WI: Early use of camels in the North American West

there's the question of just why any of these people would risk life and limb to go teach the natives of the US SW all about camels though...

Find a successful war chief and make him even more successful, he'll give you a nice reward. It's documented that some chiefs loved status symbols, and after proving themselves in their youth, fought few battles but commanded the respect of many to fight the battles for them. Get one of these guys interested in camelry, maybe? The side effect is (assuming we're talking about Plains Indians here) a reduced reliance on buffalo, since hopefully camels lack the taboo on horse meat some Plains Indian groups had for many years (it was famine food) as well as the use of camel milk which an Egyptian camel driver would probably know, and of course the use of camel products (i.e. camel urine) in Arab folk medicine.

But that's a stretch, and I think the best way to get camels spread amongst the locals is to get them utilised by the Spanish as they push north from the Valley of Mexico and from there, sold to locals (and no doubt eventually stolen by locals unless camels help Spain out in the American Southwest).
 
The most convincing theory of how the horse was adopted so quickly is the Spanish used native slaves to care for their horses and inevitably some were stolen. If you're an experienced Indian groom and you were going to run away then of course you'd maximize your chances of a getaway riding a horse. The Spanish settlements in northern Mexico (was it Albuquerque?) was within reasonable distance to the Great Plains.

As far as uses for camels go, camel hair is luxury fiber today. Even if the natives wouldn't weave, they could make felt or use the pelt.
 
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