WHEN I WAS A BOY, THE LAKOTA OWNED THE WORLD.

THE SUN ROSE AND SET ON THEIR LAND.

THEY SENT 10,000 MEN TO BATTLE.

WHERE ARE THE WARRIORS TODAY?

WHO SLEW THEM?

WHERE ARE OUR LANDS?

WHO OWNS THEM?

-- SITTING BULL.

[ NATIVE AMERICAN CHANTING ] [ DRUM BEATS, CHANTING CONTINUES ] [ MORE VOICES ADDED TO CHANTING ] BY 1887, THE WEST WAS CHANGING FASTER THAN EVER BEFORE.

AMERICANS WERE MOVED BY THE SAME IMPULSES THAT HAD ALWAYS MOVED THEM -- TO BETTER THEIR OWN LIVES, AND TRANSFORM THE REGION IN THE PROCESS.

NOW, THEIR NUMBERS SOARED, AND THEY BROUGHT WITH THEM THE TOOLS OF THE NEW INDUSTRIAL AGE.

MINING STILL LURED PEOPLE TO THE WEST FROM EVERY CORNER OF THE GLOBE, BUT IT WAS A FULL-SCALE INDUSTRY NOW... AND THE CITIES IT CREATED SEEMED LITTLE DIFFERENT FROM THE GRIMY FACTORY TOWNS OF THE EAST.

HOMESTEADERS AND FORTUNE-SEEKERS STILL ARRIVED, EVEN THOUGH MUCH OF THE BEST LAND HAD ALREADY BEEN CLAIMED.

AND THE FRENZY OVER WHAT WAS LEFT TOUCHED OFF HUMAN STAMPEDES, WHILE WHOLE TOWNS OPENED FOR BUSINESS OVERNIGHT.

BUT FOR THE FIRST INHABITANTS OF THE WEST, IT SEEMED THAT A WAY OF LIFE THAT HAD LASTED FOR GENERATIONS WAS ENDING.

AS THEY SAW THEIR REMAINING LANDS STRIPPED AWAY, SOME INDIANS SOUGHT REFUGE IN A RELIGION THAT PROMISED IT HAD ALL BEEN A BAD DREAM.

Woman: IF YOU STOP AND THINK ABOUT THE KIND OF PREJUDICE A LOT OF PEOPLE SUFFERED, A LOT OF THE DESTRUCTION THAT TOOK PLACE AS A CONSEQUENCE OF WAR AND CONQUERING, THEN IT WASN'T SUCH A PRETTY PICTURE.

BUT I HAVE TO SAY THAT I THINK WE HAVE TO RECOGNIZE THAT THAT'S THE STORY OF ALL PLACES, OF ALL NATIONS, NO MATTER WHERE IN THE WORLD.

IT IS A STORY OF CONQUERING, GREAT SACRIFICE, GREAT LOSS, AND, A LOT OF TIMES, A TAKING AWAY OF THINGS THAT REALLY BELONGED TO SOMEONE ELSE.

BUT EVEN KNOWING ALL OF THAT... AND WISHING THAT PART OF IT WERE NOT THERE CANNOT TAKE AWAY THE SPIRIT AND THE IDEALISM AND THE EXCITEMENT THAT THE PEOPLE FELT THAT ACTUALLY DID IT AND THAT WE STILL FEEL WHEN WE THINK ABOUT THEM DOING IT.

Narrator: ON THE MORNING OF APRIL 22, 1889, SOME 100,000 EAGER, WOULD-BE SETTLERS SURROUNDED WHAT WAS CALLED THE "OKLAHOMA DISTRICT" ON THE SOUTHERN PLAINS, PREPARING TO STORM IN AND STAKE THEIR CLAIMS.

TWO MILLION ACRES IN THE HEART OF INDIAN TERRITORY WERE BEING OPENED FOR HOMESTEADING.

ALL ALONG THE DISTRICT'S BORDERS, SOLDIERS FROM THE U.S. ARMY HELD BACK THE SWARM OF EXCITED PIONEERS WHO WERE POISED FOR THE SIGNAL THAT THE LAND RUSH COULD BEGIN.

AT PRECISELY NOON, THE BUGLES BLEW, AND THE HUGE CROWD SURGED AHEAD.

[ BANJO MUSIC PLAYS ] MANY HEADED FOR TOWNS ABOUT TO BE BORN -- OKLAHOMA CITY, STILLWATER, KINGFISHER, NORMAN -- AND GUTHRIE.

THE LAST BARRIER OF SAVAGERY IN THE UNITED STATES WAS BROKEN DOWN.

MOVED BY THE SAME IMPULSE, EACH DRIVER LASHED HIS HORSES FURIOUSLY.

EACH MAN ON FOOT CAUGHT HIS BREATH AND STARTED FORWARD -- HARPERS WEEKLY.

Narrator: BY THE END OF THE DAY, ALL 1,920,000 ACRES IN THE OKLAHOMA DISTRICT HAD BEEN CLAIMED.

BUT THE CHOICEST LOTS HAD ALREADY BEEN TAKEN BY SETTLERS WHO HAD ILLEGALLY SLIPPED THROUGH THE ARMY LINES THE NIGHT BEFORE.

THEY CALLED THEMSELVES "SOONERS."

MEN WHO HAD EXPECTED TO LAY OUT THE TOWN SITE WERE GRIEVOUSLY DISAPPOINTED AT THEIR FIRST GLIMPSE OF THEIR PROPOSED SCENE OF OPERATIONS.

THE SLOPE EAST OF THE RAILWAY AT GUTHRIE STATION WAS ALREADY DOTTED WHITE WITH TENTS AND SPRINKLED THICK WITH MEN RUNNING ABOUT IN ALL DIRECTIONS.

Narrator: BY NOON OF THE FOLLOWING DAY, THE 15,000 NEW CITIZENS OF THE BRAND-NEW TOWN OF GUTHRIE BEGAN CHOOSING THEIR MAYOR.

IT WASN'T EASY.

THERE WERE TWO CANDIDATES AND NO BALLOTS.

TWO LINES WERE FORMED, AND EACH MAN'S VOTE WAS TALLIED, BUT SO MANY VOTERS RAN TO THE BACK OF THE LINE TO VOTE AGAIN THAT THE WHOLE BUSINESS HAD TO BE DONE OVER.

LAWYERS WENT TO WORK, FILING LAND CLAIMS FOR A FEE.

THREE MEN WITHOUT A CENT BETWEEN THEM OPENED A BANK.

DEPOSITS WERE KEPT IN A POTBELLIED STOVE UNTIL THEY COULD AFFORD TO BUY A VAULT.

A BLACKSMITH SOON SAW THE NEED FOR A DENTIST, DECLARED HIMSELF ONE, AND ADVERTISED HIS SKILLS BY HANGING THE TEETH HE EXTRACTED ON A STRING OUTSIDE HIS TENT.

WITHIN FIVE DAYS, WOOD-FRAME BUILDINGS WERE BEING BANGED TOGETHER ALONG MAIN STREET.

AND BY THE TIME GUTHRIE WAS ONLY ONE MONTH OLD, IT HAD A HOTEL, GENERAL STORES, THREE NEWSPAPERS, AND FIFTY SALOONS.

