20 Intriguing Facts About the Old West

20 Intriguing Facts About the Old West.
The Wild West, often portrayed as a land of sheriffs, gunslingers, and bustling saloons, is steeped in cinematic clichés. However, the real Old West was a much more intricate and captivating place, brimming with unexpected elements such as camels, occurrences of cannibalism, and a surprising number of celebrities. In this video, we'll delve into some of the most intriguing facts about the Wild West that shed new light on frontier life.
Music used:
Digital Gunslinger by Brett Van Donsel / brett-van-donsel
Promoted by • Western Background Music for Videos I...
License: CC BY 4.0 goo.gl/9ezBZw
Norma Rockwell - Three Kinds of Suns
Tupelo Train by Chris Haugen
Chris Haugen - Campfire Song
Chris Haugen - Way Out West
Horses to Water · Topher Mohr and Alex Elena
Dude, Where's My Horse? · Nat Keefe with The Bow Ties
Sunset Trails · DJ Williams

[@John-vd8xt]

Man, the duel between Wild Bill Hickok and Davis Tutt is one of kind. Thanks for mentioning that.... it’s tales like these that keep the spirit of the Wild West alive and kicking in our imaginations. 👏🏼

[@chrislong3938]

By every account I've heard, it wasn't a really quick draw gunfight so to speak. Yes, it was out in the street and they faced each other, and fired almost simultaneously, but Tutt fired quickly, many believe due to a sense of panic. Because of this, he missed! Hickock drew, took quiet aim, leveled his pistol on his forearm, and nailed him in the heart, killing him instantly. All at 75 yds! Ice water in his veins, to be sure!

[@cmike956]

i lived in Springfield for a few wild times

[@MattMartin-ql6en]

Hat styles were dependent on geographical location and climate. Bigger brim cowboy hats were worn in the South for shade. While narrower brimmed hats were worn in the North. Also Palm fronds not straw hats. Straw hats are susceptible to moisture and humidity while palm fronds are not so much.

[@sidgarrett7247]

At that time, axle grease was either lard, from pigs, or tallow, from cows, both eatable if they have not gone bad. One could usually tell by smell.

[@OdeeOz]

You have the most accurate Fact Filled Western History on the net. 👍👍🤠Hat tips & 10🌟

[@johnpalmer1471]

I liked the photo of "The Man with No Name" eating spaghetti and meat balls for dinner.

[@Abornazine]

AI tech having fun.

[@RodSanders-un2oj]

@@Abornazine

[@RodSanders-un2oj]

lol

[@artisaprimus6306]

The Old West probably had pretty harsh living conditions. No air conditioning in places like Arizona or Texas makes me sweat just thinking about it. Spoiled food probably killed its share. No vaccines for TB, Polio, Measles took its toll. Lots of hard work on ranches and farms aged people, so many died young. Certainly not the image portrayed by Hollywood, that's for sure.

[@ryan_chapman]

In the wild west, cowboys relied on beans as a staple food, enjoying them around campfires after long days of herding cattle. This humble meal, often cooked over open flames in cast iron pots, provided necessary sustenance and a sense of camaraderie. The simplicity and heartiness of beans made them a practical choice, symbolizing the rugged self-sufficient spirit of the cowboy life.

[@colinharbinson5510]

There was a downside to this practice, as documented in the film ' Blazing Saddles'.

[@ryan_chapman]

@@colinharbinson5510 You've got a point. 'Blazing Saddles' definitely showed the funny side of cowboys . Thanks for your perspective

[@lynnsaucier5506]

!aaaqasaaå Q×wq​@@colinharbinson5510

[@tombstonegabby]

@@ryan_chapman Speaking of "Blazing Saddles". The 'scene' - a black screen - where the sound of a zipper is heard. My 1881 US Cavalry trousers have a button up fly.

[@user-mg5mv2tn8q]

Play the sound of someone unbuttoning their trousers over a black screen, and see how many laughs you get.

