Question

Compare the myth of the "Wild West" with its reality. What elements of truth would these stories have contained, and what was fabricated or left out? What were the actual conditions for cowboys, ranchers, and women living in mining towns or along the cattle range?

Answer 1

The correct answer to this open question is the following.

The reality is that it was an important period in time of the United States history in which people had to live under certain difficult conditions to prosper in the west.

The facts were that this period is considered to begin after the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 after US President Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana territory.

The actual conditions for cowboys, ranchers, and women living in mining towns or along the cattle range were difficult. They had to really work hard in uncertain times when nothing was taken for granted.

The myths of the myth of the "Wild West" are the by-product of the folklore of people that tried to give meaning to the day to day stories and situations that happened during those complicated years, in which, practically, there was no law enforcement in that region so many people wanted to take advantage of the work of other farmers, and the presence of brave figures that tried to defend what was theirs and started to make justice by their own hands.