In this engrossing history of Carson Valley and Honey Lake Valley along the eastern Sierra mountain range, western historian Michael Makley analyzes the role of extralegal justice in nineteenth-century American settlement. Makley investigates the actions of settler groups he defines as vigilantes and anti-vigilantes who vied for power and control in the 1850s. Settlers in Honey Lake defied the authority of the California government, and Carson Valley settlers resisted the jurisdiction of the Utah Territory. Westerners comprised the bulk of each colonizing group, but religious differences divided them between non-Mormon and Mormon factions. Non-Mormon vigilantes rebelled against the extension of the Utah Territory’s administrative reach and used violence to assert their own forms of justice. While settlers fought each other for control and wealth in the area, they also acted aggressively to eliminate Washoe and Paiute Peoples defending their homelands from settler incursions, resulting in the Pyramid Lake War. Makley argues that vigilante militias and committees substituted violence for justice while engaging in show trials, lynchings, and massacres, and that this extralegal frontier justice underpinned an accepted culture of violence in the American West.
Makley addresses this complex history of legal justice systems and jurisdiction in eleven chapters. He opens with the initial encounters between American explorers and Indigenous Peoples. Washoes in the Carson Valley and Paiutes in the Honey Lake Valley experienced violence at the hands of American emigrants, and they attempted to avoid settlers or adapt to their presence. Mormons initially settled in Carson Valley, but non-Mormon gold seekers and ranchers from California quickly joined them. Tensions between Mormons; non-Mormons, known as Gentiles; and Indigenous Peoples set the stage for continuous conflict.
The author traces the development of two main narratives to illustrate the role of violence in the community. First, he analyzes the story of “Lucky Bill” Thorington, a Carson Valley pioneer lynched by a vigilante committee. Second, he evaluates the disputes between Indigenous Peoples and settlers that led to the Pyramid Lake War. Makley takes readers through a winding narrative of local politics and sporadic violence to flesh out these stories. He delves into Thorington’s actions in Carson Valley, where he affiliated with Mormon leaders to construct a toll road and built a mill and trading post. Thorington also aligned with Mormon leadership by engaging in plural marriage. Makley then switches subjects to examine relations between Paiutes and settlers farther north in Honey Lake Valley.
The book alternates between events in Carson Valley and Honey Lake Valley. Makley also delves into the emerging business and financial conflicts between Mormons and non-Mormons, arguing that recently settled non-Mormons resented Mormon financial and political control. Makley shows how the conflict with Mormons extended to the national level as he addresses the short-lived Mormon War of 1857. Back at the local level, he introduces Major William Ormsby, a Carson Valley non-Mormon settler whom Makley identifies as “part of American incorporation and the consolidation of capitalistic forces” (65). While Major Ormsby challenged Mormon authority, Honey Lakers chafed under California’s efforts at incorporation and elicited calls to join a separate territory.
Amid competing power plays, Makley documents brutal and ongoing murders of Indigenous Peoples. He shows that the homicides of Indigenous Peoples, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and enmity between local factions led by Ormsby and Thorington contributed to a hostile, free-for-all environment that defied legal authority. Makley further holds that “casually dismissive attitudes toward Indians and violence” underpinned genocidal actions that became common in the mid-nineteenth century (103). The murder of a man by the name of Snelling, for instance, resulted in a vigilante posse led by Major Ormsby to arrest Thorington. Frequent violence set the stage for the capture of “Lucky Bill” and his subsequent trial for murder. Vigilantes served as jurors and unsurprisingly found Thorington and his associates guilty, but only Thorington, whom they accused of leading a murderous gang, faced the gallows. Makley analyzes how news accounts contributed to the presentation of this conflict and examines the aftermath of the hanging.
He then changes direction to examine the origins of the Pyramid Lake War and the growing conflict between Paiutes and the expanding settler population. Makley details the discovery of the Comstock Lode and shows that the burgeoning mining industry exacerbated tensions between settlers and Paiutes. Settlers appropriated Paiute lands and resources and left the Indigenous community in starving conditions. Violence and desperation led the Paiutes to reject accommodation, instead challenging and defeating a militia led by Major Ormsby. Nonetheless, the appropriation of Paiute land continued into the twentieth century.
The book’s account of violence and competing interests at the local level in remote regions of Nevada and California weaves a complex narrative of opposing factions and makes a strong contribution to histories of violence, mining, and Mormon settlement in the American West. Makley uses newspaper accounts to capture the flow of information and misinformation and analyzes the contribution of media to colonization. However, readers will find his account difficult to follow. He frequently moves from one story and setting to another and introduces a large number of characters. The attempt to include so many factions—Mormons, non-Mormons, miners, Washoes, Paiutes, federal agents, territorial authorities, Masons, and more—creates a disjointed narrative. Makley weaves Indigenous Peoples into his storyline and utilizes Sarah Winnemucca’s firsthand account of the Paiutes effectively, but his exploration of violence against Indigenous Peoples in the area is cursory. Regardless, Makley provides insight into the role of extralegal frontier justice and makes an important connection to violence against Indigenous communities. His work expands our understanding of the establishment of the rule of law, religious conflicts, and settler colonialism in the West. This book provides an important contribution to legal history, political science, and regional scholarship.
University of California Press