[@crissoto3759]

My father was born in 1897 and got into a gunfight I'm the middle of the street in 1919 with two men that were beating a little boy the two men drew first when my father intervene defending the little boy in the exchange of gunfire between my father and the two men my father was wounded but killed the two men my father was well known and got into a few gunfights in his life and one machete fight against an abuser a notorious feared man and sent him to the hospital for six months my dad told me about a gunman that was his friend and said no one could beat him in a gunfight finally it took a posse of 15 men to kill him but not before he killed half of them I think seven of them yes there were lots. Of gunfights back in those days but not like Hollywood puts it people like john Wesly harding Ben Thompson an Jesse James an king fisher Watt Earp was not a fast gunman mostly he was backed up by his brother's the two fastest gunman in real life qas tge Ringo Kid he took on three in a gunfight and kilked them all and john Wesly Harding took on five of them and killed them all he outdrew Wild Bill Hickcock but didn't kill him I guess I out of respect and they became friends Wild Bill didn't even had a chance to touch his gun when Westly Harding had him Hickcock invited him to have a drink with him and Harding excepted it my sister had a book that was written about my father's life when he passed away my sister passed away and I don't know what happened to that book or where she bought it

[@chadgrover3146]

A full dinner could be bought with a silver dollar in mid 1800's, if a Stetson Hat went for $4.50, that means that hat would go for about $120 today...and a quick search shows it does. I would say if you want to hedge inflation...buy a Stetson!

[@ARTORIVSVITRALIS]

Prices in the WEST were 3 to 4 times higher than the Mid West (Missouri) and East Coast. So instead of making $1 a day on the East Coast and Mid West, people as minors make $4 a day. But all prices were higher... dinner with beer/wine would be $1 to 50 cents in West.. east coast, $0.25

[@jonjdoe]

Only if you want a lesser quality hat than the originals will you find a Stetson for that price. Go price a 100% beaver felt hat and get back to me.

[@GermanGreetings]

Wow. We obviously never stop learning about life... It`s (also) great, that you transfer the price of a hat (e.g.) into modern time values! I am glad in all this, that my Saloon-Swingdoors ''survived'' your microscopic, deeply competent view on those details (I love saloon brawls, and the saloon door is one of the traditional ''curtains'', to get the main actors of Westerns ''on stage'' - like in a Wagner-Opera :) Thank you Sir !

[@BillSilver-kg8hs]

When people criticise "Revisionist" westerns, they're actually criticising a West that was way closer to how it actually was than the old "Bonanza/Hollywood" image.

[@buzzwaldron6195]

Actually, there were vastly fewer gunfights in old west than now...

[@PaxAlotin-j6r]

Couldn't you find a genuine Old West photograph ? The one you used 3:52 - is so clearly from the 'Eagles' Band

[@cmike956]

the best question.. who is on the far right Manson

[@PaxAlotin-j6r]

@@cmike956 Manson -- was in prison. Standing - Far Right - Glyn Johns -- at his feet - J D Souther Question for you now -- Pick which one is Jackson Browne

[@johndanley2019]

​@@PaxAlotin-j6rfar left

[@davidpearn2484]

Brilliant orator, brilliant video 👏👏👏.

[@bearfootv]

Glad you enjoyed it🙏🏻🫶

[@leonaldobrum]

I learned a lot from this video.

[@nramember.2nd]

Very interesting.

[@klausrain111]

😅ironically or not, Texas was part of the Confederacy, but no Civil War battles were ever fought there. 😮

[@jimster46]

Texas did have battles in the state during the war. The battle of Palmito Ranch, Battle of Galveston, Brownsville, Sabine Pass, Corpus Christi, Laredo, Aransas Pass and San Luis Pass.

[@rbyington22]

The photo of the lawmen standing over the bodies is from the back of the Eagles album Desperado it’s the band playing dead the roadcrew standing

[@stephenkennedy8305]

Buffalo are not known as Bison, they are different.

[@dsolosan]

Buffalo are a species found in Africa and Asia. The animals they showed are properly called Bison. I'm not sure how they got labeled as "American Buffalo."