IN THE YEARS THAT FOLLOWED, THERE WOULD BE MORE LAND RUSHES THROUGHOUT THE WEST, BRINGING IN SETTLERS AND CREATING NEW TOWNS IN NUMBERS NEVER BEFORE IMAGINED.

Richards: I AM A BEING OF THE WEST.

I AM AN HEIR TO THE RICHEST POSSIBLE HERITAGE THAT ANYBODY COULD HAVE.

I THINK OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO WERE READY TO TAKE ON ANYTHING AND TO DO SO WITH THE COMMITMENT AND THE DEDICATION THAT NO MATTER, COME HELL OR HIGH WATER, THEY WERE GOING TO SUCCEED -- I THINK I'M A PART OF THAT.

AND I LOVE THE NOTION OF BEING SOMEWHERE IN THAT LINEAGE AND KNOW THAT MY CHILDREN ARE TOO.

THE INDIAN MAY NOW BECOME A FREE MAN -- FREE FROM THE THRALDOM OF THE TRIBE, FREE FROM THE DOMINATION OF THE RESERVATION SYSTEM, FREE TO ENTER INTO THE BODY OF OUR CITIZENS.

THIS BILL MAY THEREFORE BE CONSIDERED AS THE MAGNA CARTA OF THE INDIANS OF OUR COUNTRY -- ALICE FLETCHER.

Narrator: IN 1887, WELL-MEANING REFORMERS HAD PERSUADED CONGRESS TO PASS THE DAWES ACT.

IT PROVIDED FOR EACH HEAD OF AN INDIAN FAMILY TO BE GIVEN 160 ACRES OF FARMLAND OR 320 OF GRAZING LAND.

THEN, ALL THE REMAINING TRIBAL LANDS WERE TO BE DECLARED "SURPLUS" AND OPENED UP FOR WHITES.

TRIBAL OWNERSHIP -- AND THE TRIBES THEMSELVES -- WERE MEANT SIMPLY TO DISAPPEAR.

Woman: THE DAWES ACT WAS A WAY TO BREAK UP THE WHOLE TRIBAL STRUCTURE OF NATIVE AMERICAN NATIONS.

INSTEAD OF SAYING YOU ARE A GROUP OF PEOPLE, ALL OF A SUDDEN, YOU ARE INDIVIDUAL LAND OWNERS, YOU ARE AMERICANS.

AND SO IT WAS DESIGNED TO BREAK UP COMMUNITY, TO CIVILIZE PEOPLE, MAKE US FARMERS, AND TO ALSO BREAK UP OUR TRIBAL STRUCTURE.

Narrator: IN 1889, THE SAME YEAR AS THE OKLAHOMA LAND RUSH, TWO EASTERN WOMEN ARRIVED AT THE NEZ PERCE RESERVATION IN IDAHO, DETERMINED TO IMPLEMENT THE DAWES ACT.

ALICE FLETCHER WAS A LEADER OF THE GROUP THAT CALLED ITSELF THE "FRIENDS OF THE INDIANS," A PIONEER IN THE EMERGING FIELD OF ETHNOLOGY, AND ONE OF THE ARCHITECTS OF THE NEW LAW.

HER COMPANION WAS JANE GAY, A SOMETIME POET WHO HAD LEARNED THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY TO DOCUMENT THEIR TIME WITH THE INDIANS.

THEY HAD COME, THEY BELIEVED, TO SAVE THE NEZ PERCE FROM THEMSELVES -- BY DIVIDING UP THEIR LAND AND MAKING THEM HOMESTEADERS.

ALICE EXPLAINED WHAT SHE HAD CALLED THEM TOGETHER TO HEAR, EXPLAINED THE LAND ALLOTMENT, THE MEANING OF CITIZENSHIP, AND HER WISH THAT THE WHOLE PEOPLE WOULD SEE THE WISDOM OF THE GREAT CHANGE THAT SHE HAD COME TO BRING UPON THEM.

STILL, A SILENCE -- THE INTERPRETER READ THE LAW AND THEN SAT DOWN AND WAITED.

A LITTLE STIR AROSE AMONG THE PEOPLE, AND AT LENGTH, ONE MAN STOOD UP -- A TALL, BROAD-SHOULDERED FELLOW WITH AN AIR OF AUTHORITY ABOUT HIM.

HE SAID, "WE DO NOT WANT OUR LAND CUT UP IN LITTLE PIECES.

"WE HAVE NOT TOLD YOU TO DO IT.

WE ARE CONTENT TO BE AS WE ARE."

AND A GROAN OF ASSENT RAN ALONG THE DARK LINE OF SPHINXES AS THE OLD MAN DREW HIS BLANKET ABOUT HIM.

"OUR PEOPLE ARE SCATTERED," SAID ANOTHER.

"WE MUST COME TOGETHER AND DECIDE WH ETHER WE WILL HAVE THIS LAW."

SHE TOLD THEM THAT THERE IS NOTHING FOR THEM TO DECIDE.

THEY HAVE NO CHOICE...

THE LAW MUST BE OBEYED -- JANE GAY.

Narrator: ALICE FLETCHER IMMEDIATELY SET TO WORK MARKING OFF THE NEW BOUNDARIES ON THE RESERVATION.

THE NEZ PERCE CAME TO CALL HER THE "MEASURING WOMAN."

CHIEF JOSEPH HIMSELF CAME TO PAY A VISIT.

AFTER HIS LONG FLIGHT FROM THE ARMY IN 1877, HE HAD BEEN EXILED TO OKLAHOMA AND THEN ALLOWED TO RETURN TO A RESERVATION IN EASTERN WASHINGTON -- BUT NOT TO HIS BELOVED HOMELAND, THE WALLOWA VALLEY IN OREGON.

USING A NEW DEVICE -- A WAX CYLINDER -- FLETCHER CONVINCED JOSEPH TO RECORD ONE OF HIS TRADITIONAL SONGS.

[ NATIVE AMERICAN CHANTING ] BUT SHE COULD NOT TALK HIM INTO TAKING AN ALLOTMENT OF LAND.

Gay: HE WILL HAVE NONE BUT THE WALLOWA VALLEY, FROM WHICH HE WAS DRIVEN.

HE WILL REMAIN LANDLESS AND HOMELESS IF HE CANNOT HAVE HIS OWN AGAIN.

IT WAS GOOD TO SEE AN UNSUBJUGATED INDIAN.

ONE COULD NOT HELP RESPECTING THE MAN WHO STILL STOOD FIRMLY FOR HIS RIGHTS, AFTER HAVING FOUGHT AND SUFFERED AND BEEN DEFEATED IN THE STRUGGLE FOR THEIR MAINTENANCE.

Narrator: ALICE FLETCHER KEPT AT IT FOR FOUR LONG YEARS, TRYING TO DIVIDE INDIAN LANDS FAIRLY, WHILE FENDING OFF WHITES WHO SOUGHT TO PERSUADE HER TO LEAVE THE BEST LAND FOR THEM.

Fletcher: I AM NEARLY USED UP.

I HAVE SUCH A HARD TIME HERE, BUT I SHALL SOON PUSH THROUGH.

MY HONOR IS INVOLVED IN GETTING THIS DONE.

Narrator: BY THE TIME SHE WAS FINISHED, SHE HAD MADE MORE THAN 2,000 NEZ PERCE ALLOTMENTS -- OVER 175,000 ACRES.

