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Commander Keene posted:The Wild1 West The classic Wild West period isn't until after the Civil War, whose start is still 11 years in the future from this particular trip. Like the age of knights and chivalry in England, or the era of samurai and bushido in Japan, the Wild West is a romanticized and largely imaginary period of the past inspired by a few famous and heavily mythologized incidents and fables. I'm sure Chitoryu's more knowledgeable about the subject than I am, but from what I understand most violence in the Wild West were bar fights and shootings, not banditry.
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May 24, 2019 18:30
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inward empire did a fantastic episode on the history of the wild west as a mythological concept, if that's your jam
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May 24, 2019 20:19
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Cythereal posted:The classic Wild West period isn't until after the Civil War, whose start is still 11 years in the future from this particular trip. Like the age of knights and chivalry in England, or the era of samurai and bushido in Japan, the Wild West is a romanticized and largely imaginary period of the past inspired by a few famous and heavily mythologized incidents and fables. Homicide rates in old west towns were ridiculously high. An adult in Dodge City between 1876 and 1885 had a 1 in 61 chance of being murdered that year. You'd go months without any killings, but the towns had such low populations that it was still greatly disproportionate; 3 murders a year could mean 1% of your population being killed. Banditry was often done without any killing, at least not needless killing. Bank robbery was far, far less common than stealing cattle or horses or contributing to vice and scams (like illegal gambling and prostitution or bullshit medical elixirs). You still got some crazy gunfights; Wikipedia has articles for 33 notable gunfights between 1840 and 1918. The Battle of Lincoln in 1878 lasted five days and was only ended by the military arriving, which also ended the Lincoln County War. Probably my favorite gunfight of the whole era was the one at Blazer's Mill that year, one of the very few to actually fulfill the legendary reputation of the Wild West. The Lincoln County War was a battle between James Dolan and John Tunstall & Alexander McSween over control of the dry goods and cattle ranching business in New Mexico Territory (imagine Walmart and Target hiring mercenaries and bribing cops to battle in the streets over dominance). Tunstall got murdered, his faction formed the Lincoln County Regulators to go out and kill Dolan's people, and it escalated from there until you had 5 months of shootings. So, Blazer's Mill. Andrew "Buckshot" Roberts was a famous mountain man and buffalo hunter who had served as a Texas Ranger. He earned his name after taking a load of buckshot to the right shoulder, making it impossible for him to raise his arm very high. Roberts was mistakenly believed to be involved in Tunstall's murder, so when he arrived at Blazer's Mill to get the check from selling his ranch he accidentally ran into a ton of Regulators eating lunch. When one of them can't convince him to surrender, they confront him as a group. All 13 of them. Roberts fires his Winchester from the hip (since he can't raise his arm any higher) while Charlie Bowdre fires his revolver. Roberts is hit in the hip, while his own bullet ricochet's off Charlie's belt buckle (blowing the belt off and knocking him to the ground) and destroys George Coe's right hand. Buckshot Roberts backs away, pumping round after round from the hip, severely wounding John Middleton. He runs down the hill, continuing to fire back at the scattering Regulators and grazing Doc Scurlock and Billy Bonney (who would become the infamous Billy the Kid). He runs out of ammo and prepares to run for his mule to get his pistol belt off the saddle, so Billy runs up and tries to charge him. Roberts smacks him with the rifle and he runs away again. Roberts hides in the mill doctor's house and finds his big .45-70 Springfield rifle and a box of ammo, so he loads it up and barricades the door with the bed. The Regulator leader, Dick Brewer, isn't able to talk him into surrendering and gets the bright idea to flank the house and fire through the window at him. He misses his pistol shot from behind a log pile and Roberts sees the cloud of smoke drifting away from where the shot came from, so he carefully aims his rifle at the logs. Brewer pops up and immediately falls back down with most of his head having turned into a fine pink mist. The Regulators flee, one man having killed their leader and wounded 5 others (George Coe would have his trigger finger amputated because of the wound). They return with a doctor to find Roberts mortally wounded, and he gives his side of the story before dying the next day. Brewer and Roberts were buried in the same casket, forcing them to share each other's company for eternity. Edit: In case anyone forgets how fast the world modernized, George Coe died at the age of 85...in November 1941. The cowboy who got shot by a mountain man in the Wild West lived to see the beginning of World War II. chitoryu12 fucked around with this message at 21:07 on May 24, 2019 |
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May 24, 2019 21:05
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chitoryu12 posted:Edit: In case anyone forgets how fast the world modernized, George Coe died at the age of 85...in November 1941. The cowboy who got shot by a mountain man in the Wild West lived to see the beginning of World War II. Had we only waited at that last rock slide for another ~100 years or so our descendants could've taken one of them shiny new freeways the rest of the way to the coast; hell, I-84 takes us straight from Salt Lake to Portland. Think of all the trouble we could've saved.
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May 24, 2019 21:25
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What gets me is how this is all just a few decades before million-man armies in WW1, the disconnect is jarring.
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May 24, 2019 21:33
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It’s fully possible for someone who was an adult in a time before cars to have witnessed man landing on the moon.
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May 24, 2019 21:35
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I think I understand old people a bit more. At least the wild staring eyes.
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May 24, 2019 21:43
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Wyatt Earp, of OK Corral fame, spent his last years as a consultant in Hollywood on Western movies, and trying to get a movie of his life made. Laura Ingalls Wilder, of Little House fame, lived long enough to watch Elvis Presley on Ed Sullivan. Her daughter lived long enough to write pro-Vietnam war articles. John Tyler, President of the US who was born in 1790, has two living grandsons. The past isn't always as long ago as you think.