[@Pootycat8359]

From photos I've seen, and descriptions I've read, REAL cowboys. ie, the ones who herded cows, wore their revolvers high on the waist, from their pants belts. Also, the holsters had flaps, a necessity to protect the weapons from the dust & rain, out on the range. While Colt revolvers were common, the Smith & Wesson "Schofield" was also very popular. As for hats, I've seen photos of them wearing ones with wide-brims and pointed tops, like the kind one might expect Appalachian Hillbillies to wear.

[@SeventhTrump-kp5bu]

great shots... no pun intended... heh...

[@erikjrn4080]

"The American buffalo, also known as bison" That should be "the American bison, also known as American buffalo". While it's indisputable that it's *known* as buffalo, as in called and understood so by many, it's also indisputable that it's biologically not a buffalo. There are two extant species of bison: the European bison (aka wisent) and the American bison. I'm not opposed to calling them buffalo, colloquially, though. "Bison Bill" just won't do. The man fought and killed a bear with only a knife; he has earned a non-ridiculous moniker.

[@bradleytrainor7856]

The thousands of buffalo killed by Bill Cody were eaten by men building railroads across the plains. Cody was a paid hunter hired by the railroad company. He didn't participate in the later eradication of the buffalo where only the hides were taken and the meat was left to rot.

[@nramember.2nd]

Excessive use of buffalo images.

[@PC-uh6hk]

Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota is another large herd of Bison.

[@Pootycat8359]

Here's an interesting bit of trivia, concerning bison, Indians, the U.S. government, and the Winchester repeating rifle. The Indians traditionally hunted the "buffs" with bow & arrow, then single-shot rifles, initially, nuzzle-loaders, and then, metallic cartridge designs. They utilized every part of the animal, leaving nothing to waste. When the Winchester came out in the 1870s, the feds had a "brilliant" idea! They provided them to the Indians, assuming they would go wild with the repeaters, and wipe out the bison, making it easy to force them onto reservations. That did not happen. They continued to hunt, as they always had, killing only what they needed, and fully utilizing the animals. But a major reason that the Lakota massacred General Custer's forces, at "Little Bighorn," is that the Indians had Winchesters, the cavalry, slow-firing Springfield single-shot rifles.

[@claudiotagini]

Indians were often hunting buffalo by chasing the herd and pushing them over cliffs, called "buffalo jumps", where several animals were left to slowly die and then rot, as they weren't able to take all of them. Indians NEVER had a sense of limiting their kill: that is an invention, like the famous sentences "when the last tree is cut down...etc.etc." was not originally pronounced by an Indian. It sounded good, and now there are more trees than a 100 years ago!

[@TinaFivesten]

This you say about the indigenous people and their hunting is what we have been told. There are a lot of kidnapped, white people from 1700-1900, whom escaped after months in indian captivity and gives witness to how the indians lived and behaved. Many tribes were really abusive and did NOT consider nature and animals as something to take care of.

[@tommissouri4871]

Between the Hollywood clips and the tourist photos, I wonder if there are any authentic photos in this.

[@gregbolitho9775]

I didn't know 25% of cowboys were black. I didn't see any in the movies or tv series as far back as the early 60s. Sometimes these days yeah. Not that ai see much tv down here. Mainly lifestyle programs that aren\t my lifestyle

[@crissoto3759]

Most were black and Mexican they called them Vaquerros which is Spanish for cowboys

[@sommmeguy]

Buffalo hides were used as belts to run the machinery of the industrial age. Like whales for whale oil, the demands of industry almost contributed to the near extinction of these iconic animals.

[@chuckschillingvideos]

3:51 That's the Eagles. 1972. There are tons of photos of dead outlaws from the 1800's and you chose this?

[@stretchsmith5232]

Cowboys was the name of the gang, not all cowboys were thought bad.

