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Introduction
 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 land stripped away, some Indians sought refuge in a
religion that promised it had all been a bad dream.
 "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 a 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 belong 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."
Ann Richards
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