If the Celts
Had Won the West
by Dylan Grufydd a' Bheithir

Suppose that Vercingetorix had never surrendered to Julius Caesar? And the colonization of the American West ended up being done by the Celtic peoples? What would have been the changes in the American West? These questions and more tonight on...The Unreal West!

1. The American Indians would never had vanished from the American Frontier. The Celts, having found a race as awesomely tribal as themselves, would have simply incorporated the Plains and Mountain tribes in with themselves. After all, they would have needed some other race to cattle-raid Buffalo from.
   
   
2. The California Gold Rush, would have made very little diferrence to the Celts. After all, what good is gold except to make into torcs and then bury people with?
   
   
3. Gunfights would have still been settled the same way, one-on-one. After all, it's the hero's way, except that Cowboy movies now would have had a lot more chariot chases.
   
   
4. Would Brigham Young have been a Druid? Or Wyatt Earp a modern-day Finn MacCumhal? Perhaps Bat Materson could be Cuculain? If so, the Dime Novelists would have to be the bards of the West.
   
   
5. Imagine if you will, The Painted Desert carved with Celtic knotwork. Or the Grand Canyon being turned into the largest stonne circle in history - Monument Valley - reworked to be the biggest Stonehenge of them all.

Imagine, instead of the United Statgtes, you would have "New Erie," and with a lack of large cities, how about "The High-King of Dodge," or "High-Plains Raider," or Clint Eastwood, wearing a plaind cloak and knotworked gunbelt, and John Wayne would have been known as "The Rie" instead of "The Duke." Just food for thought, along with a couple of beers - its amazing what you think of when the cable is out........

 

All pictures and text Copyright 2003
Originally appeared in The Mudpuppy
Newsletter of The Barony of Settmour Swamp
Contact the Chronicler about the newsletter.
Contact the Webmaster about this website.