Would You Have Survived in The Days Of The Wild West If You Could?

 What Would It Have Looked Like To Survive In The Days Of The Wild West.

If you are a fan of old Western films, it is likely that you have imagined yourself living in the Wild West. You might have made statements like "I was born in a wrong time" or "I should have lived during the 1800s, when cowboys still roamed this land."

The West has been glorified in many movies, leaving people longing to have grown up in a different time period. But what was it really like to live in those days? I did some research.

1) The prevalence of diseases was high due to a severe lack of hygiene.

2) Living near water was an essential, but difficult, because mosquitos could be a constant problem for settlers.

3) These are common items that we take for granted today, but they didn't exist. Shampoo? Nope! Toilet paper? Nada! Fly spray? No!

4) Women had it particularly hard in the Old West and were often self-medicated with alcohol.

5) The cowboy lifestyle was not what you see in movies. Many cowboys moved from one state or another to find work for small wages.

6) Being an American cowboy was not as common as you might think. Many Wild West people chose to work with livestock rather than in mining.

7) This time period was very lonely. Some claim that people went insane due to the isolation of the West.

8) In this era, horses led hard lives. Al Jones said, "The West was heaven to men and dogs, but hell to women and horses. Many African Americans immigrated to the West in 1865 after the Civil War was over. Many African Americans who were enslaved had learned skills that were valuable for the cattle industry. Black cowboys were taught how to be a cowboy by vaqueros. They were either former slave masters from Mexico or Spanish or Native American cattle-handlers. They were the pioneer cowboys in the American West. Their skills helped transform the cattle industry, particularly in California.

There are interesting origins to the term cowboy. In the beginning, cowboys of white descent were called cowhands while cowboys of African descent were called "cowboys." This is due to the fact that African Americans are often called "boys" regardless their age. Many southerners migrated to the West, so westerners would have been well-versed in southern racial customs. So it's not surprising that the American West was affected by the same racial issues as the North or South.

Every cowboy on the job had to endure a tough life. Black cowboys were typically assigned horses with "wild behavior" and they had the responsibility of training them to ride. A lot of African American cowboys held more than one job. Black cowboys that were trail cooks would need to cook, hunt wild turkeys, and perform on the trail singing or playing an instrument. Black cowboys were also able to serve as bodyguards, nurses, and money-transporters for White cattlemen. How to Live in the Wild West