Centennial by James A. Michener
“Michener is America’s best writer, and he proves it once again in CENTENNIAL. ... If you’re a Michener fan, this book is a must. And if you’re not a Michener fan, CENTENNIAL will make you one.”
—Pittsburgh Press
“Michener is a superb storyteller. ... This is an absorbing work.”
—Business Week
“It is certain that CENTENNIAL will be one of the great bestsellers of the decade, if not of the century.”
—Milwaukee Journal
“It is much more than a novel. ... Spectacularly written.”
—Newsday
“Big and engrossing novel. ... An engrossing book, an imaginative and intricate one, a book teeming with people and giving a marvelous sense of the land.”
—Cleveland Plain Dealer
“It is a hell of a book. ... While he fascinates and engrosses, Michener also educates as he has done in the 18 books which preceded CENTENNIAL.”
—Los Angeles Times
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CENTENNIAL
James A. Michener
FAWCETT CREST – NEW YORK
CENTENNIAL
Published by Fawcett Crest Books, a unit of CBS Publications,
the Consumer Publishing Division of CBS Inc.,
by arrangement with Random House, Inc.
Copyright © 1974 by Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce
this book or portions thereof in any form.
ISBN: 0-449-23494-0
All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance
to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Lyrics from “The Buffalo Skinners” on pages 1023 & 1024, collected, adapted and arranged by John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax, TRO— © Copyright 1934 and renewed 1962 LUDLOW MUSIC, INC., New York, N.Y. Used by permission.
Cover Art Copyright © 1978—MCA Publishing, a division of MCA Inc.
Selection of the Book-Of-the-Month Club
Selection of the Reader’s Digest Condensed Books
Selection of the Playboy Book Club
Printed in the United States of America.
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18
To
Three distinguished Colorado newspapermen:
Floyd Merrill of Greeley,
who showed me the rivers;
Otto Unfug of Sterling,
who taught me about cattle;
Clyde Stanley of Keota,
who introduced me to the prairie.
Acknowledgments
This novel deals with a subject that has concerned me since 1936, when I first came to know the South Platte River. Writing it has been one of the happiest experiences of my life. for it put me in contact with many learned and perceptive people. Among the many to whom I am indebted are these specialists:
Geology: Roger Cuffey and Lauren Wright, Pennsylvania State University; the latter took me on an extended field trip of the Rockies; Gerald Richmond, William Mallory, U. S. Geological Survey; Jack Murphy, Denver Museum of Natural History, who took me on a field trip to dinosaur deposits, Robert Egbert, Phillips Petroleum, who provided preliminary data for the core diagram of Centennial; and especially Ogden Tweto, U.S.G.S., foremost authority on the Rockies, who provided line-by-line checking of the text and the core diagram.
Paleontology: G. Edward Lewis, U.S.G.S.; Don Lindsay, D.M.N.H.; Bertrand Schultz, Mylan Stout, University of Nebraska; G. E. Untermann, Vernal, Utah; Tobe Wilkins, Dinosaur National Monument; Kay McElroy, Greeley, who took me on a field trip to Pawnee Buttes.
Early Man: Frank Frazier, Denver; George Frison, University of Wyoming, who took me on an extended field trip to prehistoric Clovis sites; H. M. Wormington, Denver, who allowed me to read the manuscript of her forthcoming book.
Flint Knapping: Don Crabtree, Kimberley, Idaho; H. M. Wormington, Denver; Bruce Bradley, Cambridge, England, who made a Clovis point for me.
Indian Life: Virginia Trenholm, Cheyenne; Evelyn Nickeson, Kinnear; Nellie Scott, Fort Washakie; Father Lewis O’Neill, S.J., Stephens; Reverend David Duncombe, Ethete, all of Wyoming.
Early St. Louis: John Francis McDermott, University of Southern Illinois; Mrs. Odile Trufanow, Denver; George Brooks, Frances Stader, Missouri Historical Society; and Ernest Kirschten, all of St. Louis.
Old Lancaster: Laura Lundgren, S. E. Dyke, John Ward Willson Loose, Lancaster County Historical Society.
Oregon Trail: Merrill J. Mattes, National Park Service; Gregory M. Franzwa, St. Louis.
Fort Laramie: Charles Sharp, Lewis Eaton, Bill Henry, all of Fort Laramie, who showed the most devoted patience in helping on research and field trips; Roger Kent Heape, Belleville, Illinois, who allowed me to read his unpublished thesis on the Treaty of 1851.
Cattle Trails: C. Boone McClure, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Canyon, Texas; Dean Krakel, Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City; Mrs. Laura Peacock, Jacksboro, Texas; Jessie Newton Yarborough, Robert Lee, Texas.