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May 24, 2019 22:08
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Epicurius posted:Wyatt Earp, of OK Corral fame, spent his last years as a consultant in Hollywood on Western movies, and trying to get a movie of his life made. Cleopatra was born closer to the founding of Pizza Hut than she was to the pyramids being built
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May 24, 2019 22:13
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What amazing art 
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May 24, 2019 23:00
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Yeah, it took me a few seconds to work out what the bear was. But it's an edutainment thing, it having any graphics at all is enough to impress me. 
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May 24, 2019 23:06
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.png) No slowing down! Breathe through your ears if you have to! .png) Fort Hall was built in 1834 as a fur trading outpost. As it's right before the Oregon and California trails split, it's the last stop for wagon trains going in opposite directions to be together. While the original site is now empty grassland, a replica has been built in Pocatello, ID 30 miles away. .png) There's no laudanum, so I get the next best thing. .png) Our route brings us along the Snake River until we reach the crossing point. .png)
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May 24, 2019 23:59
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chitoryu12 posted:It’s fully possible for someone who was an adult in a time before cars to have witnessed man landing on the moon. My great grandfather didn't make it quite that long, but was born in 1880 in rural NZ and died in 1967 in America so I mean that goes from pre-cars to space travel. Edit: Ford the River Jack2142 fucked around with this message at 04:44 on May 25, 2019 |
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May 25, 2019 00:28
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A ‘little’ tricky? Three feet isn’t deep. Ford that poo poo.
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May 25, 2019 00:33
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This one’s shallow enough, let’s ford it.
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May 25, 2019 00:34
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Caulk and float We mustn't risk the whiskey!
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May 25, 2019 00:37
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Don't be risky with the whiskey. Caulk and Float
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May 25, 2019 01:10
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We must keep the freshly acquired whiskey safe at all costs. Caulk and Float.
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May 25, 2019 02:01
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When your wagon's full of whiskey, caulk and float. When your wagon's full of whiskey, caulk and float The expedition may get sicker If you ford and lose the liquor When your wagon's full of whiskey, caulk and float.
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May 25, 2019 02:52
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Yeah, we just bought whiskey, we caulk, that poo poo's important.
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May 25, 2019 03:50
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Drink all the liquor, then ford that fucker. After all, if we drink it, we can't lose it to the crossing!
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May 25, 2019 03:52
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queserasera posted:When your wagon's full of whiskey, caulk and float. 
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May 25, 2019 04:05
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If the river's too shallow, you'll fall over while floating it. If it's too deep, you'll flood the wagon trying to ford it. And three feet seems to be the sweet spot where both of those things have the highest odds. So I say FORD that son of a bitch and let the chips fall where they may.
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May 25, 2019 06:48
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Drink some of that whiskey and fordge ahead!
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May 25, 2019 07:14
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Ford to victory!
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May 25, 2019 07:21
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queserasera posted:When your wagon's full of whiskey, caulk and float. 
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May 25, 2019 07:30
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5 year olds can't drink whiskey (or can they?) so I say ford it.
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May 25, 2019 08:51
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queserasera posted:When your wagon's full of whiskey, caulk and float.
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May 25, 2019 09:21
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CirclMastr posted:5 year olds can't drink whiskey (or can they?) so I say ford it. They need to get weaned onto it ASAP if we can.
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May 25, 2019 09:31
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CirclMastr posted:5 year olds can't drink whiskey (or can they?) so I say ford it. Sure they can. Anything with some sort of mouth can drink whiskey. Doesn't mean it's a good idea, necessarily, though it would definitely stop the endless "Are we there yet?" that I imagine five year old you has been inflicting on the group. Since three feet's a coin toss, I say ford just to save time.
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May 25, 2019 09:47
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.png) .png) gently caress. Now we need to grind our coffee with a hammer or something. .png) Off to California! .png) The only thing inside was a box of Betamax tapes. .png) Here's where we would have ended up if we took the Hudspeth Cutoff. .png) The City of Rocks is a large collection of tall boulders and rock formations in the deserts of Idaho. Since the 1970s they've been a popular destination for climbers and have over 1000 routes. It's also an important marker because we're about halfway to Sacramento! .png) Just past the rocks is where the Salt Lake Cutoff would have joined up. .png) Real great to hear them being called "mountains" instead of "hills" now.
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May 25, 2019 17:25
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These mountains ended one of my campaigns as a kid. Whatever I did, wagon fell over over and over again.
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May 25, 2019 17:34
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chitoryu12 posted:
Quick - every one get on your hands and knees and start drinking the river coffee, no sense in letting it go to waste. Then when you're all hopped up on several litres of coffee go build some fires so we can cook 20 lbs. of corn bread and dry out all our beans. Then I guess double team it up the hill.
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May 25, 2019 17:37
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Double up
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May 25, 2019 17:40
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Ropes and chains.
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May 25, 2019 17:41
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Double-team the goons.
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May 25, 2019 18:13
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Double Team
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May 25, 2019 19:32
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Poil posted:Double-team the goons.
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May 25, 2019 19:33
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Psychotic Weasel posted:Quick - every one get on your hands and knees and start drinking the river coffee, no sense in letting it go to waste. Then when you're all hopped up on several litres of coffee go build some fires so we can cook 20 lbs. of corn bread and dry out all our beans. lol if you make your coffee with water like a pleb, real pioneers just stir some fresh-ground beans into our breakfast whiskey before roping and chaining our way over every mountain in sight
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May 25, 2019 19:41
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I have a confession to make. I ate the coffee mill. Double team, I guess?
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May 25, 2019 19:45
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