The old west was a very tough time to be alive. Everyone was either a banker, rancher,hero or an outlaw. h[a]orses were used for lots of things at the time and there was little to no technology . It is so hard to put a timeline on the west because people moved around alot. Outlaws like Buffalo Bill Cody, Billy the Kid and Jesse James lived in this time period. Charles Goodnight was a rancher and a cattle breeder and he helped settle the Texas Range.
They were attracted to gold and silver. That brought treasure hunters and prospectors to the mountains. They would dig out this gold with picks and shovels, but the silver mining companies needed heavy machinery to get the silver out. The last gold rush took place in the Black Hills in 1875.
Travel was slow and the trails were very bad. Most people traveled by stagecoach. They would have to defend themselves against Indians and bandits. railroads helped tame the west.The rail system helped by bringing in newcomers and making the population grow.Some people didn’t agree with the railroad because many people thought that change was only good when it made things better. It brought in people with disease and criminals.
Then came law and government. It straightened the west.There was crime like train robbery and bank robbery. Next automobiles came around and that made a big change. Now they had three choices of transportation they could now ride horseback or by train or they could drive. Only the rich could afford them.
The number of outlaws started to decline even though they still had some. Boats and ferries then came. Electricity then came bringing in lights, silent movie camera and other luxuries came to be.The old west was changing and new technology filled world.Soon came paved roads and the Printing press.
They had newspapers and books. Then the telegraph and people could now talk to far away.Then the telephone came. Communication was never easier.The west was forever tamed.