Why the West was Wild - Hardcover

Wayne Swanson, an avid history buff, grew up in the Canadian West hearing the stories and legends of cowboys and outlaws. His work appears in magazines across North America.

Building the West

"GOLD! GOLD!" It was 1848, and newspaper headlines were announcing the discovery of amazing riches in California, grabbing the attention of adventurers around the world. Masses of people started flooding to the West to seek their fortunes. They dreamed of wealth, not only from gold, but also from the farmlands, fish, and forests that were rumored to be there just for the taking. Within four decades, settlers had transformed the West from a vast, wild land to a booming part of the continent, and in the process, they created one of the most exciting periods ever in North American history.

By then, Americans were ready to push across the Mississippi to the untamed lands in the West. They had won the war against Mexico, taking ownership of the southwest, including California. And they had settled their boundary with Canada, adopting Washington and Oregon as territories. For the first time, the Pacific Ocean washed against American soil, and politicians wanted settlers in those new territories. They offered cheap -- even free! -- land to those willing to go west.

After all, eastern North America wasn't the paradise it had once been. A growing population had increased the competition for work. Not only were jobs scarce because of a depression that followed the war with Mexico, but the East was also running out of available farmland.

No wonder newspaper slogans, such as "Go West, young man," spurred so many people to act. They were willing to leave friends and family behind and risk dangers unknown to follow their dreams -- to start new lives in a "land of opportunity."

But filling dreams was not easy. The West was an untamed land -- a wild, wild place. Why? In part because there were few laws to protect people. Settlers fought other settlers and Native people over rights to the land. Thieves stole gold, cattle, and cash. Professional gamblers swindled money from free-spenders. And the law was that of the gun, where scores were often settled with a bullet rather than in court. Stories of the wild West fascinated people in the East, and many Westerners became legends in their own time.

This book looks at some of the characters who made the West wild: rugged miners, fierce warriors, hard-riding cowboys, surly outlaws, and brave lawmen. It tells stories of starvation, war, murder, gunfights, and hangings -- events that have captured the attention of generations and still fascinate us today.