I love this story, although I don't know much about Campbell beyond what Joe Howard wrote. My sense is that Howard thought this was a left-leaning communal alternative for agriculture, that it belongs in the populist left experiments of the 30's seeking alternatives to individual capitalist farming. Any truth in this? Also, is there any significance to choosing land on the Crow res? Cheaper to lease, or something else going on? Finally, what has happened to all of this land today? And where is it? Might be worth a drive.... Thanks for the great story.
Thanks Tim. I'd love to drive out there with you sometime. I believe there's a historic marker there somewhere, but I don't know the details.
I agree with you about Howard, except that I would add he was dead-wrong: collectivist industrialization was actually bad for the proletariat, in Stalinist ways that the '30s left maybe should have more clearly seen. And Campbell's location on the reservation is important evidence. Campbell needed vast cheap acreage, and the easiest way to get it was to negotiate with the feds -- basically exploiting the Crow (and he also pursued leases on other reservations), while denying them input on how their lands were used. I don't think Campbell himself was racist (indeed at one point he was adopted into the Crow tribe), but I think he was a smart businessman taking advantage of the (racist) way the system was set up.
Ideally, people would know the origin and carbon footprint of everything they eat. Most have no clue. And one of the things America can be least proud of is drive-through fast food. Talk about industrial and unnatural.
I love this story, although I don't know much about Campbell beyond what Joe Howard wrote. My sense is that Howard thought this was a left-leaning communal alternative for agriculture, that it belongs in the populist left experiments of the 30's seeking alternatives to individual capitalist farming. Any truth in this? Also, is there any significance to choosing land on the Crow res? Cheaper to lease, or something else going on? Finally, what has happened to all of this land today? And where is it? Might be worth a drive.... Thanks for the great story.
Thanks Tim. I'd love to drive out there with you sometime. I believe there's a historic marker there somewhere, but I don't know the details.
I agree with you about Howard, except that I would add he was dead-wrong: collectivist industrialization was actually bad for the proletariat, in Stalinist ways that the '30s left maybe should have more clearly seen. And Campbell's location on the reservation is important evidence. Campbell needed vast cheap acreage, and the easiest way to get it was to negotiate with the feds -- basically exploiting the Crow (and he also pursued leases on other reservations), while denying them input on how their lands were used. I don't think Campbell himself was racist (indeed at one point he was adopted into the Crow tribe), but I think he was a smart businessman taking advantage of the (racist) way the system was set up.
Thanks again for asking!
Ideally, people would know the origin and carbon footprint of everything they eat. Most have no clue. And one of the things America can be least proud of is drive-through fast food. Talk about industrial and unnatural.