Claim jumping:
Claim jumping was a prevalent problem in mining towns as late arrivals poured in and attempted to mine areas, which had already been claimed. Mining laws had to be passed and upheld by the miners themselves as early towns in the west lacked trained law officers and were situated far from the closest police station.
Cattle Rustling:
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The large herds of Longhorn cattle roaming the plains were an easy target for rustlers. Cattle owned by people doing business in the cattle industry were distinguished by a unique symbol branded onto their bodies. Cattle owners each had their own respective brand marks. Opportunist cowboys would steal cattle and disguise the brand marks or steal young cattle before they had been branded to start themselves of as small ranchers. Cattle rustling in this respect was a form of ‘robbery’ and was one of the factors that contributed to a large-scale violent conflict, known as the Johnson country war. Cattle barons were extremely displeased by the activities of rustlers and took the law into their own hands by hiring gunfighters to hunt down and kill known or suspected rustlers. This began on a smaller scale but reached its climax when a full-scale attack on a drawn-up list of names was planned by cattle barons. The war ended with two dead and several casualties but still represents the lawless and violent environment of the early developing years of the American West.
Racial discrimination:
Racial discrimination was prevalent in mining and cow towns where people from all walks of life and different ethnic backgrounds came to prospect. Racial discrimination and racial attacks were motivated by job competition. As resources dwindled and mining sites became exhausted racial prejudice towards ethnic minorities increased. Among the dominant white miners were blacks, Chinese, Mexicans and Indians all holding onto the hope that they would strike it rich. Some white miners refused to work along blacks, Mexicans and Chinese were often killed or driven from their claims and Indians were simply slaughtered.
Another example of such an incident took place at a coal-mining centre, Rock springs, Wyoming in 1885 where hundreds of Chinese immigrants were made subject to a racial attack motivated by job competition and racial prejudice. The attack resulted in 51 Chinese deaths and a further 400 were violently driven out of the town.
Robberies:
Robberies were also commonplace in early towns of the west. Gangs of outlaws would rob banks, trains and stagecoaches. Stagecoaches and trains travelling across the open range were easy targets for robbers as there was a shortage of law enforcement officers and those few who did exist were usually miles away from the crime scene. Many of these robbers were ex-confederate guerrilla fighters who turned to a life of crime at the end of the American Civil war taking advantage of the lawless situation of most early towns in the West. ø
One of the most famed and prominent outlaw gangs in the history of the American West were the James-Younger Gang, who were involved in a number of train, bank and stagecoach robberies during the late 19th century.
It was outlaws like these and the absence of government control that gave rise to the presence of ‘vigilante gangs’ who took it up on themselves to uphold the law and punish outlaws for their crimes. To vigilante gangs, ‘punishment’ usually meant killing the perpetrators in question or expelling them from the town.
The presence of vigilante gangs as opposed to proper law enforcement officers promoted lawlessness because towns were usually run by vigilante gangs. However, if vigilante gangs were responsible for upholding the law and controlling outlaws then who would ensure the vigilantes abided by the law? When discussing the history of the American West it is difficult to answer whether vigilantes were a force of good or evil in early towns in the west. Their actions and decisions against alleged wrong doers may have been biased by their own views but at the same time they may have prevented many potential crimes and brought some degree of peace to the lawless towns. However most vigilantes were no better than the outlaws they claimed to be fighting against and often abused their power, as there was no one to stop them.
The west was governed by a primitive code of honour, where all arguments had to be settled. Most men were armed, the weapon of choice being a revolver. Arguments could easily lead to gunfights where one man would kill another in an argument. This was considered perfectly legal and as long as both men were armed the survivor would not be charged with murder. These men gained a reputation as gunfighters in their towns.
Among the most prominent towns with a history of lawlessness and violence in the early years of the westward expansion was the infamous cow town, Dodge City which was founded by Robert M. Wright, in June 1872.
Dodge City is often referred to as the ‘pure definition of the west’ and earned its stamp for lawlessness as the gun slinging cowboy and capital of the west during its early years.