[@em1osmurf]

trivia: a very young Marion Robert Morrison seeking to become a wild west actor befriended and emulated Wyatt Earp's persona and his characteristics. next time you watch a John Wayne movie, you're essentially seeing the Wyatt he knew. Matt Dillon was a US Marshall character. the reason you never saw the town's sheriff? it was Bat Masterson--the real life law in Dodge City and friend of the Earps. Hollywood, you gotta love it.

[@tombstonegabby]

Batt spent several months in Tombstone in early '81. He returned to Dodge when his brother was having some strife.

[@chuckschillingvideos]

I would argue (strenuously) quite the opposite is true. Wyatt Earp spent all of the later years of his life spinning yarns to all who would listen (better yet, write about it) and generally making it clear to all the world what a BIG DEAL he was. Whatever Earp told Wayne was very much in this vein - full of embellishments, tall tales and out and out fibs. I'm not saying Earp was one of the worst in the west, but he was far from the knight in shining armor he and his followers would have you believe. As in everything related to the Old West, take everything you hear and read with a mountain or two of salt. Because when it comes to telling whoppers, old west characters and their complaisant scribes in the newspapers and pulp press make fisherman appear as rank amateurs by comparison. If you want the REAL truth, you have to go to the primary sources, particularly things like court testimony and transcripts and contemporaneous witness statements given under oath.

[@BladeStar-uq6xe]

Most shootouts were ambuses. I think that there were only 3 actual face to face shootouts in the Old West.

[@andybreglia9431]

Two I can think of off the top of my head are Hickock v Tutt and Earps & Holliday v Clantons & Mclaurys.

[@chuckschillingvideos]

Oh, there were a hell of a lot more than that. I think you must be referring to the dramatic, stylized rendition of the mano a mano quick draw variety. There were shootouts all over the west.

[@tarnishedknight730]

Sarsa Parilla?

[@patricklemmon8260]

Another myth to shatter was cowboys, or anyone for that matter, shooting guns in the air. Perhaps 1 shot, to get attention but bullets were expensive. The cost between 4 cents and 12 cents at a time when cowpokes made 50 cents to a Dollar a day. Those early Colts weren't accurate for more than 15 ± feet, making long shootouts pretty foolish.

[@derekstocker6661]

Thanks for this, very good info and well narrated. The modern Long Branch saloon looks a little dodgy with the steps at the front for drunken patrons to stumble down after a good drinking session! The sad news about the amount of buffalo slaughtered and the massive piles of bones makes for sad facts without a doubt.

[@PepeLepew-rm9ft]

Tut tut tut.😢

[@Quacks0]

12:15 I'm surprised that they let the actors possess live ammo in their guns during these stage shows.

[@robertskrzynski2768]

Booze in the west Guiness, Worthington Whiteshield, and Courage Imperial Stout these beers where imported from the UK to states and territories of western USA.

[@h.s.levine2932]

The wave of German immigrants in the 1800s brought their beer brewing skills with them. Brewing was a popular occupation in the old west, with many German immigrant owned breweries still in operation where they began all over what was once considered ‘the West".

[@dannyspencer1356]

So, you can say all this because you were there?? That's the ONLY way you can guarantee the things you say are factual.

[@nomdeplume798]

In fairness, you didn't have to be there, just be a reasonably competent historian. If you look at old photos of that area at that time, you wouldn't see many men dressed like John Wayne, James Stewart or James Garner.

[@claudiotagini]

following your logic, we should just dismiss anything historians tell us about Cleopatra, Caesar, antique Greeks... not even the Independence war!

[@user-xk1ff4gp7k]

Once again I don't know how you don't get tired of being wrong there's no such thing as a Native American Indian look at your DNA 65% Asian where did the Bison come from Asia stop being politically correct and get back to science

[@stephenater9687]

Please try using punctuation. Your rambling is hard to read.

[@em1osmurf]

@@stephenater9687 dnaancestry has confirmed the average "native american, indian, latino, etc) has about 90% east asian dna. hollywood made a habit of using filipinos in westerns, because they "looked indian" and didn't show up drunk. there are no hominid species native to the western hemisphere. punctuation police, much?