This week focuses on the battle for control of the Butte mining industry, an event that is emblematic of the industrial fights going on all over the country. Professor Harry Fritz delivers the Lecture (approximately 30 minutes) on the individuals and issues involved in the battle.

Maps & Cityscapes shows shrinking Indian lands nationwide and the first attempts to preserve forests and wild lands. Tribal Perspectives presents different worldviews regarding relationship to the land as a source of life vs. an exploitable resource. In People and the Humanities we focus on three of the copper kings, Clark, Daly, and Heinze, while the relationship between our region and the national story arises again in discussions of Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis, the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition, and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.

The Research section offers our suggested top picks for books and films that address issues about the War of the Copper Kings.

    Assignment ideas using this week’s content:

• How do the ambitions of individuals alter the history of a place, as in the case of the copper kings?
• Investigate events such as the World’s Columbian Exposition that embody the hopes and feelings of a particular era.
• Present views from Tribal Perspectives as examples of how national stories (like the destruction of the bison, or the signing of a treaty) change depending on the viewpoint represented by the historical narrator or storyteller.
• Review the lecture outline for major content themes on which to focus.