocate of their life ways, histor y, and place in Amer ican society He is consummately careful n ot t o b re ec h t he r i g ht of li t e r a r y s ove rei g nt y na t ive pe o pl e s eve r y w h e r e a re exer ting over their own culture and her itage. In this latest work one perceives certain humility about his approach to such things, and one enter s into the dialogue on that same premise As co-author/editor, he is g racious in his acknowledgement of those who helped him br ing the work to pr int: Baxter Benally, who did the extended inter views with John Holiday in his native tongue, ever str iving to br ing out t he most salient and connective stor ie s and teaching s, and Mar y Holiday, a clan relative of John’s, who took on the colossal work of translation. Paramount, of course, is fir st-named co-author, John Holiday.

John Holiday is a tribal elder, medicine man and spir itual leader who is ver y much aware of t he conu n d r um f acing Nava jo yout h in t hese ti me s: dr ug s a nd a l c o h o l , s e e m l y, f l a m b oya n t , n o n - t r a d i t i o n a l d r e s s a n d h a i r s t y l e s , a n d s e x u a l promiscuity, among other things. He would teach them as he was taught, to develop a clean mind and body, to lear n only the good in language, songs, and prayer s, and to then dwell on it and live accordingly. He sees traditional Navajo lifestyle as the best way for these things to be taught. In f act, a large por tion of Holiday’s narrative presents his life, imbedded in traditional living, ceremony, and obser vance, as a g reat backdrop to a stage on which Navajo life continues to be played out over time by successive generations, but in a new-age setting. He wants his legacy to stand as a constant testimony and reminder of how things once were for his people, and how, he feels, they yet can be.

H o l i d ay an d M cPhe r s on p rovid e f i f ty- f ive pa g es o f not e s t o hel p m a ke t h e stor y more log ical for the reader who lives outside Navajo reality; these are some of the most cogent endnotes possible in such a work; absolutely wonderful explanation is herein presented. They have skillfully placed throughout the book fiftytwo mostly histor ical photog raphs from noted collections from around the reg ion. It is amazing just how many of these photos por tray Navajo life in times past as if they were a snapshot taken by John as he lived his own life The tr uth is, of cour se, that the photos are random, but speak of traditional Navajo life ways over time, and could be plugged into many Navajo lives as easily as they fit into Holiday’s. These are a superb selection, a visual nar rative wherein are reified the ver y worldview and teachings Holiday hopes to pass on in his nar rative. There is even a map, t o g rou nd t h at rea de r who ne ed s t o k now no r t h , e a s t , s o u t h , a nd we st t o t h e events as told in a stor y, to be affixed, as it were, in space as well as in time

Like Walter Dyk’s Son of Old Man Hat , Leslie Mar mon Silko’s Ceremony, and McPher son’s earlier work, The Jour ney of Navajo Oshley, A Navajo Legacy, The Life and Teachings of John Holiday is destined to become a classic in Native Amer ican studies. It is the voice of John Holiday discussing, outr ight, cer tain r ituals and ceremonies that he sees as par ticularly powerful, hoping that he might be able to use the moder n, wr itten word to reach some of those of his people lost to the f astpaced, dominant lifestyle that sur rounds and captivates them. This is all presented separate from his descr iptive life histor y, steeped in tradition and Navajo belief . Anyone who can imag ine, and especially those who have traveled Navajo lands of the four-cor ner s area, will, as they read this life histor y, have a vision in their mind of those events, will vir tually feel the war mth of the sun in its seasons, smell the sa g e a nd sm oke and canvas a nd ani ma ls l ace d int o John’s st or ies, and hea r th e f lint y sou nd of mul e an d hor ses’ hoove s pa ssing over sha le slop es a nd e ch oing along canyon walls as large as the Navajo Legacy will be significant.

H. BERT JENSON Utah State University

Earning My Degree: Memoirs of an American University President.

By David Pierpont Gardner (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005. xx + 432 pp Cloth, $49.95.)

