5. There is a relationship between the farmer and the rancher. How does Michener tell that conflict with Kränzel, Brumbaugh, and Oliver? Oliver Seccombe had the desire to acquire their land through purchasing. Seccombe was very insistent on acquiring more land and expanding the ranch’s boundaries to the Platte River. The Kränzel family had no intention of relocating; they were very comfortable with their land by the Platte. The Kränzel family refused to discuss with Seccombe and stated clearly that price was not an issue to them. Seccombe left the Kränzels. Neither the Kränzels nor the Brumbaughs were interested in selling their land. Kränzel was gunned down, his ranch house was set ablaze, and his wife and two children escaped. When they arrived in Denver, Mrs. Kränzel told a lawyer to grant Seccombe, who had not been in town at the time of the death of Otto Kränzel, the entire establishment with the inclusion of cattle to Seccombe if no one else would buy it. Seccombe commissioned a laywer to acquire the Kränzel ranch, and the Venneford ranch had land claims along the Platte. Brumbaugh accused Levi of murder after hearing about the murder of Kränzel, but outlaws had killed Kränzel. Brumbaugh kept and protected his land with the aid of Skimmerhorn.
6. Describe Charlotte. Charlotte Buckland was twenty-one years old and “a headstrong, unpredictable girl of more than average beauty” (618). Charlotte refused to marry the son of influential tea importers and began acting frivolously with other men, including a naval officer and a married barrister, and her inappropriate behavior was deemed scandalous. Her father invited her to join the Omaha hunt at this most opportune time. Charlotte was very interested in longhorn cattle and looked forward to being around them at the ranch.
7. What was her trip like on the train? Charlotte’s train ride from Chicago, Illinois to Omaha, Nebraska was “the introduction to what she called ‘real America’,” despite her enjoyment of Chicago and New York City. She enjoyed “the sprawling land that seemed to encompass so many of her attitudes” (619). She found the land “bold and innovative, unafraid, and often given to excess” (619). With soldiers, including Lieutenant Pasquinel Mercy, Charlotte rode across the prairie for two days with Pawnee scouts.
8. What was Custer’s attitude towards the Indians and then describe the last buffalo herd.
Custer had a very hostile attitude toward the Native Americans: “These plains will never be safe until the red devils are exterminated, and by that I mean exterminated” (622). Custer reported that he had massacred 103 Native Americans, but an official investigation verified that he had only killed thirty-eight Native Americans: thirteen men, sixteen women, and nine children. The train on which Chartlotte Buckland was passenger was stopped by the remnants of the last buffalo herd, stumbling across the railroad tracks. Although the buffalo had seen trains for the past six years, the herd was still baffled, started to approach the train until they were within touching distance from the windows. The dukes and generals unsheathed their rifles and were intent on finishing off the entire herd, and animals were dropping on either side of the train. Seventy-three buffalo had been slain, and the train had started to regain speed “leaving behind to rot some fifty tons of choice meat, along with the hides that could have been fashioned into seventy-three of the finest robes” (624).
9. Describe the second hunt.
a) who were the skinners The skinners were four extremely tough, ugly, and dirty men who were skilled with knives
b) what did Calendar do? Calendar’s role with the buffalo was to shoot the leader and take the buffalo from around him. Calendar chose to shoot the buffalo through the lungs to verify that the other animals weren’t aware of any danger.
c) what was a stand? A stand was a forty-minute period during which the hunters had the herd at their mercy. The objective during the stand was to shoot the waiting buffalo between the ear and horn to kill them instantaneously without any disturbance to the rest of the herd. The whole heard was put into a frenzy when Harker, on his twentieth shot, fired on bull in the right leg, causing him to move uncontrollably and bellow, causing pandemonium in the herd, and the buffalo galloped away.
d) how many were killed and what was the price per skin? Eighty-nine buffalo were killed, and the prices for skins ranged from three to five dollars.
10. Describe the third hunt.
A) the Indians’ trip: The majority of the Arapaho were facing a famine so the more youthful braves, lead by Lost Eagle’s son Red Wolf, decided to attempt at one last buffalo hunt, despite the fact that this journey would take them away from the reservation. The company was ill equipped with lank horses that were unable to even get close to the buffalo. The Arapaho braves went south between the Platte and Arkansas Rivers. They were weak, and no buffalo were to be found.
B) their reaction: The Arapaho braves spent two weeks in search of buffalo, and many began chasing illusions and finding nothing. They found the eighty-nine buffalo carcasses left by the hunters, and one brave was famished to the extent that he ate some of the decayed meat. The Arapaho did not understand why the killers left the meat and did not even eat. Red Wolf concluded that the Arapaho would hunt no more and would need to submit to the Great White Father’s demands after experiencing the hunt that almost took their lives.
