The Not So Wild, Wild West: Property Rights on the Frontier

281 Pages·2004·5.094 MB·English

by  Terry L. Anderson, Peter J. Hill

The Not So Wild, Wild West

T E R R Y L • A N D E R S 0 N and P E T E R J . H I L L
The Not So Wild, Wild West
Property Rights on the Frontier
Stanford Economics and Finance
AN IMPRINT OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
www.sup.org
© 2004 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior
University. All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Anderson, Terry Lee, 1946-
The not so wild, wild west : property rights on the frontier I Terry
L. Anderson and Peter J. Hill.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN o-8047-4854-3 (alk. paper)
r. West (U.S.)-Economic conditions. 2. Right of property
West (U.S.)-History. 3· Property-West (U.S.)-History.
4· Public lands-West (U.S.)-History. 5· Common good
History. 6. West (U.S.)-Economic policy. I. Title: Property
rights on the frontier. II. Hill, Peter Jensen. III. Title.
HC1o7.A17A85 2oo4
333·3 'o978'o9034-dc22 2004001038
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality
paper.
Original Printing 2004
Last figure below indicates year of this printing:
13 12
Designed and typeset at Stanford University Press in rolr4]anson.
To our children-Sarah, Peter, Jenniftr, Josh, and Lisa.
May they always be blessed with the freedom and spirit of
the West.

Contents
List ofI llustrations and Tables
VII
Acknowledgments
IX
I. Heroes, Villains, and Real Cowboys I
2. The Institutions That Tamed the West 9
3· Property Rights in Indian Country 34
4· Might Takes Rights in Indian Country 53
5· Soft Gold: Traders, Trappers, and Hunters 77
6. There's Property Rights in Them Thar Hills I04
7· Wagon-Train Governments I20
8. Cowboys and Contracts I38
9· Home on the Range I 59
IO. Making the Desert Bloom I77
II. New Frontiers 20I
Notes 2I3
Bibliography 237
Index 25I