B Y T H E E N D O F DAV I D G A R D N E R ’ S f i r s t y e a r a s p r e s i d e n t o f t h e Univer sity of Utah, master por traitist Alvin Gittins’ painting of the for ty year-old leader hung on the west wall of the broad Park Building cor r idor leading to the president’s office Possessing an uncommon abilit y t o capt ure t he essence of his subjects, Gittins’ pres ent ed an al er t and re sol ut e f ig ure a dor ne d wit h acad em ic regalia, including his official medallion. The backg round appear s as a marble slab with the words “David P Gardner” chiseled in stone One-third of a centur y and nineteen year s in two major univer sity presidencies later, Gittins’ image r ings tr ue.

David Gardner will be remembered as one of the last centur y’s most ar ticulate, k n ow l e d g e a bl e, a nd e f f ec t ive un ive r si t y p re s i d e n t s . A rep u t at i on f o r be in g t o o agg ressive about pur suing his own interests, however, has dogged him throughout his career Gardner’s Memoirs vouchsafe this judgment, rendered independently by his fr iends and enemies in both Califor nia and Utah. A memoir, in full usage, is not only a for m of autobiog raphy but also sometimes “a reminder.” In this case, we are reminded of Gardner’s many laudable achievements and made pr ivy to his means of attaining them. But, we are also g iven his per spectives on the long chain of controver sies sur rounding his income, housing, benefits, and perquisites.

Following two chapters on his youth and education, Gardner devotes a third one to his presidency of the Univer sity of Utah and a four th to his leader ship, dur ing t he fi nal pha se of hi s Un iver sit y of U ta h year s, of t he dur able na t iona l cr itique of public education that the Reagan Administration titled and released as “A Nation at Risk.” Chapter s 5 through 8 concentrate on Gardner’s leadership of the Univer sity of Califor nia’s nine-campus system from 1983 to 1992. In chapter 9 h e o f f er s a b ro ad er p er s p e c t ive on hi s p re si de nt i a l e x pe r ie nce s in Uta h an d Califor nia. The final chapter descr ibes his per sonal life over the year s, including t h e d e a t h o f L i b by, h i s w i f e o f t h i r t y - t wo ye a r s , a n d h i s a b r u p t a n d s t o r my depar ture from t he Univer sit y of Cal ifor nia pre s i d e n c y An e pilog ue de als wit h Gardner’s per sonal renewal, mar r iage to Sheila Rodger s, and foundation leadership over the last dozen year s.

Ear ning My Degree inspires a range of responses. Gardner provides a clear and candid account of the demands on a moder n univer sity president. He also emphasizes the issues that buffet academic leaders and, on a more personal level, articul a t e s t h e p r in ci pl e s t ha t g ui d e d h i s d e ci si on - m a k in g H e d id not shrink from tough judgments, nor duck when consequences—anticipated or unanticipated— were meted out. Gardner’s frank por trayal of the constant inter play between his official role and his per sonal values constitutes the book’s pr imar y strength. The excessive space he accords to telling his side of the pay and benefits controver sies, and to descr ibing his relationships with national and inter national leader s, are the least endear ing elements of the stor y If he had spared even a few of these lines in f avor of acknowledg ing some of the extraordinar ily dedicated high-level staff on whom he depended to achieve his many successes, the book would have had a much better feel. On balance, this volume will be of value to anyone whose life has been inter twined with the Univer sity of Utah or the Univer sity of Califor nia. The book should also be of interest to those who study higher education histor y, public policy making, and leader ship Finally, having served as a dean under Gardner for nine of his ten Utah year s, admir ing his a stu te def ense of a cade mic values—from publ ic enli ghtenm ent t o scholarly research—and his deft strateg ic initiatives, I benefited g reatly when the responsibility of leading Deep Spr ings College fell to me Ear ning My Degree will provide similar advantages to anyone contemplating or occupying such a position in academe.

L. JACKSON NEWELL University of Utah