mr. willert in portland, oregon in okay. this is about 20 minutes. >> lancaster willert -- luke willert when did first decide to focus your studies on law in the the west? >> i started graduate school in colonial america. that was on. but then i was in wyoming looking at the 19th century. i found these detective papers sitting around in car -- archives. they were completely fascinating. i didn't know they were there. at that point, i decided to switch to detective and wyoming and the mountain west. >> what did you find out about these detectives that really intrigued you? >> will, detectives seem to be everywhere in the 19th century west. the first one i saw was if a saloon and buying everybody drinks. some are sales men and some are travelers. they were posing as prospectors. one case one was posing as a doctor. >> why would contestants be in the west? who haired them? >> usually the railroad and the mines, ranchos these are enormous corporations. ly. -- millions of dollars here. they had a bunch of workers and a bunch of wo