In conclusion the factors investigated above contributed to lawlessness and violence in a newly set up town in the west. Towns were hastily set up without taking even the most basic of required facilities into account during construction. The inhabitants of these towns were from a variety of ethnic backgrounds and racial attacks motivated by job competition were prevalent. Crimes of passion were common. Towns were often run by outlaws or vigilante gangs because of the absence of trained law enforcement officers. Newly set up towns in the West were situated in remote locations miles from the nearest ‘civilized’ town. Trials held to reach a verdict following a crime were probably unfair and often had no legal basis. Word of crime and disorder could take weeks to reach law enforcement officers in distant towns and officers could take an equally lengthy period of time to reach the crime scene. Trained law enforcement officers were in shortage because of the violent nature of the job and the nature of the people they would have to deal with.
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2 - Why were the towns in the West often Violent and Lawless places?
Early towns in the west were often violent and lawless places. There were many factors which contributed to the hostile ambience the inhabitants were predisposed to.
There had been a steady stream of emigrants from the East travelling across the Great Plains, in search of a better life in the West. News of James Marshall’s discovery of Gold in the Sierra foothills in 1848 was the catalyst needed to turn the stream of emigrants into a deluge of desperate, gold crazed prospectors. This mass movement of people westwards in search of Gold is known as the Gold Rush.
Mining towns rapidly sprung up around alleged mining sites. These towns were hastily and crudely constructed lacking even the most basic of public and health facilities. The diversity of the settlers in these towns often resulted in racial attacks motivated my job competition. Blacks, Chinese immigrants, Mexicans and Indians all poured into these towns in hopes of striking it rich and retiring to wealthy and comfortable lives. As resources dwindled and surface mines became exhausted the white miners felt threatened by the presence of other ethnic minorities of prospectors and retaliated with various shows of racism and racist attacks. Some white miners refused to work alongside blacks who had come to prospect, the Chinese immigrants were forced to work the remains of exhausted mines and often murdered or expelled from the towns along with Mexicans. The Indian prospectors were simply slaughtered.
With so many different ethnic groups of people working in primitive, congested towns there was undoubtedly a diversity of languages to accompany them. This language barrier often led to misunderstandings, which in turn could result in violent conflicts and killings.
Source B supports this by giving an example of people who were perhaps falsely accused and punished too severely. The victims of this trial were unable to defend themselves in any way because of the language barrier and were probably treated as they were because of their race. Source A is a reliable reference because the journalist himself was a miner and present at the scene of the incident. The source however may be exaggerated or biased as the miner himself could be of the ethnic minorities.
Settlers and the Native American Indians did not always see eye to eye. The Native Indians had lived on the planes for centuries before the settlers came and invaded their territory. As the surface gold in California disappeared by 1852, miners had to search for more mining sites. These deposits often had to be reached using explosives and heavy machinery. The discovery of Gold in the Black Hills of Dakota brought a flood of prospectors onto the Native Indian Sioux tribes’ holy land. The Sioux were not ready to let the land be taken from them even though the government offered to purchase it off them for a large sum. The Sioux stated that the soil was not just soil but the blood and flesh of their ancestors and they could not part with it, as it was priceless. The prospectors could not grasp this concept, and deemed the Sioux as primitive and foolish. Sioux warriors often attacked miners mining in the Black Hills region.
The west was a vast uncharted region and was separated from the nearest towns in the East by the Great Plains. Transport during these early years was slow and underdeveloped and the transcontinental railroad was not introduced until the 1870s. This left towns in the west miles from the nearest ‘civilised’ or established town. This made it difficult to enforce law and order in these early western towns. The towns themselves had no organized system of law or trained law enforcement officers whose duty it was to ensure that everyone abided by the law. The towns were very much cut off from the established downs (i.e. the capital, Washington D.C.) so it was very difficult for the government to intervene in lawless affairs.
Law enforcement officers who had been appointed to a post in these western towns were cut off from officers in established towns by the geographical location of western towns with respect to the east. This made it difficult to call for reinforcements if the need arose. Word of crime could take weeks to reach the nearest town and it could take an equally long time for reinforcements to arrive at the crime scene. During this period if law enforcement officers had been over powered and killed, the towns would be left with no one to uphold the law and control violence. This meant that vigilantes or outlaws could run towns for long periods of time before law enforcers were able to intervene.
