Wild West

Examples of Wild West in the following topics:

• The End of the Frontier

  • Following the victory of the United States in the American Revolutionary War and the signing Treaty of Paris in 1783, the United States gained formal, if not actual, control of the British lands west of the Appalachians.
  • The frontier's impact on popular culture was enormous, as evidenced by dime novels, Wild West shows, and, after 1910, Western movies set on the frontier.
  • Historian Karel Bicha explains that nearly 600,000 American farmers sought cheap land by moving to the prairie frontier of the Canadian West from 1897 to 1914.

• Women in the West

  • The few women who went to these wild outposts were typically prostitutes, and even their numbers were limited.
  • However, the brothels continued to operate and remained popular throughout the West despite reformers' efforts.
  • The couple joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, and later Oakley became a renowned international star, performing before royalty and heads of state.
  • Pearl Hart (c. 1871 to after 1928) was a Canadian-born outlaw of the American Old West.
  • Many women traveled west with family groups, such as the mother in this 1886 photograph.

• The Western Frontier

  • In addition to river travel, the Oregon and Overland Trails allowed for increased travel and migration to the West.
  • The rigors of life in the West presented many challenges and difficulties to homesteaders.
  • The American West became notorious for its hard mining towns.
  • The popular image of the Wild West portrayed in books, television, and film has been one of violence and mayhem.
  • As wealthy men brought their families west, the lawless landscape slowly began to change.

• Ranchers, Cowboys, and Cattle

  • Hence, many farmers came West along with ranchers.
  • With the Homestead Act of 1862, more settlers came West to set up farms.
  • Range wars were known to occur in the American West.
  • One of the most well-known range wars of the American frontier, the Johnson County War has since become a highly mythologized and symbolic story of the Wild West, and over the years, variations of the storyline have come to include some of its most famous historical figures.
  • Meanwhile, ranches multiplied all over the developing West.

• The Transformation of the West

  • The American West was vastly transformed during the Gilded Age.
  • They opened up the West to farmers and ranchers.
  • Lawlessness was common in the West.
  • The second major type of banditry was conducted by the infamous outlaws of the West, including Jesse James, Billy the Kid, the Dalton Gang, Black Bart, Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch, and hundreds of others who preyed on banks, trains, and stagecoaches.
  • Outline key issues in the transformation of the West during the Gilded Age

• Agricultural Settlements and Chiefdoms

  • The archaeological record suggests that humans were collecting these plants from the wild by 6,000 BCE, then gradually modifying them by selective collection and cultivation.
  • In the 1970s, archaeologists noticed differences between seeds found in the remains of prehistoric Indian hearths and houses and those growing in the wild.
  • In a domestic setting, the seeds of some plants were much larger than in the wild, and the seeds were easier to extract from the shells or husks.
  • Southwestern farmers probably began experimenting with agriculture by facilitating the growth of wild grains such as Amaranth and chenopods and gourds for edible seeds and containers.
  • The early farmers also consumed and possibly facilitated the growth of cactus fruit, mesquite bean, and species of wild grasses for their edible seeds.

• Archaic Hunters and Gatherers

  • These regional adaptations would become the norm, with people relying less on hunting and gathering and more on a mixed economy of small game, fish, seasonal wild vegetables, and harvested plant foods.
  • These shell rings are numerous in South Carolina and Georgia but can also be found scattered around the Florida peninsula and along the Gulf of Mexico as far west as the Pearl River.

• The Indian Response

  • The Indian nations west of the Appalachians were essential players in the War of 1812, often siding with the British against the Americans.
  • The Indian nations west of the Appalachians played an important role in the War of 1812.
  • As the wild game disappeared, the Creek began to adopt American farming practices.

• Theatre and Novels

  • Kerouac feared that the spiritual aspect of his message had been lost and that many were using the Beat Generation as an excuse to be senselessly wild.
  • The musical "West Side Story" also spoke a message of racial tolerance.

• Commercial Farmers

  • New technologies rapidly transformed and commercialized the agricultural sector in the American South and West.
  • These developments rapidly increased agricultural production in the West and made commercial farming viable.
  • Farmers in the West were producing more wheat than the West could consume, and crop surpluses were sold to the manufacturing Northeast.
  • The commercialization of agriculture changed the economic base for the South and West.
  • Wheat production in the West greatly increased with the invention of the mechanical reaper, patented in 1834.