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in the Wild West the Wild West was seen
as the states and territories west of
the Mississippi River in the United
States during the big push West that
started in the 1840s and lasted to the
1890s though there were fortunes to be
made life was undoubtedly tough and very
dangerous so this is how you survived in
the untamed West weapons virtually every
man carried a weapon of some sort in the
wild west from the sneaky gambler who
had a two-shot derringer up his sleeve
to the US Army soldiers with their
muzzle loading Springfield rifles which
were eventually converted to breech
loaders one such firearm of the period
was the trusted reliable six-shot
revolver made by such legendary
companies as Colt Remington or Smith &
Wesson ranchers and hunters would
ideally have a rifle or shotgun
interestingly in cities like Tombstone
Deadwood Dodge City or Abilene there
were gun control laws wildlife
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rattlesnakes scorpions mountain lions
wolves and bears were a big threat it
was a good reason to carry a gun
rattlesnakes and scorpions will
aggressively defend themselves if they
are startled or feel threatened mountain
lions and wolves will simply see you as
their next meal while bears will just
tear you apart as they are very
territorial so know your surroundings
and carry your gun with you at all times
as well as a knife is back up especially
as there were no anti-venom or
antibiotics in those days bandits and
outlaws just like the highwayman in 18th
century England many gangs and civilians
operated in the Wild West like Black
Bart who would prey upon lone travellers
or stagecoaches
so if outnumbered hand over your money
and live to fight another day
Indian Wars the settlers in the Native
Americans had been fighting on and off
for centuries though eventually many
tribes and settlers had found peaceful
ways to coexist with each other
sometimes Native American raiding
parties to all-out war occurred in the
frontier states as settlers pushed
further west for example over the
Comanche wars from 1836 to 1875 the
Sioux wars from 1854 to 91 and the
snake' Wars from 1864 to 1868 which
involved in northern paiute panic and
Western Shoshone tribes invading armies
for a long time in California New Mexico
Arizona and Texas were Mexican
territories but this was disputed by the
European settlers culminating in such
struggles as the Texas Revolution 1835
to 1836 that resulted in the last stand
at the Alamo in 1836 and the Battle of
San Jacinto also in 1836 and ended with
Texas winning its independence so avoid
Texas for a while but also avoid going
back east during 1861 to 1865 as they
were having a much bloodier conflict
called the American Civil War land
disputes there was a great competition
among the settlers for land grazing
rights and water resources these often
resulted in bitter and deadly conflicts
often referred to as a range war it
normally involved the European cattlemen
farmers and miners fighting to protect
their self-interests the Pleasant Valley
range war from 1886 to 1892 in Arizona
was one such example and was between the
cattle owning Grahams and the sheep
herding tewkesbury's but if you wait
until the Taylor grazing Act of 1934 is
passed this cleared up a lot of the
potential disputes from happening in the
first place
legal system falling foul of the law out
west could simply result in a lynching
without even a trial and often if it did
go to court it was more about local
policies than whether you were guilty or
not saloons drunken bar brawls happened
but they rarely turned into shootouts
many towns required guns to be left
behind before entering but strong beer
was cheap and it certainly helped fire
up a Cowboys need to let off steam after
months of being out on the trail things
could still turn deadly as outlaws
samuel rattlesnakes sam johnson found
out when he refused to pay the
twenty-five cents he owed for his drink
and was gunned down by the bartender in
the argument that ensued though the real
danger you could say was the heavy
drinking lifestyle that evolved out in
the West in 1830 people were thought to
be drinking the equivalent of 7.1
gallons of pure alcohol a year that's
over a pint every single week disease
disease like dysentery typhoid cholera
and tuberculosis were not uncommon back
then hospitals were virtually unheard of
antibiotics and effective vaccines were
still decades away from being available
there were many qualified and
well-meaning doctors out in the West but
there were also many fraudsters who just
rode into town and set up shop saying
they were doctors often these
unqualified doctors did more harm than
good so it's best to boil your water
practice good hygiene and avoid anyone
that is continually coughing climate the
climate varies drastically across the
western frontiers with the freezing
winters of South Dakota we're at Sioux
Falls at once dropped to as low as
negative 42 degrees Fahrenheit to the
constant heat of the Texas Great Plains
where temperatures rarely dropped below
81 fahrenheit in the summertime extreme
weather tornadoes have been said to lift
up cows into the air and deposit them
crushed and broken miles away so
consider building a storm basement
you'll be safe if you are caught out in
the open
lay flat against the ground to form a
vacuum seal and that in theory should
stop you from being blown away if a
tornado passes within a few hundred
yards of you survival skills knowing
survival skills were crucial to
surviving out in the West with all its
challenges you had to know how to build
a temporary shelter if you get stranded
by such things as a snowstorm or if your
horse died suddenly you had to have a
sense of direction in case you get lost
even know how to navigate at night by
using the Stars you had to know how to
forage off the land and set traps for
such things as Jackrabbit or beaver and
the need to know how to source water was
easy enough in some states but in ones
like Texas in New Mexico it was much
harder out there you could die in less
than a day without water because of the
parched and dry climate you even had to
be your own medic at times knowing how
to stop yourself from bleeding to death
from a wound
clothing without the right kind of
clothing your chance of surviving the
Wild West were slim to none in states
like Arizona and Nevada a wide brim hat
was vital to stopping you from getting
badly sunburned and a good pair of
leather cowboy boots were essential to
protect yourself from snakes and
scorpions whereas in the Dakotas
temperatures often plummet below
freezing for months at a time so a good
pair of long johns and an oilskin jacket
could mean the matter of life or death
at times no welfare system apart from
your extended family or if you came
across a kind in support of charity
there was no social safety net if he
became ill or unemployed putting money
in the bank could be very prudent but if
it was robbed you couldn't claim the
money back as it was seem part of the
risk of living in the Wild West
keeping your wealth under the bed was
full of dangers whereas buying
government bonds was a safe bet but it
was such a very long-term investment
presuming you live long enough to
collect on the bond whereas investments
were full of its own kind of problems
including the 1857 financial panic which
was followed by a year-long recession
then in 1873 the financial sector nearly
collapsed after a downturn in the global
market and over investment in such
things as the you
railways sparking a deep recession that
lasted about six years
look after your horse one way to travel
vast distances was by horse which could
do 30 miles a day if watered fed and
rested regularly this meant a front
tears man could travel long distances in
relatively poor terrain carrying
adequate equipment and supplies to
survive between a week to 10 days easily
enough time to make it from town to town
on the other hand if he was on foot he
would spend more of the day traveling
and was likely to cover only an average
of about 20 miles per day
the real danger was that he would have
to carry his gun and blanket drinking
water food cooking utensils and any
equipment he might need himself after
three days he would be out of food and
water his feet would be blistered and he
would be exhausted so he was confined to
short 50-mile journeys between towns and
if faced by hostile Native Americans he
would be forced to fight them if you had
a horse in such a situation you would
have the option to flee a horse would
cost you around $60 about eighteen
hundred and twenty-eight dollars in
today's value so it was a good
investment and it was well worth taking
the time to look after and lastly life
itself right from the beginning life was
difficult and deadly it wasn't uncommon
for either the mother baby or both to
die at childbirth
then there was the dangers of childhood
itself disease malnutrition and neglect
all contributing to an early death but
the good news was if you survive past
the age of 10 you're likely life
expectancy was a healthy 53 years of age
and if you survived all this there was
plentiful land to grow good crops and
raise quality cattle or if you felt
lucky you could join in on the many gold
rushes that kept on occurring howdy
partner now you know how to survive the
Wild West you can survive website
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