Out Where the West Begins: A Book of “Grit, Grace, and Greed”
BY Stuart Rosebrook, Ph.D.; Editor of True West magazine
Philip F. Anshutz’s biographical volume of audacious Western entrepreneurs is simultaneously inspiring as it is a cautionary tale of capitalism and nation building.
In 2019, the history and future of the American West is at the center of numerous national, regional and local debates. The question at the heart of many of these debates is what is the sustainability of the West’s urban, suburban and rural populations, natural resources, infrastructure and state economies? Americans, especially those who live and work in the West, are anxious to find solutions to these major issues and provide current and future generations living in the West a pathway to a sustainable future. In an attempt to understand where the West is today—and how the future can be planned successfully for the greater good—many in the halls of debate turn to the history of the West for clarity and inspiration, as well as for cautionary lessons of greed and graft, to inform their decision making and legislation.
Readers of Colorado business entrepreneur and philanthropist Philip F. Anschutz’s Out Where the West Begins: Profiles, Visions, & Strategies of Early Western Business Leaders (Cloud Camp Press, 2015, $34.95; Amazon), will quickly discover where the native Kansan has sought answers and inspiration to answer many of these aforementioned hot-button topics that dominate our headlines with a single question “Who created the American West?” A question he answers with nearly 50, insightful biographies of men who sought, made—and in many instances—lost their fortunes in the West with grit, grace and greed between 1800 and 1920.
Anschutz’s biographies provide the reader insightful, inspiring—as well as cautionary—answers to the big questions that currently seem to be holding our country back from the reconciliation and compromise it takes to build a nation forward. It should be no surprise to the reader that Anschutz—a native Westerner—also happens to be one of the West’s most innovative and successful businessman since the early 1960s, with a current worth estimated at $11 billion.
Anshutz organizes his major topics and biographical profiles into seven categories of Western American history: Early Trade and Commerce, Agriculture and Livestock, Railroads and Transportation, Mineral Extraction, Manufacturing, Finance and Banking, and Entertainment and Communication. Anshutz offers a balance between the famous and well-known, such as Brigham Young, Cyrus McCormick, John D. Rockefeller Sr., Samuel Colt, Henry Ford and Buffalo Bill Cody, with the entrepreneurs and industrialists who are not as familiar or carry the same name recognition as their famous brethren, men such as fur-trader Manuel Lisa, entrepreneur rancher John Wesley Iliff, railroad visionary Theodore Judah, California oilman Edward L. Doheny, meatpacking entrepreneur G.F. Swift, Bank of America founder A.P. Giannini, Los Angeles Times publisher Harrison Gray Otis and Universal Studios creator Carl Laemmle.
Anschutz has a particular fondness for cinema entrepreneur Laemmle (maybe even a kinship as a fellow-filmmaker-philanthropist), who against all odds fought Thomas Edison’s team of lawyers to establish the rights of independent film-makers and take a leap-of-faith to move his film business from New York to Los Angeles. As “As one of the first producers to move his studio to southern California, Laemmle helped bridge the Old West and the New, establishing in the minds of millions of viewers worldwide a popular image of the American West.”
Anshutz obviously loves his adopted home-state of Colorado and residents will recognize many of Anshutz’s subjects in Out Where the West Begins as the men whose entrepreneurism, business acumen, and, ultimately, their altruism contributed to the economic development and growth of Colorado from an undeveloped territory to the wealthiest and most developed state between Illinois and California. Chapters on Rocky Mountain state entrepreneurs Iliff, Cody, William Jackson Palmer, Meyer Guggenheim, Walter Scott Cheesman, John Evans, Adolph Coors and Spencer Penrose offer succinct summaries of Colorado’s most important state-builders—although the reader will quickly realize that almost every one of the men profiled in the book directly or indirectly affected the history of Anschutz’s adopted home state and the overall theme of the book—who were the visionary businessmen who visualized and actualized the development of the West.
Well-researched, Anschutz’s well-organized profiles are written in a historical narrative style with a short bibliography that allows the reader, the student and the educator to use the sections—or each chapter—individually—as case studies for the classroom, public history projects and further research. Anschutz’s Out Where the West Begins accomplishes a rarity in current Western American history publishing: a volume of inspiring, top-down history of visionary entrepreneurs, businessmen and industrialists. The Denver billionaire turned historian reminds today’s readers conditioned by decades of bottom-up history and historical syntheses that have consistently vilified America’s 19th century industrial entrepreneurs as Robber Barons that the innovative business acumen and audacious determination of America’s industrialists who built a nation can simultaneously be reassessed and appreciated for their visionary grit and grace without granting them wholesale absolution for their greed and exploitive business practices in the America’s unregulated wild, wild West.
West Yellowstone provides beautiful winter scenery at every turn, like this view of Muleshoe Bend. Photo credit: Chris Daniel
7 Reasons You Should Get to West Yellowstone This Winter
Sponsored by: If we told you that there’s one place where you can experience dog sledding, ice fishing, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing races, snowmobiling and skijoring, would you believe us? Or, would you ask, “What the heck is skijoring?” Well, such a place does in fact exist, so keep reading and we’ll get to that skijoring […]
West Yellowstone, Montana offers a variety of springtime adventures. Photo Credit: MOTBD
4 Spring Adventures You Won’t Want to Miss This Season in West Yellowstone
Sponsored by: West Yellowstone, Montana is one of those unforgettable places in the American West. In a place where fiery sunsets blanket snow-covered peaks and plains, where mountain lakes dot national forests and blue-ribbon trout streams traverse the landscape, there are adventures to be had around every bend in the trail. Spring in West Yellowstone, […]
Aspen Snowmass. Photo Credit: Tomas Zuccareno.
Colorado resort named “Best in the West” by SKI Magazine, but do you agree?
In a recent press release, SKI Magazine announced that it had awarded it’s “highest honors” to two American resorts – one in the east and one in the west. While Smugglers’ Notch in Vermont took the crown for best resort in the east, Colorado’s own Aspen Snowmass snagged the top spot for best resort in […]
Skiing-Snowboarding
The True Grit Cafe, pictured Jan. 14, 2018, in Ridgway, Colo., was built in 1986 as a tribute to John Wayne and the movie "True Grit." Photo Credit: Christian Murdock; The Colorado Springs Gazette
The Colorado Town of ‘True Grit’ Fame
Henry Hathaway clearly fell under the spell of the San Juan Mountains, their tops like rows of shattered glass above rolling valleys. He’d filmed some of “How the West Was Won” here in 1961 and returned eight years later to shoot perhaps the most iconic Western ever, featuring the Duke at his finest. John Wayne […]
Crystal Peak. Photo Credit: Kelsey Brunner.
Legendary Crystal Peak holds many treasures west of Front Range
It would seem impossible to miss, a point like no other in the Pikes Peak region, mistaken throughout history as some ancient pyramid or dormant volcano. Yet it is easily passed heading west to the Tarryall Mountains and Puma Hills. It is missed as a heap of rubble beside U.S. 24 is missed. “That pile […]
Looking to expand your knowledge of American western history? From legendary pioneer women on the frontier to the adventures of history’s most iconic leaders, these titles will take you on a journey back to the Wild West. Here are 5 must-read books for every history buff interested in exploring the untold truths about the Wild, […]