11 Things You’ve Always Thought About the Wild West That Are Totally Wrong

The Wild West Wasn’t That Wild

When picturing the Wild West, one may imagine gun-slinging bandits, Native American ambushes, and sharp shooting cowboys running rampant throughout the towns. In reality, most towns were pretty peaceful. In fact, some historians even contend that the Wild West “was a far more civilized, more peaceful and safer place than American society today.”

Even though there weren’t local “governments” per se, there existed private organizations and clubs that helped adjudicate matters of property, theft, and crime, keeping things pretty orderly.