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Legal age in the American Old What was the legal age in the
American Old West? When did
they considered kids to be old
enough to go off on thier own?
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Well that's a good question. In the law it has always been 21...but as you pointed out in the Old West, or any other frontier society, that's not always been observed. It would depend on the person...if you were mature, could take care of yourself, knew how to shoot, ride, and not to insult a professional gunfighter sort of thing. Probably about 16 or 17 but it would depend on the individual. Sometimes younger. Remember that in those days you had boys as young as 12 shipping out as midshipmen in the Royal Navy. |
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What are the best books about Thank you!
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I enjoyed The Lonesome Gods by Louis L'Amour and The Snowblind Moon by John Byrne Cooke. |
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Where are some great places to Please recomend books, movies,
documentaries, audio, or
websites which have good Scary
stories from the old west,
particularly Native American
Folklore!
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Check out the folklore of the Appalacians? Hill people have wonderfully scary stories about life in the hills and the Native Americans that originally inhabited them. |
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If stolen bank money and |
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Try the history of Lloyds of London. They insured ships and cargoes, and were among the first. |
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When did the American Old West And specifically in
California? There's no right
or wrong answer, I'm just
looking for a general idea. My
guess is somewhere between the
1890 Census and World War I.
Your thoughts?
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Actually there is a definite answer with a definite ending of the American Old West. What we most often refer to is the period of the latter half of the 1800's, between the American Civil War and the end of the century. More accurately though would be the entire 19th century, to the end of the Mexican Revolution in 1920. California really wasn't the "Old West". San Francisco, along with many other west coast cities, was already a huge port city with tons of trade coming in from China. Oh, you had ranchers with these huge spreads, farms, cattle .... but it was no where near to what anyone would call the "Old West". The California Gold Rushes of the 1840's saw to that. The Gold Rush radically changed the California economy and brought in an array of professionals, including precious metal specialists, merchants, doctors, and attorneys, who supplemented the numerous miners, saloonkeepers, gamblers, and prostitutes. Ships from the Orient in and out of port all the way up to Seattle These people lived in cities more like Boston, than Tombstone. The "Old West" was still just territories, and not necessarily US territories either. Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. And they were very much the "Old West"... with cowboys and Indians, and trail rides, wild horses, cattle drives, saloons, and shoot outs. With the Mexican Revolution in 1920 the boundry lines had finally been drawn and the "Old West" suddenly was no more. |
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