Sometimes Law Enforcers themselves were corrupt and responsible for violence and crimes in early western towns. The involvement of alleged police officers in crimes meant that there was no one to stop these crimes. This was often met with retaliation from vigilante gangs giving rise to more lawlessness and violence.
An example of a corrupt law enforcement officers was Henry Plummer, the sheriff of a mining town called Bannack. In 1864 the area was being terrorized by a gang of outlaws that carried out a series of robberies. Law enforcement officers seemed unable to put an end to these robberies. Eventually a vigilance committee was established. The vigilance committee exposed Henry Plummer as the leader of the robbers and he was lynched in 1865.
Highway robberies carried out by bands of outlaws on stagecoaches and trains were common in the vast west. It was difficult and sometimes even impossible to prevent such robberies as people had to travel over considerable distances to reach the west and robberies sometimes took place in the middle of nowhere, miles from the nearest town. Word of these robberies would not reach people until the train or stagecoach had reached its destination, by which time the perpetrators would be long gone
Even though lawlessness and violence was a prevalent problem in early mining and cow towns due to many factors as well as the absence of reliable law enforcement officers the government did not deem the cause worthy of spending money on. The government was also reluctant to spend money on other areas, which may have improved the quality of life in mining and cow towns therefore reducing the level of crime and violence. These include the promotion of religion and education (constructing churches and schools), sanitation (to reduce the spread of disease so prevalent in these crudely constructed towns), the building of roads and improving housing.
The absence of churches and schools most probably made a greater contribution to lawlessness and violence than one may realize. Children and young adults coming up in these towns would be taught nothing except the violence and crime to which they were exposed. The moral values (Dos and Don’ts) and social norms would not be instilled within them at a young age.
Given the diversity of the settlers in the west violent conflicts often erupted among the different economic and social groups. (e.g. Cattle ranchers and the homesteaders.)
Conflict between Cattle Ranchers and homesteaders:
Cattle ranchers came into direct conflict with homesteaders because they required use of the same land to earn money. Early conflict resulted from homesteaders trying to stop cattle drives because they feared damage to their crops or that their animals would contract the dreaded ‘Texas Fever’ from the Texas Longhorns.
When cattle ranchers settled on the plains in the 1870s they wanted the plains to remain an ‘open range’ so they could move around freely as they wished and were not denied access to water for their cattle. The homesteaders on the other hand were fencing up large areas of the plains with ‘barbed wire’ to protect their crops from straying cattle and wild beasts. This often brought homesteaders into violent conflicts with cattle ranchers. It also gave rise to the common crime of ‘fence cutting’. This occurred in the 1880s and 1890s when homesteaders enclosed large areas of land with a barbed wire fences in an attempt to protect their crops and animals from straying cattle. These enclosures blocked rancher’s access to water for their cattle.
By the 1880s sheep rearing was a growing industry because farmers could begin with a lower initial investment and expect quicker returns than cattle. The great number of sheep outnumbered cattle and became grave competition from grazing land. There were some incidents of violent retaliation from cattle ranchers, in the form of the murder of shepherds, the slaughter of sheep and burning of the hay owned by farmers who supplied fodder to sheep farmers.
These conflicts were motivated not only by economic factors but also by social factors, which contributed to lawlessness and violence in the west. Many homesteaders and sheep farmers were immigrants of non-European origin and were probably targeted because of racial prejudice.
In conclusion, the combined effects of the factors mentioned above influenced the level of lawlessness and violence in early towns in the American West. The geographical location, social and economic differences and disputes, the absence of schools, churches, government support and reliable law enforcement officers, racial prejudice, misunderstandings between various ethnic groups and desperate competition all contributed to crime and lawlessness in the west.
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3 – Analyse the part played by (a) vigilantes and (b) Women in dealing with the problems of living in early towns in the West.
- Vigilantes:
During the early years of the westward expansion, towns in the absence of reliable law enforcement officers were often run by vigilante groups.
A Vigilante is defined as: ‘One who takes or advocates the taking of law enforcement into one's own hands.’ A ‘vigilante group’ is a number of such individuals working together.
Vigilante groups came into existence as a reaction to the high level of unpunished crimes and violence in early western towns, inadequate intervention of the government and the absence of reliable law enforcement officers. They took it upon themselves to punish those who did not abide by the law.