THEN SHE AND HER FRIEND STARTED EAST TO CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, WHERE FLETCHER HAD BEEN AWARDED A FELLOWSHIP AT HARVARD'S PEABODY MUSEUM.

Gay: IN THE WEEK'S JOURNEY HOME ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WE SHALL HAVE TIME TO REVIEW THE OUTCOME OF OUR EARNEST ENDEAVORS.

BUT IF IT HAS BEEN WELL FOR US AND WELL FOR THE INDIAN IS NOT FOR US TO KNOW.

WE CAN ONLY LEAVE THE QUESTION AMONG THE UNSOLVABLE, WHOSE MULTITUDE GROWS EVER GREATER AS LIFE GOES ON.

Narrator: THE DAWES ACT, MEANT TO HELP INDIANS, DEVASTATED THEM INSTEAD.

IN 1895, THE REMAINING HALF-MILLION UNALLOTTED ACRES OF NEZ PERCE TRIBAL LAND WERE DECLARED "SURPLUS" AND OPENED FOR HOMESTEADING.

BY 1910, THERE WOULD BE 30,000 WHITES WITHIN THE NEZ PERCE RESERVATION -- AND JUST 1,500 NEZ PERCE.

ACROSS MUCH OF THE WEST, THE STORY WOULD BE THE SAME.

BEFORE THE DAWES ACT, SOME 150 MILLION ACRES REMAINED IN INDIAN HANDS.

WITHIN 20 YEARS, TWO-THIRDS OF THEIR LAND WAS GONE.

Man: BY THE 1880s, THE GREAT AMERICAN WEST WAS NOT A MATTER OF COWBOYS, INDIANS, MOUNTAIN MEN, AND EXPLORERS, BUT IN FACT, A LAND LARGELY URBAN, LARGELY INDUSTRIAL, AND RIVEN WITH MANY OF THE SAME PROBLEMS THAT ASSAULTED THE INDUSTRIALIZED EAST.

THE MINING INDUSTRY, PROBABLY MORE THAN ANY OTHER SINGLE INDUSTRY, WAS DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY TO GET INTO THE WEST, FIND WHAT RESOURCES IT HAD, DIG 'EM OUT, LEAVE A WRECK BEHIND, AND GET OUT AND MOVE ON SOMEPLACE ELSE.

Narrator: BUTTE, MONTANA, WAS ALWAYS A MINING TOWN.

IT HAD BEEN BORN DURING A GOLD RUSH IN THE 1860s AND WAS GIVEN A SECOND LEASE ON LIFE WITH A SILVER STRIKE IN THE 1870s.

THEN, IN 1881, 300 FEET BELOW THE GROUND, MINERS MADE AN EVEN MORE IMPORTANT DISCOVERY -- THE LARGEST DEPOSIT OF COPPER THE WORLD HAD EVER SEEN.

IT WAS JUST WHAT THE NEW ELECTRICAL AGE REQUIRED -- COPPER FOR CONDUCTORS, MACHINES, WIRES.

BY THE MID-1880s, BUTTE'S MINES WERE YIELDING ALMOST 2,000 TONS OF SILVER AND COPPER ORE EVERY DAY -- WELL OVER A MILLION DOLLARS EVERY MONTH.

ITS CITIZENS BOASTED THEY LIVED ON THE "RICHEST HILL ON EARTH."

Man: BUTTE HAD A KIND OF COLLECTIVE ENERGY THAT I SUSPECT NO OTHER WESTERN TOWN COULD HAVE MATCHED.

THE MINES NEVER CLOSED, THE BARS NEVER CLOSED, CERTAINLY THE RED-LIGHT DISTRICT DID NOT CLOSE.

I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT OF IT AS AN EASTERN TOWN, AS A MISPLACED EASTERN TOWN -- A KIND OF DOWNSIZED PITTSBURGH LOCATED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

Narrator: MOST OF THE BUTTE MINERS WERE IRISH, BUT THERE WERE ALSO FINNS AND JAPANESE AND ITALIANS, CROATIANS, MEXICANS, AND SWEDES -- 38 DIFFERENT NATIONALITIES IN ALL -- SO MANY THAT THE "NO SMOKING" SIGNS IN THE MINES HAD TO BE PRINTED IN 14 LANGUAGES.

ALL THE MEN WERE WORKING STEADILY TOWARD ONE GOAL -- TAKE AS MUCH ORE AS POSSIBLE FROM THE MINES, 4,000 FEET BELOW THE SURFACE.

IT WAS THE MOST DANGEROUS JOB IN AMERICA.

IN THE HOT, AIRLESS TUNNELS, TEMPERATURES STAYED ABOVE 90 DEGREES ALL YEAR ROUND.

MINE SHAFTS COLLAPSED OR CAUGHT FIRE.

AND THERE WAS THE PERPETUAL THREAT OF SILICOSIS, CAUSED BY INHALING DUST, WHICH TORE AT THE MINERS' LUNGS AND LED THOUSANDS TO DIE YOUNG FROM PNEUMONIA AND TUBERCULOSIS.

Emmons: THE ELEVATION TO GROUND LEVEL IN THE MIDDLE OF A BUTTE WINTER WAS THE CAUSE OF GREAT ELATION AMONG THE SCHOOLCHILDREN OF BUTTE BECAUSE MEN BEING RAISED FROM A 100-DEGREE MINE WOULD BE COVERED WITH SWEAT, AND AS THEY REACHED THE SURFACE -- AS THEIR SWEAT-DRENCHED WORK CLOTHES WOULD STRIKE 40-DEGREE-BELOW AIR -- THEY WOULD DISAPPEAR IN A PLUME OF EVAPORATION.

SO THE SCHOOLCHILDREN USED TO GATHER ON THE HILLSIDE AND WATCH THE MEN RAISED, AND IT WAS THEIR AFTER-SCHOOL PLEASURE TO WATCH THEM LITERALLY DISAPPEAR IN THIS CLOUD, THIS PUFF OF SMOKE.

IN APPROACHING BUTTE, I MARVELED AT THE DESOLATION OF THE COUNTRY.

THERE WAS NO GREENERY OF ANY KIND -- IT HAD ALL BEEN KILLED BY THE FUMES AND SMOKE OF THE PILES OF BURNING ORE -- BILL HAYWOOD.

Narrator: JUST FOUR TREES SURVIVED WITHIN BUTTE ITSELF, AND ALL THE NEARBY HILLSIDES HAD LONG SINCE BEEN STRIPPED OF WOOD TO FUEL THE SMELTERS THAT ROARED ON, ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT.

THICK, REEKING SMOKE HUNG PERPETUALLY OVER THE CITY AND THE RAW-BONED MINING SETTLEMENTS AROUND IT -- CABBAGE PATCH, ANACONDA, AND A PLACE CALLED "SELDOM SEEN."

Emmons: BUTTE HAD AN AIR-POLLUTION PROBLEM THAT WAS SUCH THAT IT WOULD BE LITERALLY DARK AT NOON.

THE PREVAILING WINDS USUALLY WOULD CARRY THE SMOKE AWAY, BUT IN DEAD AIR CONDITIONS, BUTTE WAS OBLITERATED -- IT DISAPPEARED FROM VIEW.

