Speaker 1: What do you know about the wild West? Do you
Speaker 1: even know why it's called the wild West? The real
Speaker 1: wild West period only lasted a little over thirty years,
Speaker 1: and there's a reason for that. The gunfights were legendary.
Speaker 1: But did you know that the infamous gunfight at the
Speaker 1: Ok Corral only lasted for thirty seconds. It was a
Speaker 1: very different period in our history than Hollywood would have
Speaker 1: us believe. But the personal stories are unbelievable. I'm Patty Steele,
Speaker 1: winning and losing in the wild West. That's next on
Speaker 1: the backstory. We're back with the backstory. If you're like
Speaker 1: most of us, you've probably seen a few westerns, maybe
Speaker 1: old school movies like High Noon, Butch Cassidy and The
Speaker 1: Sundance Kid, Dances with Wolves or The Unforgiven, or TV
Speaker 1: shows like Bonanza, Gun Smoke, Wild wild West, or more
Speaker 1: recently eighteen eighty three. But the true story of the
Speaker 1: wild West is really different from what Hollywood has shown us.
Speaker 1: Firs folks to head west were mostly trappers and fur traders,
Speaker 1: as well as what they called mountain men, who were
Speaker 1: happy to leave civilization behind. But pretty soon farm families
Speaker 1: headed west looking for cheap land and a chance to
Speaker 1: create a life. The Bartles in Bidwell Party were the
Speaker 1: first to hit the Oregon Trail in eighteen forty one.
Speaker 1: In eighteen forty three, there was what historians call the
Speaker 1: Great Emigration, which saw a thousand dreamers hit the trail.
Speaker 1: But what really amped up the drive westward was the
Speaker 1: Gold Rush of eighteen forty nine. Tens of thousands of
Speaker 1: hopeful miners flocked west, changing everything. As words spread and
Speaker 1: people flooded in from America and around the world, California
Speaker 1: transformed almost overnight. Everyone was looking for adventure and a
Speaker 1: chance to strike it rich. Not everyone went after the
Speaker 1: gold in the ground. The first guy to publicize the
Speaker 1: fact that there was gold in those there hills was
Speaker 1: sand Brannan. He told the world about it and then
Speaker 1: became California's first millionaire by opening stores and selling supplies
Speaker 1: to all the miners rushing in. And you've heard of
Speaker 1: this guy, Levi Strauss. He owned a shop that catered
Speaker 1: to working folks, and he saw the need for gold
Speaker 1: and silver miners to have comfortable but durable, inexpensive clothes
Speaker 1: Voi la denim or blue jeans. It made him a fortune.
Speaker 1: And then there was a young woman by the name
Speaker 1: of Latta Crabtree. Her father had taken the family west
Speaker 1: from New York in his quest for gold. Raised in
Speaker 1: boarding houses that her mother ran in mining camps, Lata
Speaker 1: used her talent and personality to entertain folks. Eventually she
Speaker 1: started touring mining camps as a singer, dancer, and banjo player.
Speaker 1: Her mom controlled the income, collecting Lotta's pay in gold,
Speaker 1: which she carried in a steamer trunk. By the end
Speaker 1: of her career, at the age of forty five, Latta
Speaker 1: was the highest paid actress in America. She died at
Speaker 1: seventy six, leaving a fortune that today would be worth
Speaker 1: around seventy five million dollars. So by the end of
Speaker 1: eighteen forty nine, California's population had exploded from a mere
Speaker 1: fifteen thousand to more than one hundred thousand. Towns like
Speaker 1: San Francisco, which had been just a sleepy little trading post,
Speaker 1: became crowded cities filled with excitement and with little in
Speaker 1: the way of law enforcement, lots of chaos, right lawlessness
Speaker 1: ran rampant as prospectors fiercely defended their claims. Frontier justice prevailed,
Speaker 1: and that's when we saw the first signs of what
Speaker 1: would become the Wild West. But what really kicked it
Speaker 1: into gear was the Homestead Act of eighteen sixty two,
Speaker 1: offering land grants to men and women as long as
Speaker 1: they'd never fought against the US government, meaning Confederate soldiers
Speaker 1: need on apply. Then the Civil War ended, it was
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty five. Soldiers were looking for the next adventure
Speaker 1: in a way to make a buck. At the same time,
Speaker 1: the first coast to coast railroads were being built, so
Speaker 1: workers were needed for that. The West was filled with opportunity.
Speaker 1: Problem is, it was every man for himself and his family.
Speaker 1: Every small town and outposts had to find a way
Speaker 1: to defend themselves from hustlers, robbers, and general troublemakers. Outlaws
Speaker 1: like Jesse James, Billy the Kid, and Pusch Cassidy terrified
Speaker 1: but also fascinated the public, giving the Wild West its name.
