Scholar looks at 'Atomic West'

The settlement of the American West wasn't just a game of "cowboys and Indians" -- at least, not according to historian Patricia Limerick. Limerick, a professor at the University of Colorado -- whose speech last Tuesday in Meyerson Hall was the latest in a series of historian lectures sponsored by the Annenberg Center -- supports a new view of western history that attributes the development of the American West to the exploitation of people and the conquest of territory, as opposed to the romanticized view of brave frontiersmen exploring the open land. The speech, entitled "The Atomic West," was hosted by History Professor and former University President Sheldon Hackney, who invited Limerick to speak because she has been "one of the leaders" of her field, as well as "extremely influential in promoting a different" view of history, Hackney said. In her talk in front of 45 spectators, Limerick said that the way the West was settled has actually contributed to the overwhelming abundance of nuclear testing and storage facilities throughout the western United States. "People involved adopted habits of thought from history of the Old West," she said. That history, Limerick added, was based on the values of "toughness" and bravery, causing inhabitants to "embrace and celebrate" nuclear enterprise into their lives. Limerick made her argument using a series of case studies, which she obtained mostly from interviews conducted between reporters and nuclear plant employees or people who resided near the facilities. Limerick also plans to publish a book with the same title as her speech. In her speech, Limerick cited as an example a nuclear power plant built in the 1950s in Plattville, Colo., which was named Fort St. Vrain after a frontier trading post that had failed. Much like its historic namesake, the plant had a history of problems, and though billed as the "story of man's progress from arrows to atoms," Fort St. Vrain eventually shut down in 1995. Limerick attributes the western enthusiasm for the nuclear facilities, despite their large risk, to what are often Hollywood-based images of "heartiness and indifference." For example, she said, a person may get thrown off a horse in rodeo but go back to it the next day, as is often the mentality. Limerick, who admitted she has encountered a large amount of opposition in her career, stated that criticism is to be expected when one considers the "heavy emotional investment" steeped in old western theories of history. "There is nothing more flattering [than criticism] and strong reactions" to her work, she said. According to Hackney, the speech conveyed a "different kind of history," which Anthropology Professor Melvyn Hammarberg regarded as "very sobering" and "insightful."