Vigilante groups also retaliated against corrupt law enforcement officers and government officials, which were not uncommon in early cow and mining towns. These corrupt officers would abuse their position, as there was no higher authority to stop them.
The Baldnobbers (A Vigilante group):
Following the American Civil War, south west Missouri was left in a deplorable state characterized by a free reign of outlaws, a failing economy and a general degeneration of society. One man, Nathaniel N. Kinney was disgusted by the deplorable state of affairs and following a number of unpunished crimes and murders, decided to form a vigilance committee in retaliation. Nathaniel N. Kinney called upon twelve local elites and formed a vigilance committee that grew rapidly and met in 1885 to uphold law and order where the government had failed.
This vigilance committee came to be known as the ‘baldnobbers’. At their peek the baldnobbers are reported to have be between 500 and 1,000 members strong and though they may have started out with good intentions they soon abused their power to such an extent that their violent escapades gained national attention. They showed their judgement in dealing with crime to be as biased as the corrupt and inefficient system of law they had originally set out to battle in the first place. They also executed severe and undeserved punishments for seemingly minor offences and also used their power for personal gains. This vigilance committee eventually divided into two bands, those who remained loyal to Nathaniel N. Kinney and those who were against him for his violent, biased and lawless actions.
Source E, seems like a reliable reference to use to demonstrate the Baldnobbers’s abuse of their power and the sometimes violent nature of their excapades. However the historical article it is based on does not state any good the baldnobbers may have done in reducing and preventing lawlessness and violence and emphasizes only their negative contributions.
The early towns in the West were often violent and lawless because of the various factors mentioned earlier in this piece of coursework. The absence of reliable law enforcement officers and the lawlessness and violence motivated by social and economic differences, racial prejudice, lack of government intervention and various forms of competition for land, jobs and other money making opportunities often forced people to take the law into their own hands.
The question ‘whether the presence of vigilantes in early towns in the west made a positive or negative contribution to the problems of lawlessness and violence.’
In the past there have been situations where vigilantes were a force of good and made a positive contribution to early towns in the west by fighting corruption and ensuring everyone abides by the law. Vigilantes have served different purposes such as protecting cattle from theft and brand fraud, settling disputes over claims in mining towns, protecting claimed sites from claim jumpers, punishing seemingly unstoppable gangs of outlaws and exposing corrupt law enforcement officers and government officials.
Referring back to the sources above: (Vigilantes as a force of good):
Source D (page 17) demonstrates an incident where the sheriff of Bannack, Montana, Henry Plummer was not only involved in a series of robberies in 1864 but was in fact the leader of a gang of outlaws that had been terrorising the area. Due to this corrupt involvement of the law in these robberies no one had been able to identify or capture these robbers. Eventually a vigilante committee was formed which put an end to these robberies by exposing the sheriff and then lynching him in 1865.
Source I, is an artists impression of a bank raid carried out by the James-Younger Gang, in Northfield in 1876. Such a raid is a good example of the reasons townspeople were forced to arm and defend themselves against robbers. The bank raid went horribly wrong for the Younger gang when the townspeople did arm themselves in retaliation and fought back. In this incident the towns people taking the law into their own hands was a good thing. The result was the death of two members and the wounding of the others. This source is a reliable reference because it is an impression of an especially important raid that actually took place, and thanks to the townspeople dealt a fatal blow to the gang of outlaws that had terrorized the area for nearly 20 years. However, it is possible since it is an artist’s impression that the panic and the number of deaths are grossly exaggerated. It is also unknown whether the artist was present at the raid or if he were even from the same time period. The time period could have a great affect on the authenticity of the picture as views of how life in the ‘19th century Wild West’ was vary.
Source F, is an extract from a book written by Prof. T.J. Dimsdale during the 19th century. The book is based on a vigilante committee established in Montana. In this extract the professor praises the work of vigilantes in Montana. He states that the vigilantes made great positive contributions to the town, and in this line: ‘When justice is powerless as well as blind, self preservation is the first law of nature’ , he describes vigilantes as heroes whose purpose it is to prevail where justice itself has failed.