Watkins: MUCH OF MINING THAT GOES ON IN THE WEST TODAY IS STILL OPERATING UNDER A LAW SIGNED BY ULYSSES S. GRANT CALLED THE "GENERAL MINING LAW OF 1872," WHICH WAS DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY TO ENCOURAGE MINING IN THE WEST.

IT ENCOURAGED EXPLOITATION.

IT LITERALLY GAVE AWAY ENORMOUS CHUNKS OF AMERICAN LAND AT ALMOST NO PRICE, IMPOSED NO RESTRICTIONS ON HOW THE MINES WOULD BE DEVELOPED, REQUIRED NO RECLAMATION WORK AFTERWARDS, NO MONITORING OF WHATEVER ACIDS AND OTHER GARBAGE THAT MIGHT GET SPILLED INTO THE LOCAL WATER TABLES, AND GAVE AWAY -- NO ONE EVEN KNOWS HOW MUCH PRECISELY -- GOLD AND SILVER, WITH NO ROYALTIES PAID TO THE GOVERNMENT AT ALL.

THE WEST IS A FAIRLY FRAGILE ENVIRONMENT.

UNLIKE THE WELL-FORESTED EAST, THE SCARS LAST LONGER, THE DAMAGE IS OF A LONGER DURATION.

AND YET, WE STILL CONTINUE TO USE THE WEST THE SAME WAY, AS IF WHAT WE DID WAS IMPERMANENT.

BUT IN HUMAN TERMS, IT IS NOT IMPERMANENT AT ALL.

IT LASTS A VERY LONG TIME -- GENERATIONS.

Narrator: BY 1890, NO INDIAN PEOPLE ANYWHERE IN THE WEST LIVED FREELY ON THEIR OWN LAND -- AND EVEN THE RESERVATIONS ON WHICH THEY STRUGGLED TO SURVIVE WERE BEING BROKEN UP UNDER THE DAWES ACT.

CONGRESS HAD CUT APPROPRIATIONS.

RATIONS WERE DRASTICALLY REDUCED.

THERE WERE DEADLY EPIDEMICS OF MEASLES, INFLUENZA, WHOOPING COUGH.

ON THE STANDING ROCK RESERVATION IN NORTH DAKOTA, THE LAKOTA MEDICINE MAN, SITTING BULL, WAS LIVING QUIETLY IN HIS CABIN.

HE WAS STILL REGARDED WITH RESPECT BY THOSE LAKOTAS WHO REMEMBERED THE EERIE ACCURACY OF HIS VISIONS DURING THE DAYS WHEN THEY HAD FOUGHT CUSTER.

BUT THE LAKOTA WERE DIVIDED NOW, AS THEY STRUGGLED TO COME TO TERMS WITH THE WHITE MAN'S WORLD.

AND SITTING BULL HAD HAD ANOTHER, MORE DISTURBING VISION.

THIS ONE TOLD HIM THAT THE WORST FATE THAT COULD BEFALL A LAKOTA AWAITED HIM -- TO DIE AT THE HANDS OF HIS OWN PEOPLE.

THAT FALL, SITTING BULL HAD A VISITOR, A MINICONJOU LAKOTA NAMED KICKING BEAR, JUST BACK FROM A TRAIN TRIP TO THE FAR WEST AND BEARING REMARKABLE NEWS.

A CEREMONY CALLED THE "GHOST DANCE" WAS SWEEPING THROUGH MANY TRIBES OF THE WEST.

IT WAS PART OF A MESSAGE OF HOPE FOR ALL INDIAN PEOPLES BEING PREACHED BY A PAIUTE MEDICINE MAN AND PROPHET NAMED WOVOKA.

MY BROTHERS, I BRING YOU WORD FROM YOUR FATHERS THE GHOSTS THAT THEY ARE MARCHING NOW TO JOIN YOU, LED BY THE MESSIAH WHO CAME ONCE TO LIVE ON EARTH WITH THE WHITE MAN BUT WAS KILLED BY THEM.

I BRING TO YOU THE PROMISE OF A DAY IN WHICH THERE WILL BE NO WHITE MAN TO LAY HIS HAND ON THE BRIDLE OF THE INDIAN'S HORSE, WHEN THE RED MEN OF THE PRAIRIE WILL RULE THE WORLD -- WOVOKA.

Narrator: WOVOKA'S GOSPEL OF SALVATION WAS FILLED WITH CHRISTIAN, AS WELL AS INDIAN, ELEMENTS.

MEN AND WOMEN WERE FIRST TO PURIFY THEMSELVES AND FORESWEAR ALCOHOL AND VIOLENCE.

THEN THEY WERE TO DANCE IN A LARGE CIRCLE, CHANTING AND APPEALING TO THE SPIRITS OF THEIR ANCESTORS.

WHEN THEY DID, WOVOKA PROMISED, THE WHITES WOULD VANISH, THE BUFFALO WOULD COVER THE EARTH AGAIN.

Man: THE GHOST DANCE, I THINK, WAS A DESPERATE PRAYER.

THEY THOUGHT THAT, WELL, IT MAY BE POSSIBLE THAT ALL OF THIS HAS BEEN A BAD DREAM OR ALL OF THIS IS PASSING, AND THERE WILL BE THE RESTORATION OF THE WORLD WE KNEW AND LOVED.

Narrator: LIKE MOST INDIANS, SITTING BULL REMAINED SKEPTICAL OF THE CEREMONY'S PROMISED POWERS.

BUT HE AGREED TO LET THE GHOST DANCE BE TAUGHT TO THOSE PEOPLE AT STANDING ROCK WHO WANTED TO LEARN IT.

IN THE LAKOTA VERSION OF THE CEREMONY, THE DANCERS WORE SPECIAL SHIRTS, SAID TO BE STRONGER THAN THE WHITE MAN'S BULLETS.

THE PEOPLE, WEARING TH E SACRED SHIRTS AND FEATHERS, NOW FORMED A RING.

WE BOYS WERE IN IT.

ALL JOINED HANDS.

EVERYONE WAS RESPECTFUL AND QUIET, EXPECTING SOMETHING WONDERFUL TO HAPPEN.

THE LEADERS BEAT TIME AND SANG AS THE PEOPLE DANCED, GOING ROUND TO THE LEFT IN A SIDEWISE STEP.

OCCASIONALLY, SOMEONE FELL UNCONSCIOUS INTO THE CENTER.

AS EACH ONE CAME TO, SHE OR HE SLOWLY SAT UP AND LOOKED ABOUT, BEWILDERED, AND THEN BEGAN WAILING INCONSOLABLY.

[ DRUM BEATS AND CHANTING ] PINE RIDGE AGENCY.

NOVEMBER 12, 1890.

WE NEED PROTECTION, AND WE NEED IT NOW.

INDIANS ARE DANCING IN THE SNOW AND ARE WILD AND CRAZY.

THE LEADERS SHOULD BE ARRESTED AND CONFINED AT SOME MILITARY POST UNTIL THE MATTER IS QUIETED, AND THIS SHOULD BE DONE AT ONCE -- DANIEL F. ROYER.

Narrator: RESPONDING TO THE PLEAS OF A FRIGHTENED INDIAN AGENT, WASHINGTON DISPATCHED GENERAL NELSON A.

MILES WITH 5,000 TROOPS, INCLUDING THE SEVENTH CAVALRY, CUSTER'S OLD COMMAND.