C) The last group of Arapaho left their land in late summer and rode northward. Though the entire group looked dismal and weak, Lost Eagle remained optimistic: “often in the past Our People were forced to make a new life in a new land, and always we had the courage to succeed. We were here at the buttes less than six generations and now we move to something different. This time I do believe the White Father will keep his promises. In Dakota we shall grow strong again” (635).
11. How does Michener describe the coming of the railroad and the land distribution?
A) pp. 637 During this time period, the nation was too poor to purchase a railroad, and instead of purchasing a railroad, the nation sold land designated stretches of land worth prices between twenty cents to and four dollars. This way of selling the land was effective because the nation would finally have a link to the Pacific Ocean, towns would appear throughout the west and Midwest, and all of this would occur at no expense to the taxpayer.
B) pp. 639 Buckland wants to stop the authorization of the Union Pacific purchase of two hundred thousand acres for one dollar and twenty five cents. Perkin had a source telling him that the railroad was not ready to sell now but that an option could be having the land up for sale for no more than sixty cents per acre.
12. Describe the barbed wire and why it was so important in the West
A) pp. 638 Michener described barbed wire as crude with deadly spikes. Barbed wire was a vital part of a ranch and was very important to farmers and ranchers, as its purpose was to keep ranchers and farmers separated.
B) pp. 640 Again, the barbed wire was a vital part of ranching and farming because it separated ranches and farms. Another purpose of the barbed wire was to keep the cattle from going astray and leaving the ranch, and the cattle could be corpulent and sold without much attention.
13. Describe how Oliver kept the Venneford solvent. Oliver Seccombe was to repay all of his debts and legal debts through his declaration of using cash dividends, even though he had not earned any. Seccombe would purchase the cattle and sell them to packing and slaughterhouses in Chicago, Illinois,. Seccombe would write down the money earned as if it was his own.
14. What was book count? The book count was records, which were an impressive account of every single animal the investors had purchased. On extreme problem with the records were that the sizes of the cattle or the areas of land purchased were inaccurately recorded.
15. Relate the story of the fossils and then go to the editors notes and see why they are included in the story. Dinosaur fossils were discovered in the Rattlesnake Buttes and Chalk Cliffs, and these fossils had once been bones of the Diplodocus and the Triceratops. Michener included the discovery of these dinosaur fossils because he himself had found the armored collar of a Triceratops. Michener also mentioned that no human being has seen an actual dinosaur bone, and has only seen the petrifaction of a dinosaur bone. Michener wanted to include a bit more history in the novel by including the discovery of the dinosaur fossils.
16. Tell the story of Clemma Zendt. Clemma Zendt was the most astonishingly beautiful girl Jim Lloyd had ever seen and it was his intent to marry her. She had a dark complexion, ebony hair in which she wore braids tied with ribbons. She was thirteen years old and a blossoming beauty. Whenever Jim, who was completely infatuated with her, attempted to start a conversation with her, Clemma would ignore him and treat him as one of her subordinates, even though Jim Lloyd was older than she was. Just as Lucinda did in the past, Clemma went to St. Louis at the age of nineteen to get an education, and she only came back to Zendt’s farm to visit her family once. While she was in St. Louis she attended danced nightly and became very popular among the young officers. She vowed to come back later, but she then married Lieutenant Jack Ferguson on December tenth, moved to New York with him, and conceived a child. After Clemma sent a letter, Cyprian Pasquinel sent a letter to the Zendts, explaining that he would be “the most amazed man in Missouri” if Ferguson stayed with Clemma for a month after the baby was born. Jim Lloyed set out to St. Louis to find Cyprian Pasquinel and Clemma but did not find her. Lieutentant Ferguson had been discharged from the army to New Orleans for embezzling government funds. Clemma’s child had died, Ferguson had left her after he was discharged and started living with a French woman in Boston, and Clemma was never heard from again.
17. In the editors notes, what are the facts on a stand? In this fictional work, Amos Calendar slew eighty-nine buffalo, but that by no means, according to Michener, constitutes a record. Legitimate records have data showing that Charles Rath slew 107 buffalo, Doc Zahl killed 120, and Orlando A. Bond slew 293 buffalo in one day. The quickest stand witnessed was by Tom Nixon, who shot 120 buffalo in forty minutes. Jim Cato is credited to have slain 16,000 buffalo during the widespread buffalo extermination.