Many people had the idea that they would get rich quick and would be able to move on, but living conditions were rough and only a few people found gold; as everyone was after the same thing. The miners lived in either filthy, prehistoric tents or basic wooden cabins and therefore, diseases like fever, typhoid and cholera also started spreading quickly and promptly. The cause of these diseases spreading was because there were too many people in one area. When the miners got together at the bars afters a hard day’s work there were so many of them cramped together, which probably made it easier for diseases to spread; also they may have shared glasses to drink in. Another problem which arose after drinking too much was that fights and arguments would break out in the saloons. Sometimes they would argue over prostitutes. There were also fights over gold and land because of frustration and being drunk. The miners had nothing better to do other than have sex with the prostitutes, or go to the saloons which had been especially built, as the peasants new it would be a great way of making money because the miners felt lonely living in their homes all on their own. The loneliness was also one of the reasons which drove the miners towards having sex with the prostitutes also because they were upset and depressed because they had moved to the west in hope that life would become easier, but life did not turn out as it seemed but instead became even more complicated. Another problem which added to disease was because miners who were almost all men and were attracted to gold towns; where there was a large gender imbalance, as there were more men than women. Women were traditional homemakers at this time so single men (miners) didn’t feel the need to make homes comfortable, as this was a traditional women’s job. Therefore the problems were not solved as there was a gender imbalance and there were not many women to make homes comfortable for men. So, because the homes were not comfortable, the men were still living uncomfortably which caused frustration and also made it easier for disease to spread as they were living in an unclean home.
As well as confined conditions and diseases spreading because of overcrowding, what made this worse was that there was now pressure on water supplies, food and housing. People left the east as it was too cramped and also to get rich, now the west was overcrowded too. The organisations of proper public health systems, where people have access to piped water and safe sewage disposal; is usually the responsibility of local government. Without the local government to organise this, water supplies were basic- adding to the public health problems. They added to the public health problems because as there was no piped water people had to get drinking water from rivers, which was where they disposed sewage too. So, the rivers were polluted and people still had to drink from them; this lead to disease.
Another problem was the loneliness of the miners which drove them to the prostitutes and bars, and then the bar owners and shopkeepers charged extremely high prices for goods; for example, a pair of shoes would cost $8 in California and $75 in New York. The high price rates also made living very difficult for the miners as the cost of living was $18 and the wags paid was $20. Also only a very few people found gold and the cost of living was very high too.
Cow Towns had an even greater gender imbalance than the gold towns. Gold towns also included family groups. Cowboys were also predominantly young single men without any family ties. Often the only women found in the early days in these towns were prostitutes; again attracted by prospective customers. There were different problems in gold towns and in cow towns; however the similarity was that they both had a temporary nature. This was because when the gold ran out; everyone deserted the town and moved on. So, the towns then became isolated and were known as ghost towns. In cow towns there was a different problem. Cow towns were only very busy for 6 weeks each year, when the cattle was bought up to be sold.
Another problem which occurred was racism. People from all races: Mexicans, Chinese, Irish, Black and Indians also came to work in mining towns, but many of the white American’s were racist and prejudiced, and so “foreign” miners were taxed more. The Americans considered themselves; superior more enhanced and this began to lead to racial discrimination. Part of the racism, was because slavery still existed until 1865 and most of the gold discoveries were made before this period of time. As the mining areas additional taxes were obligatory on the foreign miners, the “white” Americans usually refused to work with other ethnic groups and as a result; life was even harder for immigrant workers.
An additional problem which added to most of the problems was the limited law system. No law and order systems had been setup in the west. As People only came for the gold, they would all leave the area after all the gold was gone; the place was then called a ghost town. As people never stayed in one area it was very difficult for a town to have 5000 people or a territory to have 60 000 people to be able to get their own government. Also, because a territory was so large, it was difficult for a US marshal to be able keep control over everything and also, there were no railways etc… which made it even more difficult for the sheriff or marshal to be able to do their job and so many illegal actions often went unchecked, or the criminal would have escaped before someone senior could come and deal with the problem.
I conclude my essay by saying that living in a newly set up town in the west, can make life very hard and difficult; instead of better. My reason for saying this is because the people who moved there had problems with almost everything: poverty, racism witch made life even harder for immigrant workers, over crowding which also caused disease and then there was pressure on water supplies, food and housing, Exploitation and also the limited law system and loneliness.
There was very little gold on the surface and so it meant having to make mines under ground, which cost a lot of money. Another problem was that only rich companies who were already rich became richer. As the mining companies only employed miners who were living in rough conditions they then paid them very little wages. So there was no change for the newly set up people. Also an added problem was that no law and order systems had been set up so people took into their own hands and that is how lynching came about.
Because of the racism foreign miners were taxed more and what worsened it even more for them was the exploitation. Bar owners and shopkeepers new that the miners would have no choice but to pay so they charged extremely high prices. Then because of all the drinking and frustration the miners were also lonely so they went to the prostitutes, who also charged high prices. With all these highly charged prices the miners were also paid very little. The mining companies only employed miners in rough conditions so they could get very poorly paid and the mining companies got even richer and ordinary people didn’t. So life became difficult because of low pay which also caused poor living conditions.
So therefore I think living in newly set up town in the west made life worse and harder for most of the newly set up people in the west, however, there were a very few people who’s life did change for the better.