In such cases one would believe that vigilantes made a great positive contribution to reducing the level of crime and violence in early western towns by taking it upon themselves to compensate for the lack of reliable law enforcers, settling disputes, punishing wrongdoers and protecting the weak.
Vigilantes: A negative contribution to reducing lawlessness and violence:
Even though vigilantes may have been successful in compensating for the absence of reliable law enforcement officers in the early west and often made a positive contribution in some cases by ensuring everyone abided by the law and punishing wrongdoers, they were often biased in their judgement and abused their power for their own personal gains. Vigilantes may have actually contributed to increased lawlessness and violence in the west by being no better than the outlaws they claimed to be working against.
Source A, is a reliable extract from a local newspaper, which was published following the incident under investigation. A Mexican woman was lynched by a group of vigilantes for the murder of a man who had molested her. The newspaper article published following the lynching read: ‘Had this woman been an American instead of a Mexican, instead of being hung for the deed, she would have been praised for it.’ This source demonstrates the decision of the vigilante gang as being biased by racial prejudice in their decision and having no legal basis.
Source E, is an account of the actions of a powerful vigilance committee known as the Baldnobbers. 100 members reportedly broke into a county jail and kidnapped a two-brother gang of recognized outlaws. The Baldnobbers then lynched the brothers. The brothers had been serving a sentence for assaulting a shop owner. The shop owner happened to be a member of the Baldnobbers, which would explain why the group kidnapped and lynched the brothers even though they had already been arrested. This is an example of a biased decision and violence demonstrated by a vigilance committee. The source is a reliable reference because it is a factual account, and provides the names of the outlaws/victims involved and the charges pressed against them.
From the research I have gathered and the sources that accompany it I can conclude that vigilantes did have a considerable impact on preventing lawlessness and violence in the early years of the westward expansion. The impact was not always positive and in many reported cases vigilantes actually contributed to increase lawlessness and violence in the areas they claimed to protect. However, due to the absence of a reliable law enforcement officers and an established government approved and supported system of law, vigilantes were an important factor in solving the law and violence related problems faced by mining and cow towns in the early west. Even though rogue vigilante gangs were the cause of much violence, motivated by their own racial prejudice or personal conflicts, many vigilante groups were responsible for appointing reliable law enforcement officers on their own, to protect towns and were probably the only law many early western towns had. In this respect they made a great contribution to early western towns by reducing the crime and violence rate and protecting the innocent and their activities may have been the first step to the integration of more efficient and reliable law enforcement in these towns. However their presence was only effective in the short term in the many frontier towns, which lacked reliable law enforcement. In the long run their activities had a detrimental affect on the problems of lawlessness and violence in the west as they encouraged the inhabitants to be violent, exact revenge and carry and use firearms.
- Women:
In the early years of the westward expansion, compared to the number of men travelling westward women were an extreme minority. It is estimated that the ratio of men to women was 4:1. This meant there was a major gender imbalance in early mining and cow towns. Even though the majority of the early settlers in the West were men, there was a small group of women who accompanied them. Some were miners hoping to make their own fortune; most were wives, mothers and daughters who moved west with their families in search of a better life. Even though men greatly outnumbered women during this period women still played a very important role in solving some of the problems of living in early towns in the West. An estimated 20 percent of the settlers were women and acted out various roles, which contributed to dealing with the problems faced by settlers in early western towns. They made many positive contributions in furthering the settling of the west. They filled various roles such as: (a) farmers, lending a helping hand to their husbands in cultivating and settling on the plains, (b) cooks/housewives/mothers/daughters: cooking for their husbands/children/fathers respectively as they toiled away in mining towns, doing the housework and brining up children, (c) teachers: furthering education, especially in children and young adults, and giving them religious guidance as well as teaching them moral values. (d) Shop keepers: managing shops and supplies while men were busy working mines and other physically demanding labour, (e) ‘Doctors/ Home nurses in a sense’: Whether or not they were qualified to treat diseases, diseases were still a prevalent problem in early towns in the west due to the absence of proper health care and the unsanitary working conditions. Women had always traditionally tended the sick and did so during these times. (f) In early cow and mining towns, men usually worked during the day and then squandered their day’s earnings drinking and gambling in saloons at night. Women commonly worked at these saloons as prostitutes available for the men’s pleasure.
