I believe that the West was a myth; it was actually extremely hard work and was not a great lifestyle to be a cowboy, miner, or farmer. Their jobs were very dangerous, and did not get paid very much. The money they did earn would go to new clothing, food, or bathing. Often miners came from China because the U.S. citizens would not want to leave their family and friends. People who entered these jobs were very hard workers who commonly had to support their families.
Being a cowboy was a very hard profession. Buffalo Bill and other shows often mislead people to think a cowboy’s life as an easy, fun lifestyle which was very adventurous. In reality, they often found themselves on the Chisholm Trail bringing longhorn …show more content…
Barbed Wire greatly affected the cowboys because they could not roam freely and it ended the Open Range. Cow towns were towns built specifically for receiving cattle. Joseph G. McCoy started cattle driving in 1867. Texas longhorns driven to railroad heads in Kansas. This towns often had very little crime, with only about five to six murders a year. Cowboys often only got about six hours of rest after having eighteen hours of sitting on a saddle. A journey on the Chisholm Trail often took about two months. This was boring but also very tense at the same time. Almost all the money they made went to a good meal and new clothing or bathing. Most Cowboys were young men who left behind their …show more content…
Thouh they did have the Pony Express the telegraph lines sent faster so it went out of business very quickly. The federal government passed the Pacific Railway Act in 1862 and 1864. This act gave the companies the loans they needed to complete the construction for the railroad. The two railroads where the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad. The Transcendental Railroad was a railroad that stretched from the East Coast to the West Coast. Finding workers was very hard because railroad work was very hard. Along with the mining most workers were Chinese with about 85 percent. People like Buffalo Bill shot thousands of buffaloes to feed to the Union Pacific workers. On May 10, 1869 the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific met on Promontory Point. To join together they hammered a golden spike into the railroad that joined the