Interesting that you noted our esteemed historical Governor. What a hoot! Do you think that Sir James Douglas owed his rise to prominence by some sort of genetic imperative primarily the result of his Scottish father? I don't. Why not suggest that his preeminence could have been the result of the amount of African genes supplied by his mother, if you believe in such stuff? And while you're pondering that, please note that good old Sir James' wife was the daughter of a Cree.

And why not consider the plains Indian in the context of the Mayans and Aztecs? It has as much relevance as the average Scottish crofter's brutish existence did to the lifestyle of the Kings and Queens of England at that time.

"Noble Savage?" What are you on about? My ascribing the first people of this continent with a heart, a mind and a mastery of tactical and survival skills, in the context of their environment, somehow equates with the European idea of the "noble savage"? What paternalistic, arrogant, racist crap! That term may be in your lexicon Teribus, but it definitely is not in mine.

Be it with stone blade or iron rivet, the idea of mass production was not solely the prerogative of a European mind. As Rapaire noted, I'd rather take my chances against a prairie winter at that time, with the provender supplied by the masters, than rely on the hunting expertise of some yob who'd once stalked a deer in the "old country". The North American prairie became littered with the sod huts of their failed aspirations and dreams, but don't let it gall you.

And while there, I'd contemplate the piles of bones and rotting carcasses of 2 million buffalo and perhaps cast my mind to a future where Agent Orange would become another bright idea for solving a "problem" by those supposedly far removed from the stone age.

Oh and by the way, the bay with it's nose in the grass on the right, carried me on its back tthrough a 7000 or 8000 foot pass and back, the day after I took this picture.