Speaker 1: Trying to keep some order. Law enforcement folks like Wyatt
Speaker 1: erb and Bat Masterson were considered heroes as they tried
Speaker 1: to keep some kind of order in frontier towns plagued
Speaker 1: by violence and crimes. The shootouts we see on movie
Speaker 1: and TV westerns weren't near as often or deadly as
Speaker 1: Hollywood makes us think, but boy, they sure did happen.
Speaker 1: Probably the most famous shootout was the gunfight at the
Speaker 1: Ok Corral, which took place in Tombstone, Arizona, in eighteen
Speaker 1: eighty one. Wyatt Irp, his brothers Morgan and Virgil, along
Speaker 1: with Doc Holliday were lawmen and interested in keeping the peace.
Speaker 1: But a vicious clan known as the Clanton Gang, famous
Speaker 1: for robbing and murdering anybody they pleased, went after Erp
Speaker 1: and his party for interfering with their illegal operations. It
Speaker 1: all ended in battle. The gunfight lasted to total of
Speaker 1: get this, thirty seconds, but it was thirty seconds of chaos.
Speaker 1: In the end, three of the outlaws were dead, including
Speaker 1: nineteen year old Billy Clanton. Wyatt Irp merely had a
Speaker 1: bullet hole in his jacket, while his two brothers and
Speaker 1: Doc Holliday were all wounded, but they survived. Then there's
Speaker 1: a pretty bizarre shootout that took place in Abilene, Kansas
Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy one. Now, usually shootouts were over things
Speaker 1: like robberies, gambling disputes, or women, but this one's a
Speaker 1: whole different animal. Literally, the gun battle was over an
Speaker 1: advertisement that featured close your ears if you're the sensitive
Speaker 1: type or very young a ridiculously well endowed bull. The
Speaker 1: two guys that owned the Bull's Head Saloon had painted
Speaker 1: the huge mural on the side of the building's wall.
Speaker 1: The town, of course, was shocked and appalled, and they
Speaker 1: went to their Marshal, wild Bill Hiccock, to ask him
Speaker 1: to get the thing removed. Problem is, the owners refused,
Speaker 1: so wild Bill took it upon himself to remove the mural.
Speaker 1: The saloon owners were furious, and one of them, trying
Speaker 1: to intimidate the marshal, said he could kill a crow
Speaker 1: on the wing. Marshall Hiccock famously replied, did the crow
Speaker 1: have a pistol? Was he shooting back? I will be.
Speaker 1: One of the owners pulled out his gun and took
Speaker 1: aim at Hiccock in the street, but Hiccock drew his
Speaker 1: six shooter first and killed him. But there's no winner
Speaker 1: here because moments later, seeing a man rushing him out
Speaker 1: of the corner of his eye, Hiccock reactively fired his
Speaker 1: gun and the man fell to the ground dead. It
Speaker 1: turns out wild Bill had accidentally killed his friend and
Speaker 1: associate Deputy Marshal Mike Williams. Hickock was haunted by that
Speaker 1: episode for the rest of his life. Dying was the
Speaker 1: name of the game in the wild West for a
Speaker 1: lot of outlaws like Jesse, James Busch, Cassidy, and the
Speaker 1: Sundance Kid, Billy the Kid, and female gunslinger Bell Star.
Speaker 1: But how and when did the wild West fade away?
Speaker 1: By the eighteen eighties, the Frontier gave way to towns
Speaker 1: and cities with law enforcement, rules and infrastructure, as well
Speaker 1: as the Transcontinental Railroad. And believe it or not, there
Speaker 1: was one invention that had a monumental impact on ending
Speaker 1: gunslinging Frontier battles. It was barbed wire. Yeah, barbed wire.
Speaker 1: It allowed ranchers to section off their land and keep
Speaker 1: their cattle together, ending the era of open range cattle drives,
Speaker 1: which often led to violent disputes. The government declared the
Speaker 1: end of the Frontier and open land in eighteen ninety.
Speaker 1: The wild West, with all its pros and cons, is
Speaker 1: a major part of American culture and identity. Both heroic
Speaker 1: and villainous stories from that period continue to influence pop culture, movies, literature,
Speaker 1: and storytelling. But the pull of freedom, exploration, and possibility
Speaker 1: is a huge part of our American mythology. I hope
Speaker 1: you're enjoying the Backstory with Patty Steele. Please leave a
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Speaker 1: have a story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook,
Speaker 1: It's Patty Steele and on Instagram Real Patty Steele. I'm
Speaker 1: Patty steel The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premier Networks,
Speaker 1: the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer
Speaker 1: is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new
Speaker 1: episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out
Speaker 1: to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram
Speaker 1: at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The
Speaker 1: pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.