Capitalism on the Frontier

Focusing on the Clark’s Fort Bottom, a twenty-five-mile stretch between present-day Park City and Billings, Montana, this pathbreaking study examines the successive stages of capitalist development in Billings and the Yellowstone Valley during the nineteenth century. From the subsistence and barter economy of the Native Americans, through the fur trade era and the settlers’ introduction of a market economy, the introduction of industrial capitalism by the Northern Pacific Railroad, and the increasing influence of corporate capitalism in the latter part of the century, Carroll Van West shows how each stage affected the relationships and choices shared by the local inhabitants.

By setting local events in a broader context, West not only illuminates the circumstances unique to the Yellowstone Valley but sheds new light on a central issue of western history: the interaction of local, regional, and national economies and the influence of corporate decisions made in the east on western settlement and urban development.