text: Mr Tamura, I invite you to consult the books the professor lists at the end of his column. Your isolated examples do not refute his overall thesis. What we call the "settlement" of the American West depended on government assistance to a far greater degree than is acknowledged by present-day westerners (and Alaskans) who cling to a myth of individualism. This myopic view of history serves us poorly when we pretend we don't need the guv'ment in our lives because we never did before.