Ranch Life: Farrington Carpenter, Hayden, Colorado; Allen Fordyce, Big Horn; Burrell Nickeson, Kinnear, both of Wyoming. The following graciously allowed me to visit their ranches and ask many questions: J. J. Gibson, 6666 Ranch, Guthrie, Texas; Herman Werner, Van Irvine, Casper; Robert and Martha Gibbs, TY Ranch, Arvada, all of Wyoming; and especially Ronald and Virginia Wolff, Two Bar Ranch, Wheatland, Wyoming, who flew me to various historic sites in their ranch plane.
Sugar Beets: Lyman Andrews, William M. White, Denver, Colorado.
Birds: Gustav Swanson, C.S.U., who took me on a beautiful exploration of the Buttes area.
Denver Stock Show: Willard Simms, Denver; C. W. Ferguson, Miami.
Mexican-Chicano Problems: Corky Gonzales, Bernard Valdez, Jim Kent, Minoru Yasui, Denver; Diputado Abelardo Perez Campos, Francisco Almada, Chihuahua, Mexico, the former having shown me extraordinary courtesy; Susan Sellers, Mexico City, who provided much help on Chicano songs.
Dryland Farming: Isabel Blair, James Reed, Dora Good, all of Sterling, Colorado, the last of whom took me on an extensive field trip to an old line camp.
Cattle Industry: Larry Yarrington, Sterling, Colorado, who gave me a graduate seminar on artificial insemination; Tom Risinger, Jack Winninger, Cody, Wyoming, who introduced me to Simmentals; Russell Staats, Chugwater, Wyoming, custodian of the great Swan Land Cattle Company operation; Joe Gloyd, Frank Rober
Guns: Dabney Otis Collins, Ross Miller, Frank M. Sellers, Denver, the last-named being the world’s authority on the Sharps rifle; Vernon Gunnion, Lancaster, expert on Melchior Fordney rifles.
Railroads: Ed Haley, Denver; Bob Richardson, Colorado Railroad Museum, Golden, Colorado.
Irrigation: Felix Sparks, Denver; John W. Nelson, Loveland, Colorado; John E. Moore, U.S.G.S.; Glen G. Saunders, Denver, Colorado; E. V. Richardson and Harvey Johnson, Fort Collins, Colorado, who took me on a thrilling field trip to the irrigation canals in the highest Rockies.
Appaloosas: Ed Roberts, Denver; George B. Hatley, Moscow, Idaho.
My thanks also go to Katherine Halverson, Bill Williams and John Cornelison of the Wyoming State Museum and Archives; Randolph Wagner, Wyoming Travel Commission, who showed me his excellent movie on the Oregon Trail; Tony Bevinetto and Charles McCurdy, Grand Teton National Park; Harold McCracken, Whitney Gallery of Western Art at Cody; the Western Pennsylvania Historical Society; Nebraska State Historical Society; Union Pacific Railroad Museum; and to Tom Ten Eyck of Denver, who took me on field trips to study ecology.
No city could have been more pleasant to work in than Denver, except for repeated traffic tickets, the worst winter in 170 years, the hottest summer in 87, and the nation’s most galling gas shortage. Alys Freeze, Western Collection, Denver Public Library, provided invaluable help and so did the entire staff of that estimable institution.
A group of wise and dedicated scholars read segments to help me avoid gross error: Geology: Wright, Cuffey, Tweto, Schumm; Inhabitants: Lewis, Schultz, Stout; Early Man: Wormington, Crabtree, Bradley; Indians: Trenholm, Oregon Trail: Mattes, Franzwa; Trappers: McDermott; Fort Laramie: Heape; Cattle Trail: McClure; Hunters: Sellers; Sugar Beets: Andrews; Irrigation: Moore. They must not be charged with such error as has persisted, because in certain instances I decided to stay with my own interpretations.
During my research I was aided at different and crucial times by two gifted members of the Reader’s Digest staff: Leslie Laird, who had earlier helped me on my book on Kent State, and John Kings, who had for some years been a rancher in Wyoming. Tessa Dalton provided much expert guidance on wildlife. These three accompanied me on extensive field trips to Mexico, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. All three were good drivers, amiable storytellers and opposed to smoking.