Even though only a small percentage (an estimated 20%) of early settlers in the west were women they made a much larger contribution to dealing with the problems of settling in early western towns, compared to their numbers and position in society. Most of the roles carried out by women during this time had a positive impact on dealing with the problems of living in early western towns. Early cow and mining towns were crudely constructed temporary settlements that existed only for businesses purposes. Women contributed to a more ‘permanent settling of the Plains’.
Positive/Negative contribution of roles:
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Farmers: This role of women made a positive contribution to dealing with the problems of living in early towns in the west. During the early years of the westward expansion before people had developed methods to aid farming it was much more difficult to cultivate the plains. Women worked hard on farms growing food and tending the animals while men worked in mining sites. This contribution of women to homesteading gave way to more permanent settlements on the plains as opposed to mining towns which were only temporary settlements and were not setting the roots for the growth of communities and civilization.
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Cooks/Housewives/Mothers/Daughters: Women filled the roles of and fulfilled the duties of cooks, housewives, mothers and daughters. Their duties consisted of cooking for their husbands after they worked all day on their claims, which they hoped would make them rich. They did housework and raised children and all other domestic chores.
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Teachers: Early towns in the west suffered from an absence of schools. This meant that children growing up in these towns were denied the privilege of an education. During this time period (19th century) even though women themselves were not educated and discouraged from entering professional careers they were still important as teachers. They instilled moral values in growing children, and raised them to understand the difference between right and wrong. This was a positive contribution on the part of women as it probably contributed to reducing lawlessness and violence in the west.
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Shopkeepers: Women managed shops, businesses and supplies while the men worked on their mining claims. This made a positive contribution to the settling of the west as these businesses became more permanent and led the way to a more settled way of life as opposed to the itinerant nature of workers in early mining towns.
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‘Doctors/ Home nurses in a sense’: Due to the filthy, unsanitary conditions the workers in early mining towns were subject to, and the absence of public health facilities disease was a prevalent problem in these conditions. Homesteaders settling on the plains usually lived in ‘sod houses’, which were made entirely of dirt. Such a structure made it all too easy for disease to enter. Even though women were discouraged from entering professional careers, not given a formal education and an act passed in the late 19th century actually banned women from practicing medicine professionally, it was still common for women to treat and tend the sick in the home, as they have always traditionally done.
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Prostitutes: Men, who worked in mining towns, usually squandered their day’s earnings in a few short hours drinking and gambling in prostitute filled saloons. These prostitutes were regularly available at these saloons. A very prominent problem in early towns in the west was violence, this included crimes of passion (rape etc…) The availability of these prostitutes may have reduced such crimes and violence, as men would seek out prostitutes at saloons for pleasure instead of raping innocent women (people’s mothers, wives daughters). They probably also reduced violence by reducing the number of people seeking to exact revenge over such crimes.
Source J: A description by Granville Stuart, of the life in the mining town of Virginia City, Montana in 1864 and the contribution of women in caring for the sick.
Source J is a description by Granville Stuart of living in the mining town of Virginia City in 1864 and the contribution of women to caring for the sick in these towns. It describes the readiness of women to care for the people who had fallen victim to the typhoid epidemic. The source reports there were no deaths; this could be contributed to the hard work put in by women, caring for the sick. The source is a reliable reference because it is a first hand account of life in a mining town and serves as a primary source of information.
Source G supports my research on the dominant domestic role of women in Western society. Source G stresses the difficulty of carrying out the time consuming domestic tasks that women were responsible for. It is a reliable reference because its content is an extract from an autobiography of a boy growing up as a homesteader. These extracts serve as a primary source of information as it is a first hand account of the regular on-goings of an archetypal home during the homesteading period and the role of women in domestic affairs.
Source H is an extract from the diary of a typical housewife in a family of homesteaders settling on the plains in the mid 19th century. It shows that the role of women was as housewives was not an easy one and that without them the domestic and civilized side of life in the west would have been ignored. This source shows women were responsible for cooking and preparing food, making clothes and look after the crops and farm animals to help her husband. Source H is a reliable reference and is a primary source of information as it as a personal account written by a typical housewife during the 1840s.
