Far West Disadvantages

After the Civil War, many people moved to the Far West due to its wet and lush territory, high mountains, flat plains, treeless prairies and great forests. These different societies that developed in the “Far West” included the Western Tribes, the Spanish, Chinese immigrants and white settlers. Firstly, the Plains Indians, the most powerful of the Indian tribes, adapted to the new environment of the Far West by hunting buffalo, which was a big part of their livelihood as they used it for their food and clothing. They also relied a lot on horses, which was first introduced by the Europeans. However, the Indians also faced some disadvantages, such as their vulnerability to diseases and their inability to unite as a result of their internal conflicts, …show more content…
The West was seen as the new place of opportunity to a great variety of people. According to the safety-valve theory, in tough economic times of trouble, it was thought that a person could always move to the West and start a new life where the can work on their farm and gain money. Nonetheless, even though many though the West contained limitless opportunities, but there was limited social mobility because it was easier for someone to advance economically when they are already successful. Throughout the West, the expansion of railroads, the discovery of new resources and new agricultural activities promoted economic growth and created new centers of commercial activity. The first economic boom in the West was mining as mineral strike sped up the economy’s development. Cattle ranching was also another important factor in the changing economy of the West. The Great Plains’ vast greenlands of the provided a widespread region where cattle ranchers could graze their herds with no cost on land unrestricted by private farms. Furthermore, the aspects that build up the Western economy, such as mining, farming, ranching and herding cattle, all were dependent on the East for markets. Additionally, the West’s labor shortages led to bigger wages than in the East and led to unemployment as jobs became unstable. Another transformation …show more content…
The idea of the West comforts people as it reminds them that their dream of starting a new life can always come true in the open and “uncharted territories” of the West. Nonetheless, now that everyone is migrating West to fulfill their goals in starting anew, the amount of unsettled land is slowly running out and being transforming into the nation’s ways of civilization. Through the “last frontier” idea, the American settlers viewed a romantic vision of migrating to the West. Through the works of Mark Twain, he demonstrates the romantic overview of the “last frontier” as he portrays the characters in his novels to be escaping the “constraints of civilization” and escaping the natural world. Furthermore, Frederic Remington captures the romanticism behind migrating westward through his artwork as he depicts a cowboy as a natural aristocrat living in a world without the factors of “civilization” in it. From the East and other places around the world, people romanticize the idea of settling down in the West as a “place of physical regeneration” where a person can gain back his/her own strength. This idea of a “last frontier” is cultivated as it bring a new hope to people to migrate to the Far West and start a new life where they can seek success through farming, mining, ranching, herding cattle, etc.