But the basics were true, right? And why not? It was far more likely that the average settler would trade with Native Americans or hire members of various tribes as guides, rather than fight them. In the book The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900-1918, author Ruth Rosen cites cases where some working girls were orphaned as children or came from broken homes. Regardless of the public's perception, gun control laws may have actually been stricter back in the 19th and early 20th century than they are now, especially in the West. It's recent enough that we even have photographs of the families that traveled out and the lives they made, little glimpses into life in the real Wild West. Writer Emma R. Marek found Laura Evens of Salida, Colorado, … The Wild West era, a period of myth-making cowboys, gunslingers, and saloon madames, actually lasted only 30 years. Regardless of the vision of the Wild West one may have, the old west was nothing like what it has been portrayed on a cinema screen for the better part of last century. They were doing what nobody else was crazy enough to do. Thanks for connecting! Do you have an idea in mind that would make a great article? Even the cowboy hats that Stetson was making in the late 1800s didn't look like the Stetson hats we call "cowboy hats" today. When you walk out the front door with the loot, there's the sheriff waiting for you. It's safe to say that Deadwood has embraced its Wild West past. In the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century, the media focused largely on the American West, which is sometimes called the Wild West or the Old West. In the beginning, there was definitely gun violence, as there was neither standardized law nor a good way to enforce it, but the Wild West didn't stay wild forever. The entire town is a Nation… And all of this has to be true; we know that horrific numbers of people died when settlers expanded West. Here, Robert Walsh debunks the myths and shares what really happened. When Americans moved westward, it was these vaqueros who knew the land and wildlife enough to help teach the future American cowboys everything they knew. Lawlessness ruled, vaults didn't exist, and criminals didn't give a shit. The Wild West, aka the Old West, was an astoundingly awesome period in American history that every person who has ever played Red Dead Redemption wants to emulate. The term "American Old West" refers to a vast geographical area and lengthy time period of imprecise boundaries, and historians' definitions vary. When wagon trains saw a raid of Cherokee or Sioux coming, they would "circle the wagons" to form a defense perimeter -- and to this day, "circle the wagons" is shorthand for "hunker down and fight back.". Fortunately, it hasn’t been that long since our ancestors tamed the American frontier. Looking For The Best Medieval Artists? Except that it wasn't. So why bother with a bank, which would be a suicide mission in comparison? In fact, famed Western historian Lucius "Clearly a Fake Name" Beebe went so far as to call it "the hat that won the West." While Natives were laughing their heads off on the smelly cowboys, the incoming people faced the struggle of life and death. You're almost done. But there are several things to consider. Well, even if cowboys didn't have cowboy hats, we sure as hell know they had six-shooters on their hip. The curved brim, those dips in the crown, the band -- the Stetson is about as iconic as clothing gets. Hickok is said to have been a great shot, even as a youngster, and was well known for his marksmanship with a pistol. To put this in perspective, at the time a pound of meat cost approximately one cent or even less in some places. 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