However, this is not to say that all women fitted the image of the archetypal cook, mother, prostitute or housewife. There are women who can be classed as an exception to these roles. In the history of the West there have been a number of female exceptions that have gained recognition as: cowgirls, bandits and other roles dominated by men in the early Western towns. Examples of two such women are the ‘cowgirl’ Lucille Mullhall and ‘The Bandit Queen’, Belle Starr.
Cowgirl:
Lucille Mulhall, the daughter of an Oklahoma earned recognition for her riding and roping skills at the age of 8. Growing up she had been uninterested in the activities her sisters and other girls here age enjoyed and spent her time developing her riding and roping skills. During her teen years she was a top performer in the West, able to compete on a level with strong, talented males years older than herself and because she was a woman, her talent was a novelty. Following her exceptional first appearance at Madison Square Garden in 1905, the term ‘cowgirl’ was invented especially to describe her and since has become a word in the English language.
Female Outlaw:
Belle starr, born Myra Belle Shirley on the 5th of February 1848 was the daughter of Judge John Shirley. Her close affiliation with well known western outlaws such as Jesse James and The Youngers as well as various robbery charges pressed against her during her lifetime. She gained such a reputation as an American outlaw that she is often referred to as Belle Starr the Bandit Queen. She married an outlaw named Jim July, the relationship was an impetuous one and following a heated quarrel it is reported Jim July offered a sum of 200 dollars to an assassin to kill his wife and is reported to have stated he would kill her himself. Shortly after this incident Belle Starr was shot to death on the 3rd of February 1889, aged 41.
From my research I can see that the role of women in the west, despite them being only a minority, was one of great importance in the settling of the west. The roles they filled and the carrying out of their respective duties helped to solve many problems of living in early western towns. The archetypal woman in early western towns usually filled domestic roles such as: teachers, housewives, cooks, farmers, shopkeepers and home nurses (as women have traditionally always been the first to tend sick patients at home). They also worked at brothels as prostitutes. These various roles all had an impact on dealing with the many crime, violence and domestic problems of living in an early town in the West.
Lawlessness and violence were among the most prevalent problems in early western towns. The Gender imbalance in early mining and cow towns (Men outnumbered women 4 to 1) often led to crimes of passion (e.g. rapes). The typical miner would work all day in the mines and then squander his day’s earnings gambling, drinking, doing drugs and spending the night with the prostitutes always available at brothels. Prostitutes may have contributed to reducing crimes of passion because men would have prostitutes available for their pleasure as opposed to raping innocent women (wives, mothers, daughters of men). Crimes of this nature would only ignite more violent conflicts, as people would seek to exact revenge. In this respect prostitutes made a positive contribution to reducing the problem of lawlessness and violence.
Early cow towns in the west, (e.g. Dodge City) and mining camps/towns suffered from an absence of the most basic of facilities such as churches and schools. This meant that children being brought up in these towns would not be taught the acceptable social norms and moral values (the difference between right and wrong) which are usually instilled in children at a young age through interaction with adults, (e.g. teachers, priests/nuns). Even though women were discouraged from entering professional careers dominated by men and usually not given any formal education they played an important role here as teachers in communicating moral values to children and offering religious guidance to compensate for the absence of moral values so prevalent in these early western towns. The crime rate and the level of social immorality were inversely proportional. In this respect women probably helped to reduce the level of lawlessness and violence in early towns in the West.
The absence of proper health care facilities especially in the unhealthy and unsanitary conditions (e.g. homesteaders lived in sod houses, which were made of dirt) the inhabitants of early western towns were subject to was a major problem in these towns. In the absence of qualified and reliable doctors as well as basic health care facilities it was the women who tended the sick in these early mining and cow towns of the West.
Many early towns in the west proved only to be temporary settlements as mainly itinerant miners who resided there only in hopes of ‘striking it rich’ occupied them. The more domestic roles of women such as that of a cook, housewife, shopkeeper and farmer led the way to more permanent settlements in the West. While men usually worked claims during the day and the first homesteaders were beginning to settle on and cultivate the plains, women worked on farms, growing crops, rearing animals, raising children, doing housework and preparing food. They also managed businesses and supplies as shopkeepers. These shops led the way to more permanent businesses in Western towns and the fulfilment of their domestic roles led the way to more ‘permanent towns’.