AT PINE RIDGE AND ROSEBUD IN SOUTH DAKOTA, THE GHOST DANCERS FEARED THAT THE SOLDIERS HAD COME TO ATTACK THEM AND FLED TO A REMOTE PLATEAU SURROUNDED BY CLIFFS WHICH NERVOUS WHITES SOON BEGAN CALLING "THE STRONGHOLD."

MEANWHILE, AT THE STANDING ROCK RESERVATION IN NORTH DAKOTA, INDIAN POLICE, CHARGED WITH KEEPING PEACE AMONG THEIR OWN PEOPLE, HEARD A RUMOR THAT SITTING BULL WAS ABOUT TO JOIN THE GHOST DANCERS.

FORTY-THREE LAKOTA POLICEMEN WERE DISPATCHED TO BRING SITTING BULL IN.

TWO TROOPS OF U.S. CAVALRY FOLLOWED AT A DISTANCE.

BEFORE DAWN ON DECEMBER 15, 1890, THE POLICE BURST INTO SITTING BULL'S HOUSE, ORDERED HIM TO HIS FEET, AND PUSHED HIM TOWARD THE DOOR.

OUTSIDE, SITTING BULL'S FOLLOWERS BEGAN TO GATHER, TAUNTING THE LAKOTA POLICE, VOWING TO KEEP THEM FROM TAKING THEIR LEADER.

SITTING BULL HESITATED, UNSURE OF WHAT TO DO.

THEN, ONE OF HIS SUPPORTERS RAISED HIS RIFLE AND SHOT ONE OF THE POLICEMEN.

BOTH SIDES BEGAN FIRING.

[ GUNSHOTS ] A LAKOTA POLICEMAN PUT A BULLET THROUGH SITTING BULL'S HEAD.

[ GUNSHOT ] THE LAST OF HIS GREAT VISIONS HAD COME TO PASS -- SITTING BULL HAD BEEN KILLED BY HIS OWN PEOPLE.

Black Elk: MY GRANDFATHER'S MOTHER WAS ONE OF THE PEOPLE WHO WAS FROM SITTING BULL'S CAMP.

AND MY GRANDFATHER WOULD TELL ME THAT WHEN SITTING BULL WAS KILLED, THEY HAD VERY FEW HORSES, SO THE FEW HORSES THEY HAD, THEY PUT THE YOUNG CHILDREN ON, AND THEY WALKED TO BIG FOOT'S CAMP, AND THAT SHE WEPT AS SHE WALKED.

AND SHE WEPT NOT ONLY FOR SITTING BULL BEING KILLED THE WAY HE WAS, BUT ALSO WEPT BECAUSE SHE FEARED THAT SHE WOULD NOT LIVE TO HAVE CHILDREN.

AND IF SHE DID HAVE CHILDREN, WOULD THEY BE LAKOTA?

Narrator: SITTING BULL'S GRIEVING FOLLOWERS FLED TOWARD THE CHEYENNE RIVER RESERVATION WHERE THEY JOINED A MINICONJOU BAND LED BY A CHIEF NAMED "BIG FOOT."

HE HAD ONCE BEEN AN ENTHUSIASTIC GHOST DANCER, BUT HE WAS NO LONGER CERTAIN THAT THE WORLD WOULD BE TRANSFORMED.

BIG FOOT DECIDED TO TAKE HIS BAND INTO PINE RIDGE AND SEE IF THERE WASN'T SOME WAY TO RECONCILE THINGS.

BUT GENERAL MILES MISUNDERSTOOD WHAT BIG FOOT WAS DOING AND ORDERED THE SEVENTH CAVALRY UNDER COLONEL JOHN FORSYTH TO INTERCEPT HIM.

THEY CAUGHT UP WITH BIG FOOT THREE DAYS AFTER CHRISTMAS.

THE CHIEF WAS RIDING IN A WAGON, TOO ILL WITH PNEUMONIA EVEN TO SIT UP, BUT HE FLEW A WHITE FLAG TO SHOW HIS PEACEFUL INTENTIONS.

THE SOLDIERS TRANSFERRED BIG FOOT TO AN ARMY AMBULANCE AND THEN LED HIS BAND DOWN TO A LITTLE CREEK FOR THE NIGHT.

IT WAS CALLED WOUNDED KNEE.

THERE WERE 120 MEN AND 230 WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

THE SOLDIERS DISTRIBUTED RATIONS.

AN ARMY DOCTOR DID WHAT HE COULD FOR BIG FOOT.

BUT THE SOLDIERS ALSO POSTED FOUR CANNON ON THE TOP OF A RISE OVERLOOKING THE CAMP.

THE FOLLOWING MORNING THERE WAS A BUGLE CALL.

THEN I SAW THE SOLDIERS MOUNTING THEIR HORSES AND SURROUNDING US.

IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT ALL MEN SHOULD COME TO THE CENTER FOR A TALK.

BIG FOOT WAS BROUGHT OUT OF HIS TENT AND SAT, AND THE OLDER MEN WERE GATHERED AROUND HIM -- DEWEY BEARD.

Narrator: CHARLES ALLEN, A REPORTER FOR A NEBRASKA NEWSPAPER, WATCHED FROM THE HILLTOP.

Allen: AT THE SOUTHEAST EDGE OF THE GROUP OF STANDING INDIANS, THERE WAS A FAIR-SIZED PLAT OF GRASS WHERE, IN ALL THE EXUBERANCE OF EARLY YOUTH, WERE EIGHT OR TEN INDIAN BOYS DRESSED IN THE GRAY SC HOOL UNIFORMS OF THAT PERIOD.

THE FUN THEY WERE HAVING AS THEY PLAYED "BUCKING HORSE," "L EAP FROG," AND SIMILAR GAMES, CARRIED THE MIND FOR A FLEETING MOMENT BACK TO THE DAYS OF BOYHOOD.

Narrator: TROOPS BEGAN MOVING FROM TEPEE TO TEPEE, CONFISCATING KNIVES AND AXES FROM THE WOMEN, SOMETIMES SEIZING A RIFLE.

A MEDICINE MAN BEGAN TO DANCE.

"DO NOT FEAR," HE TOLD THE WARRIORS, "BUT LET YOUR HEARTS BE STRONG.

"MANY SOLDIERS ARE ABOUT US AND HAVE MANY BULLETS, "BUT I AM ASSURED THE BULLETS CANNOT PENETRATE US."

Allen: SUDDENLY, SCOOPING UP A HANDFUL OF DIRT HE TOSSED IT SCATTERING IN THE AIR, AND WITH EYES TURNED TOWARD HEAVEN, IMPLORED THE GREAT SPIRIT TO SCATTER THE SOLDIERS LIKEWISE.

Man: ALMOST SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH HIM THROWING A HANDFUL OF DIRT INTO THE AIR, SOLDIERS TRIED TO DISARM A MAN WHO WAS DEAF.

AND HE HUNG ON TO HIS RIFLE, AND THEY KIND OF STRUGGLED OVER IT, AND IT WENT OFF.

THESE TWO THINGS HAPPENED AT THE SAME TIME AND -- BANG.

I MEAN, IT JUST BLEW EVERYTHING UP.

