old west

During the gold rush, hundreds of people gathered up what they owned, and left everything they knew; to go to the west and pan for gold. Areas that previously had been deemed unlivable became populated with these people. It didn’t matter if there wasn’t much vegetation or water or supplies nearby. All that mattered was that possibility that they could get rich quick by striking gold. But as time progressed and more and more people heard about the gold and moved out there, the chances of anyone getting rich like they thought they would, went down significantly. Of course some did get rich, and they lived well. But some others wasted valuable years and put themselves into poverty (when they might have been living decently before) all for that chance.

These small towns became the type of places you see in old western movies. Dusty and full of tumble weeds, there were only a few important shops, and of course a saloon that would be frequented by any sort of outlaw or guy in acowboy costume that breezed through the town on his way to somewhere else. Saloon girls danced to old-timey piano music and could offer you a price for the night, if you wanted.

When most of the gold “dried up” a lot of the people left to find better places to live, or went back to where they came from. What was left was a place that couldn’t really support itself, so the people who had hoped to stay behind really had no choice but to leave as well. A lot of these places still exist, and you can tour them for a little bit of money. You can see the insides of these buildings just as they were left, and possibly encounter the spirits of some men and women who didn’t manage to make it out alive.

May we reconvene under the blood red moon,
-Black Widow

When you bring up the words ‘Wild West’ in your head a few things pop into mind. Gold rushes, horses, cattle drives, buffalo, gun fights, and saloons, are all things greatly associated with this time in united states history when the people were encouraged to leave the east coast and move west. But even more so than all of those things are the stories of cowboys and indians that later spawned many hundreds of movies and televisions shows (many featuring John wayne).

Cow Couple

So why not be a denizen of the wild west this upcoming Halloween? It’s a little more politically correct to be a cowboy instead of a Native American ‘indian’, but if you’re going to a private party and your friends don’t have any qualms about what is politically correct or not, then go for it.

Long dark hair, and tanned skin is characteristic of ‘Indians’, so if you already have those features it will make your costume that much more authentic. There are many different types of costumes to purchase that feature different types of suede-looking fabrics, and colorful jewelry for both men and women. If you wanted to add a little extra something, you could research the war paint that different tribes wore and paint your face accordingly.

If you prefer to be a cowboy (or girl) however, there are also lots of different ways to dress as one. Cowboys ranged from general ranchers with chaps, ten gallon hats, and boots with spurs to bounty hunter types with long black trench coats, to the criminals of the wild west that would highjack entire trains in order to steal what was aboard. The difference between a criminal and a normal cowboy (costume-wise) can be as simple as putting a bandana over your nose and mouth and donning an awesome leather coat. So adding accessories to your costume can be the make or break between what you’re trying to portray. Have a little fun with it!