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LIFE
IN THE OLD WEST
Life in the Old West has been romanticized through stories
and movies for years. People from all walks of life uprooted their
families and migrated westward in search of adventure, prosperity, and a
new life.
Findings of gold and silver created new towns that seemingly
sprang up over night. Some disappeared just as quickly as they started
once all the
ore was mined. But it was the abundance of these precious metals that
led Abraham Lincoln to describe the West as the "treasure house of the
nation."
When Morgan silver dollars were first being minted in the 1880s, Dodge
City saw its last big cattle drive, legendary outlaws such as Billy the
Kid and Jesse James were brought to justice 'dead' rather than 'alive',
and railroads finally connected East with West, cutting travel time by
99%. From 1880 to 1900, the percentage of citizens living west
of the Mississippi River increased 5% so that over one-quarter of
Americans lived in the West by the turn of the Century.
Although thoughts of the Old West may conjure up pictures of heavy-bearded
cowboys saddling up to a stool in a saloon, this was also the time of prohibition. In 1880, Kansas became the first state in the nation to
go dry through pressure from the Women's Christian Temperance
Union.
The final decades of the 19th Century were difficult ones
financially for many Americans. Blizzards from 1886-88 caused the
decimation of hundreds
of thousands of cattle, forcing many owners into
bankruptcy and the rest farther west. The winter of 1888 was so severe
that it earned the name "The Great Die-Up." Just six years
later, the federal Treasury's gold reserve fell below $100 million,
leading to the Panic of 1893. This panic was followed by three full
years of major economic depression. These times played an
important role in both the history of the silver dollar and the United
States as territories became
states and the Old West rode off into the sunset of American
lore.
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