Why You Wouldn’t Survive Life in the Wild West

The American Wild West has long been romanticized through film and popular culture. Cowboys, outlaws, and lawmen pushing through swinging saloon doors, quickdraw duels, vast landscapes, the promise of a better life – all of this has been framed as the epitome of American individualism and adventure, as the experiences that made Americans and made America great. But it really wasn’t so great. A lot of horrible things went on in the Wild West, things that were far from romantic.

Welcome back to Nutty History. Today, we’re exploring why you wouldn’t survive life in the Wild West.

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Chapter Timestamps
0:00 Intro to mid-roll ads
0:48 The Dreadful Journey
2:35 Get Outta Dodge
4:47 Your Bartender Might Poison You
5:55 The Dangers of The Gold Rush
7:04 Ladies of The Night
7:58 This Land Isn’t Your Land

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More Nutty History 🥜

🤯 Crazy Events

🥜 "Weird" Things

😳"Creepy" Things

🤯 "Shocking" Things

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#wildwest #cowboys #lifestyle

[nickw]

The old west was rough. The people were tough, hungry, and stubborn.

All everyday tasks took much more effort. Getting water, cleaning clothes, mending clothes, growing or finding food, cooking, preserving food, changing diapers, etc. It all took a lot of effort and pretty much your whole day.

Clean water and soap would be two HUGE factors in staying alive.

[billlawrence]

My Great Aunt Edith, born in the 1880s, once said "There was nothing good about the good old days"!

[orabera]

So, if 10-15 people died per mile on a 2, 000 mile trip, that's 20-30, 000 dead, not 360, 000. About one in ten died, not nine out of ten. Math, it's so hard.

[wildfoodietours]

The Wild West was quite wild. Makes me appreciate how much better life is today.

[joeguzman]

There's a lot of misunderstanding about the old West - first of all not everyone could afford a gun - a Colt SAA will bring you down to about 30 Day work and a Winchester rifle was even more expensive, ammunition was expensive and don't even think about a tooled leather holster, most families will buy a double barrel shotgun because they could Hunt rabbits and birds, and the biggest problem was not too many jobs - most people used to trade stuff instead of buying - the majority of the population would stay in the same town for generations to travel by train was expensive and there was no need to go anywhere unless they were moving out, the stories we hear about the Old West most are from movies or books but the reality was most people were poor it wasn't until the industrial revolution that people had more jobs, what I'm going to say some people are not going to believe but it's true - regular steel nails were made by the local blacksmith when people moved they used to burned their house to retrieve the nails - that's how expensive material things were.

[jasonsmith]

Not just the wild west was hard but everyday basic life in general was hard. Cooking was a hard job in the 1800s as well. It used to take a half a day just to make butter

[deeprollingriver]

Probably more likely to survive Dodge City back then than Chicago today

[OptimusNero]

Every cowboy knows his life is over the moment Morricone's music starts playing...

[lou]

Shouldn't have left the Commanche out of your "friendly" NA narrative. They were never friendly towards settlors of any race and in fact "took" their huge territory from other tribes who once dominated it. They also gave a hell of a fight defending it against all comers.

[timadams]

I would imagine most of the houses people lived in back then was the equivalent of what we would call a small shed or barn today.

[Snap-Anzahl]

We have a diary from one of our ancestors that made the trip on the Santa Fe trail. One of the entries said it was a sad sad day because John was out hunting and he accidently shot his horse and it fell with him on it and the horse rolled on him and killed him.

[acme_tnt]

I'm sure the guy holding the gun during the "hunting accident" agrees that it was an accident lol.

[icarusairways]

You'll be lucky to survive Minneapolis right now.

[GreenKebec]

Think im not alone Watching this because of playing to much Red dead redemption 2 😂

[ithydoodles]

On the way from our job site to the corporate building Friday a few coworkers and I were talking about cholera, dysentery and randomly placed graves and I mentioned wondering how many people accidentally dug up people's bones because obviously many people's graves are by now unmarked on the Oregon trail.

[_the_watcher_]

When my grandmother watches the news and sees that someone was killed she will say “ I can’t believe how bad things are getting” than I’ll say Mamaw people have always killed one another, probably more so back in the day. We just didn’t have tv or internet so you never knew what was going on besides where you was at.

[codybarton]

"You wouldnt survive the wild west." An ancestor of those who survived the wild

[axkara]

I just got into playing red dead redemption 2. searched for this video for research

[willdoelol]

I really suggest the series 1883. Really highlights the hardships and struggles faced by those who lived back then. Plus, it’s a damn good show.

[sharonrigs]

The design of the bullets used in that era greatly increased the likelihood of infection. Outside lubricated bullets ( like .22LR) carried dirt and grime into wounds.