[ GUNSHOTS ] Narrator: THE SOLDIERS OPENED FIRE -- WITH RIFLES... REVOLVERS... AND FINALLY, THE CANNON THAT HURLED EXPLODING SHELLS INTO THE TEPEES.

THE LAKOTAS DID THEIR BEST TO FIGHT BACK.

[ GUNSHOTS CONTINUE ] WHEN THE SHOOTING FINALLY STOPPED, SOME 250 MEN, WOMEN, AND CHILDREN WERE DEAD.

Allen: I WALKED AROUND VIEWING THE SAD SPECTACLE.

ON REACHING THE CORNER OF THE GREEN WHERE THE SCHOOLBOYS HAD BEEN SO HAPPY IN THEIR SPORTS BUT A SHORT TIME BEFORE, THERE WAS SPREAD BEFORE ME THE SADDEST PICTURE I HAD SEEN OR WAS TO SEE THEREAFTER, FOR ON THAT SPOT OF THEIR PLAYFUL CHOICE WERE SCATTERED THE PROSTRATE BODIES OF ALL THOSE FINE, LITTLE INDIAN BOYS, COLD IN DEATH.

THE GUNFIRE HAD BLAZED ACROSS THEIR PLAYGROUND IN A WAY THAT PERMITTED NO ESCAPE.

THEY MUST HAVE FALLEN LIKE GRASS BEFORE THE SICKLE.

Narrator: DEAD, TOO, WERE 25 SOLDIERS.

WOUNDED LAKOTAS AND WOUNDED SOLDIERS ALIKE WERE TAKEN TO THE HOLY CROSS EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT PINE RIDGE.

ITS WALLS WERE STILL HUNG WITH CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS.

Woman: PEWS WERE TORN FROM THEIR FASTENINGS AND ARMFULS OF HAY FETCHED BY INDIAN HELPERS.

UPON A LAYER OF THIS, WE SPREAD QUILTS AND BLANKETS TAKEN FROM OUR OWN BEDS.

THE VICTIMS WERE LIFTED AS GENTLY AS POSSIBLE AND LAID IN TWO LONG ROWS ON THE FLOOR -- A PATHETIC ARRAY OF YOUNG GIRLS AND WOMEN AND BABES IN ARMS, LITTLE CHILDREN, AND A FEW MEN, ALL PIERCED WITH BULLETS.

Second Woman: A YOUNG GIRL, WHO HAD A GHOST SHIRT ON UNDERNEATH HER CLOTHES, SAID, "THEY TOLD ME IF I PUT THIS ON "THE BULLETS WOULD NOT GO THROUGH, "AND I BELIEVED THEM.

NOW SEE WHERE WE ARE."

Narrator: FOR SEVERAL DAYS, THE DEAD LAKOTAS WERE LEFT WHERE THEY HAD FALLEN, WHILE THE ARMY CONTENDED WITH SPORADIC FIGHTING THAT BROKE OUT ON THE RESERVATION.

FINALLY, AFTER A HEAVY SNOWFALL, A BURIAL PARTY ARRIVED AT WOUNDED KNEE, DUG A PIT, AND DUMPED IN THE FROZEN BODIES.

Momaday: IN THE SHINE OF PHOTOGRAPHS ARE THE SLAIN, FROZEN AND BLACK ON A SIMPLE FIELD OF SNOW.

THEY IMAGE CEREMONY.

WOMEN AND CHILDREN DANCING, OLD MEN PRANCING, MAKING FUN.

IN AUTUMN, THERE WERE SONGS, LONG SINCE MUTED IN THE BLIZZARD.

IN SUMMER, THE WILD BUCKWHEAT SHONE LIKE FOXFUR AND QUILLWORK.

AND DUST GUTTERED ON THE CREEK.

NOW IN SERENE ATTITUDES OF DANCE, THE DEAD IN GLOSSY DEATH ARE DRAWN IN ANCIENT LIGHT.

Narrator: ON JANUARY 15, 1891, THE 4,000 REMAINING GHOST DANCERS FINALLY SURRENDERED TO GENERAL MILES.

ARMED INDIAN RESISTANCE IN THE WEST HAD ENDED.

[ DRUM BEATS ] Man: WOUNDED KNEE HAPPENED YESTERDAY.

FOR LAKOTA PEOPLE, WOUNDED KNEE IS TODAY.

WOUNDED KNEE REPRESENTS ALL THE FRUSTRATIONS OF THOSE YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS ON THE RESERVATION.

EVEN THOUGH IT HAPPENED IN 1890, IT'S FRESH IN LAKOTA PEOPLE'S MINDS AND IN THEIR HEARTS.

THAT TRAGEDY, THAT DESTRUCTION, THAT DEVASTATING THING THAT HAPPENED TO THEM, IT EXISTS TODAY.

IT EXISTS IN OUR HEARTS AND OUR MINDS -- THE WAY WE THINK WHEN WE SEE ABOUT, WHEN WE TALK ABOUT INDIAN/WHITE RELATIONS -- THAT'S THE FIRST THING THAT COMES TO MIND.

WE'LL NEVER FORGET WOUNDED KNEE.

I KNOW A LAND WHERE THE GRAY HILLS LIE ETERNALLY STILL UNDER THE SKY, WHERE ALL THE MIGHT OF SUNS AND MOONS THAT PASS IN THE QUIET OF NIGHTS AND NOONS LEAVE NEVER A SIGN OF THE FLIGHT OF TIME ON THE LONG, SUBLIME HORIZON LINE -- ETHEL WAXHAM.

Narrator: ON OCTOBER 20, 1905, THE RAWLINS-TO-LANDER STAGECOACH RATTLED NORTH TOWARD THE SWEETWATER RIVER IN CENTRAL WYOMING.

ON BOARD WAS AN UNUSUAL PASSENGER, A 23-YEAR-OLD NAMED ETHEL WAXHAM.

SHE WAS A CITY GIRL FROM DENVER, A GRADUATE OF WELLESLEY COLLEGE WHO HAD SPENT A SUMMER DOING VOLUNTEER WORK IN THE SLUMS OF NEW YORK.

SCHOOLED IN FOUR LANGUAGES, SHE DABBLED IN POETRY, ENJOYED STAGING AMATEUR THEATRICALS, AND WAS VORACIOUSLY CURIOUS ABOUT THE WORLD.

JUST A FEW WEEKS EARLIER, SHE HAD BEEN OFFERED HER FIRST FULL-TIME JOB AS A TEACHER IN A REMOTE ONE-ROOM SCHOOL IN THE CENTER OF WYOMING.

Man: MY MOTHER, WHO WAS ALWAYS GREAT FOR ADVENTURE, DECIDED THAT SHE WOULD TAKE THE JOB.

OF COURSE, THE ADVENTURE STARTED WHEN THE MILLS FAMILY, WITH WHOM SHE WOULD LIVE AND WHOSE THREE CHILDREN SHE WOULD TEACH, WROTE HER AND TOLD HER WHAT THINGS TO BRING AND WHAT KIND OF CLOTHING AND WHAT TO EXPECT.

BUT THERE WAS NO MENTION OF HOW BEAUTIFUL THE RANCH WAS, AND WHAT THE SCENERY WAS LIKE, AND WHAT THE PEOPLE WERE LIKE.

SO, ALL THOSE THINGS WERE A SURPRISE AND A REVELATION TO HER.

