Mention the West to the average person, and images of gunfights, barfights, and train robberies appear in their mind. Recently. historians have begun to refute these visions, though. Learn about what made the Wild West really quite tame compared to today’s civilization from the words of historians like Thomas E. Woods, Jr, Terry Anderson, and Peter Hill. Then listen to old westerners like Buffalo Bill Cody, J. H. Beadle, and a gold miner tell what they knew about the “Wild West.”

Inspired by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.: “Was the ‘Wild West’ Really So Wild?” in 33 Questions About American History You’re not Supposed to Ask (book)

Other sources include:

- Abbot, E. C. & Smith, Helena Huntington. We Pointed Them North: Recollections of a Cowpuncher (book)
- Anderson, Terry L. & Hill, Peter J. The Not So Wild, Wild West (book). Morriss, Andrew P. “Hayek & Cowboys: Customary Law in the American West” in NYU Journal of Law & Liberty (journal). Retrieved from heinonline.org/
- Tierney, John. “The Mild, Mild West” in The New York Times (newspaper). Retrieved from search.proquest.com.proxy.lccc.wy.edu/

Entered in the Wyoming State 4-H FilmFest.

CREDITS

Directed by Thomas A. Christensen II

Producers:

- Jedidiah Hewlett
- Thomas A. Christensen II

Screenplay by Thomas A. Christensen II

CAST

- Host: Amanda Christensen
- Billy the Kid: Thaddaeus Christensen
- Pat Garret: Jeremiah Hewlett
- Reporter: Malea Christensen
- Buffalo Bill: Thaddaeus Christensen
- J. H. Beadle: Thomas A. Christensen II
- Miner: Jedidiah Hewlett

MUSIC

“Billy the Kid” by Traditional, performed by:

- Thomas A. Christensen II
- Amanda Christensen
- Malea Christensen
- Thaddaeus Christensen
- Jedidiah Hewlett
- Christiana Hewlett
- Cecilia Hewlett
- Jeremiah Hewlett

Recorded and Mixed by Thomas A. Christensen II

COSTUMES

- Jedidiah Hewlett
- Christiana Hewlett

ON SITE AUDIO RECORDING

- Jedidiah Hewlett
- Christiana Hewlett

TRANSPORTATION

- Colette Christensen
- Jedidiah Hewlett
- Cindi Hewlett

Special thank to the Wyoming Territorial Park for use of their Old West Town.