The Wasp — 1891 — page 80: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page contains a narrative story titled "Two or Three Little Pets," written by Joaquin Miller for *The Wasp* magazine. Rather than a political cartoon, it's a first-person account of frontier life in Canyon City during the establishment of a mining settlement in Indian territory. The narrative describes encounters with Shoshone Indians (termed "Shoshone" for their rattlesnake-like stealth), conflicts over settling indigenous lands, and a dramatic incident where settlers kill an Indian. The illustration shows a canyon landscape with figures. The piece reflects late-19th-century attitudes: it justifies encroachment on Native American lands, depicts Indians as threats, and treats violence against them as inevitable frontier consequence rather than moral problem. It's a period artifact revealing contemporary settler-colonial ideology.