Narrator: SHE MOVED INTO THE RED BLUFF RANCH AND STARTED RECORDING HER OBSERVATIONS OF THE REMARKABLE NEW LIFE SHE HAD BEGUN TO LEAD.

Waxham: AT LAST, WE SAW THE LITTLE SCHOOL HOUSE OF LOGS -- 14' BY 16', WITH A GOOD SOD ROOF.

THE WHOLE WAS PUT UP, I BELIEVE, AT AN ORIGINAL EXPENDITURE OF $75.

THE DOOR HAS HAD SOME PASSERBY'S SIX-SHOOTER EMPTIED INTO IT.

Narrator: SHE BEGAN TEACHING -- 7 STUDENTS IN ALL, AGES 8 TO 16.

Waxham: THE FIRST 15 MINUTES OR HALF-HOUR ARE GIVEN TO READING "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN" OR "KIDNAPPED," WHILE WE ALL SIT ABOUT THE STOVE TO KEEP WARM.

USUALLY, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE READING, THE SOUND OF A HORSE GALLOPING DOWN THE FROZEN ROAD DISTRACTS THE ATTENTION OF THE BOYS, UNTIL A FEW MOMENTS LATER, 6-FOOT GEORGE SCHLICHTING OPENS THE DOOR, A SACK OF OATS IN ONE HAND, HIS LUNCH TIED UP IN A DISHRAG IN THE OTHER.

COLD FROM HIS 5-MILE RIDE, HE SITS DOWN ON THE FLOOR BY THE STOVE, UNBUCKLES HIS SPURS, PULLS OFF HIS LEATHER CHAPS, UNWINDS THREE RED HANDKERCHIEFS FROM ABOUT HIS NECK AND EARS, TAKES OFF ONE OR TWO COATS, ACCORDING TO THE TEMPERATURE, AND STRAIGHTENING HIS LEATHER CUFFS, IS READY FOR BUSINESS.

Narrator: VISITORS TO THE RANCH WHERE ETHEL LIVED WERE FEW -- SOMETIMES NO ONE FOR DAYS.

BUT AMONG THOSE WHO CAME BY WITH INCREASING REGULARITY, DESPITE A DIFFICULT 11-HOUR RIDE, WAS A RUGGED SHEEP RANCHER NAMED JOHN GALLOWAY LOVE.

Waxham: MR. LOVE IS A SCOTCHMAN ABOUT 35 YEARS OLD.

HIS FACE WAS KINDLY, WITH SHREWD, BLUE, TWINKLING EYES.

BUT HIS VOICE WAS MOST PECULIAR AND CHARACTERISTIC.

CLOSE ANALYSIS FAILS TO FIND THE CHARM OF IT -- A LITTLE SCOTCH DIALECT, A LITTLE SLOW DRAWL, A LITTLE NASAL QUALITY, AND A TONE AS IF HE WERE SPEAKING OUT OF DOORS.

HE IS FULL OF QUAINT TURNS OF SPEECH AND UNUSUAL EXPRESSIONS.

FOR HE IS NOT A COMMON SHEEPHERDER, IT IS SAID, BUT A SHEEP BARON, OR "MUTTON-AIRE."

Love: MY FATHER WAS UNMARRIED, AND HE WAS BEGINNING TO MAKE A LITTLE MONEY, AND HE WANTED A WIFE.

AND HERE WAS THIS BEAUTIFUL SCHOOLMARM, AND SO OF COURSE HE FELL IN LOVE WITH HER, BUT SHE DID NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM.

NO BELLS AND WHISTLES RANG, BUT SHE WAS INTRIGUED.

Narrator: JOHN LOVE WAS BORN IN WISCONSIN TO SCOTTISH PARENTS.

HE WAS BRIGHT AND RESOURCEFUL, BUT HIGH-SPIRITED, AND GOT HIMSELF EXPELLED FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA IN 1891.

THEN, HE HAD INVESTED WHAT LITTLE MONEY HE HAD IN TWO HORSES AND A BUGGY, AND HEADED FOR WYOMING.

WHEN HIS HORSES DIED AFTER DRINKING POISONED WATER, LOVE ABANDONED HIS BELONGINGS AND WENT THE LAST 100 MILES ON FOOT.

SINCE THEN, HE HAD SPENT SEVEN YEARS ON THE RANGE HERDING OTHER PEOPLE'S SHEEP, CARING FOR THEIR CATTLE, SAVING UP ENOUGH MONEY TO START A SHEEP RANCH OF HIS OWN ON A TREELESS STRETCH OF LAND ALONG MUSKRAT CREEK.

Love: I HAVE ASKED HIM MANY TIMES WHY THAT GODFORSAKEN COUNTRY WOULD BE HIS HOME.

HE KNEW ABOUT THE RED BLUFF RANCH AND OTHER PLACES ALONG THE WIND RIVER FRONT.

BUT HE CHOSE THAT BECAUSE, AS HE SAID SIMPLY, HE NEEDED A LOT OF ROOM.

HE WANTED HIS OUTFIT TO GROW.

Narrator: ETHEL WAXHAM ENJOYED LOVE'S WIT AND HIS STORIES ABOUT RANCHING, BUT WHEN HE PROPOSED MARRIAGE, SHE TURNED HIM DOWN AND WENT ON WITH HER WORK.

WHEN THE SCHOOL YEAR ENDED, ETHEL LEFT WYOMING AND ENTERED THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AND BEGAN TO WORK TOWARD A MASTER'S DEGREE IN LITERATURE.

THEN, LETTERS BEGAN TO ARRIVE.

MUSKRAT, WYOMING.

SEPTEMBER 12, 1906.

DEAR MISS WAXHAM, OF COURSE IT WILL CAUSE MANY A SHARP TWINGE AND HEARTACHE TO HAVE TO TAKE "NO" FOR AN ANSWER, BUT I WILL NEVER BLAME YOU FOR IT IN THE LEAST, AND I WILL NEVER BE SORRY THAT I MET YOU.

I WILL BE BETTER FOR HAVING KNOWN YOU.

I KNOW THE FOLLY OF HOPING THAT YOUR "NO" IS NOT FINAL, BUT IN SPITE OF THAT KNOWLEDGE, I KNOW THAT I WILL HOPE UNTIL THE DAY THAT YOU ARE MARRIED.

ONLY THEN I WILL KNOW THAT THE SENTENCE IS IRREVOCABLE.

YOURS SINCERELY, JOHN G. LOVE.

NOVEMBER 12, 1906.

DEAR MISS WAXHAM, I KNOW THAT YOU HAVE NOT BEEN BROUGHT UP TO COOK AND LABOR.

I HAVE NEVER BEEN ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A SLAVE AND WOULD NOT UTTER A WORD OF CENSURE IF YOU NEVER LEARNED, OR IF YOU GOT AMBITIOUS AND MADE A BATCH OF BISCUITS THAT PROVED FATAL TO MY FAVORITE DOG.

I WILL DO MY LEVEL BEST TO WIN YOU, AND IF I FAIL, I WILL STILL WANT YOUR FRIENDSHIP JUST THE SAME.

YOURS SINCERELY, JOHN G. LOVE.

FEBRUARY 15, 1907.

DEAR MR. LOVE, I AM FORTUNATE IN HAVING TWO LETTERS FROM YOU TO ANSWER IN ONE.

