Living in the Wild West: Do You Think You Could Have Cut It?

Often full of chivalry and enticing many people to believe they could’ve survived at a different time and place, western movies made the Wild West look like something of a cakewalk if you had a gun and some morals. However, what might it really have been like? It’s easy to say you could have made it back in the day, but honestly, I’ll take my electricity, clean water, and modern-day conveniences over many of the hardships our foremothers and fathers bore. Here’s just a sampling of some of the not-so-desirable details from back then, with which you can make a more educated decision on whether you think you could’ve cut it and become one of the people the great state of Texas, as well as our nation, would have to thank for its existence.

The Cowboy Lifestyle

Photo: Pixabay

The cowboy life wasn’t easy and not at all settled in one place. Many of cowboys needed to travel in order to find employment, and wages weren’t regulated by any stretch. It was a hard lifestyle with meager pay at the best of times.

Is Cleanliness Next to Godliness?

Photo: Pixabay

Regular hygiene (as we know it today) is something that wasn’t necessarily maintained. If you can imagine living in a time when there was no toilet paper, no shampoo, and you had to make your own soap, then that ought to paint a pretty picture. With no running water, guess how easy it would’ve been to take regular baths? First, you’d have to haul it somehow (buckets), then you’d have to boil it (lighting a fire to do so, because who knows what’s in it), and finally wait for it to cool off enough to bathe. P.S…who had the money to have a bathtub? No wonder this was something that went by the wayside.

Battle of the Sexes

Photo: Wikimedia

If you think women get treated poorly nowadays (and there are still some pretty horrendous examples), women were thought of as less than second-rate back in the days of the “Wild West.” Consider the fact that you couldn’t work (in the traditional sense), couldn’t vote, and were often isolated – at home alone or with children, in a place where your nearest neighbor was hardly in walking distance. Sources indicate that depression and insanity (Prairie Madness) were real fears. Since there were no mental health services back in the day, alcohol was the “drug” of choice for those who didn’t know what else to do.