Old West

What does old west mean to me. . . . . . . . . . . .


Loneliness

Loner

A simple, direct man

A man with guts, a gun and a horse, saddle and bridle (where money was not important)

Freedom/Liberty/free life – Roams around the wild, wide open spaces


Semi nomadic wanderer

Self-Reliant


Existence in an ultra individualistic society



Minding one’s own business

A tough lot – A man of simplicity, substance, strength and courage.



Rugged Individualism. . .

It was a daily task of hard work and long, lonesome hours, employed in difficult, dangerous, and sometimes dreary work



Conquest of the Wilderness

Subordination of Nature

Out-of-doors and in the lap of Nature. The impact of land, the grass, the rivers and streams and gushing springs, the color of the sky and the clouds, the climate and the weather.


Facing lightning and cloudbursts, drought, stampedes, rattlesnakes, and outlaws; sleeping under the stars, freezing or sweating, by lonely campfires, rowding in saloons, fighting, branding, whooping it up and catching chow at the chuckwagon

Code of Honour



Private Justice (draw!)

Violence!!!!




Gunfighter

Can be compared to the Knight or the Ronin/Samurai


Harsh Wilderness and arid desolate landscape

Isolated forts, ranches, homesteads, Indian villages, frontier towns with Saloon, General and Hardware Stores, Stables, Sheriff/Marshall, Jailhouse, Loafers, gunmen, piano music, rodeo riders, prostitutes, poker, beer and whisky, brawling and shooting, valueless life

Bounty Hunters, Gunslingers, Cowboys wearing Chaparejos, or chaps, Stetson Hats, bandannas, spurs, and Buckskins, riding tall on a saddle for days, alone, facing danger - one man against nature’s vast, treeless plains and outlaws

Mustang, lasso, lariat, sombrero, bronco.

Revolvers and Rifles were used as everyday tools of survival.

Horses were the most important and trustworthy living things taking the wanderer between dusty towns and Cattle Ranches to the Cattle Drives

The spirit and the struggle to conquer

Merging of People and Culture, Political compromises, Military conquest, Establishing Law and order, Building farms, ranches, towns, railroads, telegraphs, marking trails {Sante Fe Trail, Oregon Trail, Pony Express Trail, Chisholm Trail, Great Western Cattle Trail aka Western Trail or the Dodge City Trail or the Old Texas Trail.} digging mines, attracting migrations.

The Cry of Gold ! Gold! Gold ! (The Gold Rush added population bringing in Merchants, doctors, lawyers, gamblers, saloon keepers, metal specialist, prostitutes)

The Civil War


Range Wars (the Johnson County Range War, Lincoln County War)

Indian Reservations (Whites living with the attitude that “The only good Indian is a dead Indian”)


Confiscate territorial rights of the Indians


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