THE DAYS HAVE BEEN COMPARATIVELY DULL.

I AM TOO BUSY FOR DANCES HERE, IF I CARE TO GO, WHICH I DO NOT.

THE SEVEN MONTHS I SPENT AT THE RANCH, I WOULD NOT EXCHANGE FOR ANY OTHER SEVEN MONTHS IN MY LIFE.

THEY SEEM SHORTER THAN SEVEN WEEKS, EVEN SEVEN DAYS, HERE.

SINCERELY YOURS, ETHEL WAXHAM.

DEAR MISS WAXHAM, I, FOR ONE, AM GLAD THAT YOUR CURIOSITY LED YOU TO DRIFT UP HERE TO WYOMING, AND NOW MY SUPREME DESIRE IN LIFE IS TO PERSUADE YOU TO COME BACK.

WITH LOVE AND KISSES, EVER YOURS, JOHN G. LOVE.

DEAR MR. LOVE, SINCE YOU BEGAN TO SIGN YOUR NAME AS YOU DO, YOU MUST HAVE KNOWN THAT I WOULD NOT LIKE IT AND WOULD NOT CONTINUE SINCE WE ARE ONLY FRIENDS.

I WROTE YOU NOT TO EXPECT ANY MORE LETTERS FROM ME UNLESS YOU STOPPED IT -- ETHEL P. WAXHAM.

DEAR MISS WAXHAM, I WILL ALWAYS SIGN ALL LETTERS PROPERLY IN THE FUTURE.

PLEASE FORGIVE MY ERRORS OF THE PAST.

I SUPPOSE THAT I OUGHT TO BE SA TISFIED WITH YOUR FRIENDSHIP, BUT I WON'T BE.

YOURS SINCERELY, JOHN G. LOVE.

Narrator: IN 1907, ETHEL RECEIVED HER MASTER'S DEGREE, TOOK A JOB TEACHING IN WISCONSIN FOR A YEAR, THEN CAME BACK AND SPENT ANOTHER YEAR IN COLORADO.

EVERYWHERE SHE WENT, JOHN LOVE'S LETTERS PURSUED HER.

DEAR MR. LOVE, THERE ARE REASONS GALORE WHY I SHOULD NOT WRITE SO OFTEN.

I'M A BEAST TO WRITE AT ALL.

IT MAKES YOU -- MAYBE -- THINK THAT "NO" IS NOT "NO," BUT "PERHAPS," OR "YES," OR ANYTHING ELSE.

GOOD WISHES FOR YOUR BUSY SEASON FROM E.W.

P.S.

I LIKE YOU VERY MUCH.

Narrator: FOR YEARS, JOHN LOVE SLEPT OUTDOORS, FIGHTING AGAINST THE TERRAIN AND CLIMATE TO KEEP HIS HERDS ALIVE, STRUGGLING TO BUILD HIS RANCH.

HE SCOURED THE COUNTRYSIDE FOR ABANDONED BUILDINGS AND HAULED THEM OVER ROUGH ROADS TO MUSKRAT CREEK.

A SALOON AND AN OLD HOTEL BECAME BUNKHOUSES, SHEDS, AND A BLACKSMITH SHOP.

HE HAULED THE LOGS FOR THE MAIN HOUSE FROM THE WIND RIVER MOUNTAINS A HUNDRED MILES AWAY.

EACH TRIP TOOK HIM TWO WEEKS.

OCTOBER 25, 1909.

DEAR MISS WAXHAM, THERE IS NO USE IN MY FIXING UP THE HOUSE ANYMORE, PAPERING, ET CETERA, UNTIL I KNOW HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE, AND I WON'T KNOW THAT UNTIL YOU SEE IT AND SAY HOW IT OUGHT TO BE FIXED.

IF YOU NEVER SEE IT, I DON'T WANT IT FIXED, FOR I WON'T LIVE HERE.

WE COULD LIVE VERY COMFORTABLY IN THE WAGON WHILE OUR HOUSE WAS BEING FIXED UP TO SUIT YOU IF YOU WOULD ONLY SAY YES.

DEAR MR. LOVE, SUPPOSE THAT YOU LOST EVERYTHING THAT YOU HAVE AND A LITTLE MORE, AND SUPPOSE THAT FOR THE BEST REASON IN THE WORLD, I WANTED YOU TO ASK ME TO SAY "YES."

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

E. DEAR MISS WAXHAM, IF I WERE WITH YOU, I WOULD THROW MY ARMS AROUND YOU AND KISS YOU AND WAIT EAGERLY FOR THE KISS THAT I HAVE WAITED OVER FOUR YEARS FOR.

YOURS SINCERELY, JOHN G. LOVE.

Narrator: FINALLY, IN THE SPRING OF 1910, ETHEL WAXHAM AGREED TO BE JOHN LOVE'S WIFE.

Love: WHEN MY FATHER WAS SURE THAT MY MOTHER WAS GOING TO MARRY HIM, HE HAD A SHEEP WAGON BUILT ESPECIALLY TO HIS ORDER.

AND THAT WAS TO BE THE HONEYMOON SHEEP WAGON.

THEY WERE MARRIED ON JUNE 20 IN 1910.

AND IT WAS PRETTY HOT, SO THEY STARTED OUT FOR THE MOUNTAINS, AND FROM THEN ON, THERE IS A BLANK IN OUR KNOWLEDGE.

MOTHER RARELY DISCUSSED IT, EXCEPT IN TIMES OF CRISIS, AND MY FATHER NEVER DISCUSSED IT.

BUT APPARENTLY IT RAINED A GREAT DEAL.

THE HORSES GOT AWAY, THEY WERE MAROONED, AND THEY NEVER GOT TO THE MOUNTAINS.

Narrator: IT WAS THE FIRST TEST JOHN AND ETHEL LOVE WOULD FACE TOGETHER.

BUT IT WOULD NOT BE THE LAST.

GENTLEMEN, WHY IN HEAVEN'S NAME THIS HASTE?

YOU HAVE TIME ENOUGH.

WHY SACRIFICE THE PRESENT TO THE FUTURE, FANCYING THAT YOU WILL BE HAPPIER WHEN YOUR FIELDS TEEM WITH WEALTH AND YOUR CITIES WITH PEOPLE?

IN EUROPE, WE HAVE CITIES WEALTHIER AND MORE POPULOUS THAN YOURS, AND WE ARE NOT HAPPY.

YOU DREAM OF YOUR POSTERITY.

BUT YOUR POSTERITY WILL LOOK BA CK TO YOURS AS THE GOLDEN AGE AND ENVY THOSE WHO FIRST BURST INTO THIS SILENT, SPLENDID NATURE, WHO FIRST LIFTED UP THEIR AXES UPON THESE TALL TREES AND LINED THESE WATERS WITH BUSY WHARVES.

WHY, THEN, SEEK TO COMPLETE IN A FEW DECADES WHAT TOOK THE OTHER NATIONS OF THE WORLD THOUSANDS OF YEARS?

WHY, IN YOUR HURRY TO SUBDUE AND UTILIZE NATURE, SQUANDER HER SPLENDID GIFTS?

YOU HAVE OPPORTUNITIES SUCH AS MANKIND HAS NEVER HAD BEFORE... AND MAY NEVER HAVE AGAIN -- JAMES BRYCE.