Life on the frontier. The people and food

The people of the western frontier formed a varied mixture. Americans streamed west from the East Coast, the Middle West, and the South. Some who had committed crimes went west because they wanted to get as far away from the law as possible. Others found life boring in the East, and wanted to try something new and different.

Professional people and merchants cared for the needs of growing communities. Land speculators hoped to make quick fortunes. But most settlers were farmers, laborers, unskilled mechanics, miners, and former soldiers. Many of these pioneers saw the West as a place of opportunity for themselves and their children. They were willing to risk their lives to be part of the development of this region.

In the gold fields, some miners spent Sunday reading the Bible or washing their clothes. Others wrestled or took part in horse racing

Large numbers of blacks moved to the frontier to escape the prejudice they had experienced in the East and South. Thousands of black homesteaders settled in California, Kansas, Nebraska, and Texas during the second half of the 1800's. Some of the best-known cowboys of that period were African Americans. A ranch hand named Nat Love gained fame for horsemanship and other skills on cattle drives. Bose Ikard, a former slave, was foreman of one of the largest ranches in Texas. Black soldiers in the U.S. Army fought Indians on the frontier.

Many other groups also lived in the Far West. Mexicans had settled in the Southwest and California since the 1700's. Indians furnished cheap labor. Basques from France and Spain herded sheep (see Basques). Scandinavians and other Europeans bought farms on the Great Plains. Miners came from England and Wales to join the search for precious metals. Chinese came to build the railroads, then drifted to mining camps where they ran laundries, restaurants, and small shops.

Most frontier people fell into two classes, solid folk and boomers. The solid folk settled down if they liked the life, or went home if they did not. Boomers were always heading for a new boom town. They seldom stayed long enough to make much money, and squandered their earnings in high living. Even among the steady people, few came to stay, as settlers had stayed on the land east of the Missouri River. Most of them wanted to get rich and go home.

The frontier was a man's world, and favored the jack-of-all-trades. Wyatt Earp was a law officer, buffalo hunter, stagecoach driver, and gambler. Hank Monk, a famous stagecoach driver, also mined, and rode the pony express. George Jackson, credited with discovering gold in the Rockies, had been a sheepherder, prospector, farm hand, miner, and roustabout, and later became a businessman.

Food on the frontier was usually simple. Flour served as the basic food, because it was nourishing and did not spoil. The people used it in sourdough biscuits and bread, and in flapjacks, or pancakes. Other important foods included dried beans; game, such as bison, deer, elk, antelope, and wild fowl; and preserved meats such as bacon, salt pork, and jerky, or dried meat. Ranchers could always eat beef, and sheep raisers had mutton. Frontier people rarely ate fresh fruit and vegetables or dairy products. Even cowboys did not milk cows.

People on the frontier had no need for fancy cooking—the men were too busy, and women were scarce. Meat with biscuits or flapjacks provided a feast. Old Len Martin of Carson City, Nev., declared while stewing a chicken that there was no sense "picking a chicken too darned close—anybody that don't like the feathers can skim’em off."