......However, if I were to call it the "Old West" for the sake of "wild woolly, heroes & outlaws" I would probably cite it from 1804 to about 1935.....
-Dave
I agree with Dave . The "Boonies" West of the Mississippi and East of the Sierra Nevadas remained "Old West" almost until WW2.
In my mind, the three big game changers were the auto/truck, telephone, and electricity.
Unless you were a city slicker, you were most likely a member of the rural population, and more likely
to be Less Civilized and more Wild. Until you got past the horse and wagon and got a telephone, you were
completely dependant upon yourself. Many New Mexicans depended on the horse and wagon to get into
town once a month until the end of the Great Depression.
note 3 big kickover points in rural numbers: 1870, 1920, and 1970
1800-1970: Changes In Urban/Rural U.S. Population
Year Urban Rural
1800 6% 94%
1810 7% 93%
1820 7% 93%
1830 9% 91%
1840 11% 89%
1850 15% 85%
1860 20% 80%
1870 26% 74%
1880 28% 72%
1890 35% 65%
1900 40% 60%
1910 46% 54%
1920 51% 49%
1930 56% 44%
1940 57% 43%
1950 60% 40%
1960 63% 37%
1970 74% 26%
until 1936 with the REA most rural homes had no electricity at all. Those who did used windmill generators,
small scale hydro, or (the wealthy) used steam generator or an internal cimbustion generator.
Some rural folks had a lamp and a radio run by battery, which was charged in the truck when it was driven.
Heating and coooking was done with wood, keroscene and coal, lighting with candles and Hurricane and Aladin oil lamps.
The Rural Electrification Act of 1936, enacted on May 20, 1936, provided federal loans for the installation of electrical distribution systems to serve isolated rural areas of the United States, Wiring homes and farms.
REA crews traveled through the American countryside, bringing teams of electricians along with them. The electricians added wiring to houses and barns to utilize the newly available power provided by the line crews. A standard REA installation in a house consisted of:
A 60 amp, 230 volt fuse panel, with:
- A 60 amp range circuit
- A 20 amp kitchen circuit
- Two or three 15 amp lighting circuits
A ceiling-mounted light fixture was installed in each room, usually controlled by a single switch mounted near a door. At most, one outlet was installed per room, since plug-connected appliances were expensive and uncommon. Wiring was performed using type NM (nonmetallic sheathed cable), insulated with asbestos-reinforced rubber covered with jute and tar.
Several friends here in rural New Mexico never had electricity until they installed a modern LP generator, in the 1990's . Running a line
several miles from the power pole was just too costly.
yhs
prof marvel