Contents
Acknowledgments 3
Contents 3
Chapter 1 3
THE COMMISSION 3
Chapter 2 3
THE LAND 3
Chapter 3 3
THE INHABITANTS 3
Chapter 4 3
THE MANY COUPS OF LAME BEAVER 3
1. Old Man Staked Out 3
2. Three Against Three Hundred 3
3. Visit to the Sun 3
4. Death of Never-Death 3
5. Nine Horses Lost 3
6. New Poles for the Tipi 3
7. Invading the Camp of Strange Gods 3
8. Two Gold Bullets 3
Chapter 5 3
THE YELLOW APRON 3
Chapter 6 3
THE WAGON AND THE ELEPHANT 3
Chapter 7 3
THE MASSACRE 3
Chapter 8 3
THE COWBOYS 3
Chapter 9 3
THE HUNTERS 3
Chapter 10 3
A SMELL OF SHEEP 3
Chapter 11 3
THE CRIME 3
Chapter 12 3
CENTRAL BEET 3
Chapter 13 3
DRYLANDS 3
Chapter 14 3
NOVEMBER ELEGY 3
About the Author 3
This is a novel. Its characters and scenes are imaginary. There was no Venneford Ranch, no prairie town of Line Camp, no Skimmerhorn cattle drive in 1868, no Centennial. None of the families depicted here were real, nor founded upon real precedents. There was no Lame Beaver, nor Skimmerhorn nor Zendt nor Grebe. On the other hand, certain background incidents and characters are real. There was a great convocation in 1851 at Fort Laramie. There was a drought in 1931-1935. Jennie Jerome, the mother of Winston Churchill, did frequent the English ranches near Cheyenne. Charles Goodnight, one of the great men of the west, did haul the corpse of his partner home in a lead box. Melchior Fordney, the master gunsmith, was murdered. The South Platte River did behave as described. (See Map 00 – The Setting)
Chapter 1
THE COMMISSION
Only another writer, someone who had worked his heart out on a good book which sold three thousand copies, could appreciate the thrill that overcame me one April morning in 1973 when Dean Rivers of our small college in Georgia appeared at my classroom door.
“New York’s trying to get you,” he said with some excitement. “If I got the name right, it’s one of the editors of US.”
“The magazine?”
“I could be wrong. They’re holding in my office.”
As we hurried along the corridor he said, with obvious good will, “This could prove quite rewarding, Lewis.”
“More likely they want to verify some fact in American history.”
“You mean, they’d telephone from New York?”
“They pride themselves on being accurate.” I took perverse pleasure in posing as one familiar with publishing. After all, the editors of Time had called me once. Checking on the early settlements in Virginia.
Any sophistication I might have felt deserted me when I reached the telephone. Indeed, my hands were starting to sweat. The years had been long and fruitless, and a telephone call from editors in New York was agitating.
“This Dr. Lewis Vernor?” a no-nonsense voice asked.
“Yes.”
“Author of Virginia Genesis?”
“Yes.”
“Had to be sure. Didn’t want to embarrass either of us.” The voice dropped slightly, as if that part of the discussion were ended. Then with crisp authority it said, “Dr. Vernor, I’m James Ringold, managing editor here at US. Problem is simple. Can you catch a plane from Atlanta this afternoon and report at my office tomorrow morning at nine?” Before I could even gasp, he added, “We cover expenses, of course.” Then, when I hesitated because of my surprise, he said, “I think we may have something that would interest you ... considerably.” I grew more confused, which gave him time to add, “And before you leave for the airport, will you discuss schedules with your wife and your college? We shall very probably want to preempt your time from the end of semester right through Christmas.”
I placed my hand over the mouthpiece and made some meaningless gesture toward Dean Rivers. “Can I fly to New York on the late plane?”
“Of course! Or course!” he whispered with an enthusiasm as great as mine. “Something big?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered back. Then into the phone I said, “What was your name again?” When he replied, I told him, “I’ll be there.”
In the next hour I called my wife, arranged for Professor Hisken to take my classes and then reported to the president’s office, where Dean Rivers had prepared the way with President Rexford by telling him that it sounded like the chance of a century for me and that he, Rivers, recommended that I be given the necessary leave.
Rexford, a tall southern gentleman who had accomplished wonders collecting funds for a college that badly needed them was always pleased when one of his faculty received outside attention, because in subsequent meetings with businessmen he could allude to the fact that “we’re becoming better known all the time, something of a national force.” He greeted me warmly and asked, “What’s this I hear about US wanting to borrow our finest history man for the autumn term?”
“I really know nothing about it, sir,” I replied honestly. “They want to interview me tomorrow morning, and if I pass muster, they want to offer me a job from term-end to Christmas.”
“When’s your next sabbatical?”
“I was planning to spend next spring quarter in the Oregon libraries.”
“I remember. Settlement of the northwest. Mmmmm?”
“I thought that having started in Virginia and then done my study on the Great Lakes, it might be natural for me to—”
“Complete the cycle? Yes. Yes. You do that and you’ll be a very valuable man to us, Vernor. A lot of foundations are going to be looking for projects dealing with the American past, and if we could offer you as a man who has done his homework, Virginia to Oregon ... well, I don’t have to tell you that I could generate a lot of interest in a man like that.”