The Old West: The Myth Of The Wild West

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“The Old West or The Wild West as it is sometimes called is full of myth and larger than life stories. While some of these grandiose characters are real the true story of the West goes much deeper than that. It is a story of Natives, Railroads, Men and Women all struggling to find their place. It is easy to forget that although this was many years ago the events that occured 1865-1890 still impact all of the original groups involved today.” The West was such a popular place after the Civil War because there was a bunch of unsettled land and people wanted it. After the Civil War so many people especially farmers wanted more land because most of theirs had been destroyed. Another reason why the West was so popular was because their was multiple …show more content…
The people who really getting affected though were the Native Americans. When people continued to move West they started pushing the Native Americans off of their land. As you can imagine the Native Americans were not happy at this. Instead of giving them back some of their land they pushed on to reserves, they didn’t have good hunting land. They then took children from different tribes and out them in school where they forgot their Native American traditions. When gold and silver were being reported on Native American land people took even more tribes and out them on to reserves, all because they wanted gold and silver. Many miners and prospectors then moved West so they could make more money. When ever they struck gold or silver they would get so happy. In reality they were traveling without their families and not knowing if they would return. Mining was a big risk because you never knew how much gold or silver was in one mine until it ran out. The smaller companies eventually went out of business because they didn’t have enough money or workers. When people started to build railways the effects were both positive and negative. The railways helped people move to the West and also helped get supplies in. They were also
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