The Indian battles, trapping, things to see, etc.
My older brother, says he was born 100 years too late.

Not me, even with the modern medicine back then,

From Kit Carson's adventures:
Andrew Broadus met with a serious accident. He was taking his rifle out of a wagon for the purpose of shooting a wolf and, in drawing it out, (it) was accidently discharged, receiving the contents in the right arm. He suffered greatly from the effects of the wound. We had no medical man in the party. His arm began to mortify and we all were aware that amputation was necessary. One3 of the party stated that he could do it. The man was prepared for any experiment to be tried that was considered of service to him. The doctor set to work and cut the flesh with a razor and sawed the bone with an old saw. The arteries being cut, to stop the bleeding, he heated a king bolt of one of the wagons and burned the affected parts, and then applied a plaster of the tar taken off the wheels of a wagon. The man became perfectly well before our arrival in New Mexico.

The link is a very long read and not very gun specific.
They had one hell of a time with the Indians though.

https://dokumen.pub/kit-carson...s-9781589760608.html

I bet it wasn't as fun as it looks in TV westerns.

I used to sit in a classroom in Lincoln High School in Denver. Staring out the window at the Front Range and beyond. Listening to my teacher lecturing about Colorado history, daydreaming this exact thing.

No.

I thought that for a while in my early 20s, but maybe a little later like the turn of the century through prohibition. I’m not sure now in my 50s if I could have survived the hardships. I think to watch the world transition to automobiles and the early adoption of air travel would have been a remarkable time to be alive in human history.

Sort of, but not out west.
I would have probably been a pirate.

I have held the same belief as the OP's brother my entire life.

Somebody please invent a time machine. I'd go back in a second.

I mean I want penicillin but yes I want to go back.

Wasn’t it P. J. O’Rourke who said he wouldn’t go back to the Old West because of one word?

That word was “dentistry.”

As a pioneer cemetery researcher, I was curious about the causes of death for people for the time period of 1870-1910.
Lots fell to:
Tuberculosis. Rampant, contagious and incurable.
Typhoid. Dirty water.
Other now largely eradicated diseases like Yellow Fever.
Poor care during pregnancy and post birth, for both Mom and the kid.
All manner of accidents (lots horse related) and poor medical care.
Life was hard. Very hard, especially in the more remote areas. Would I loved to be eyewitness to the "Old West"? Yes! But I would not want to live there!

No thanks but all praise to those who did settle and build our country. No idea what the mortality rate was but how enough survived is a testament to some amazing people.

There are several YouTubes on the subject, some overwrought or sensationalistic, but whatever, my sincere respect.

quote:

Originally posted by mttaylor1066:
Wasn’t it P. J. O’Rourke who said he wouldn’t go back to the Old West because of one word?

That word was “dentistry.”

Every time i think about how great it would be seeing see my favorite places in the West before development, I think about how many hours I’ve spent in a dentist’s chair. I imagine I would be gumming my food.

I agree, not as glamorous as some western movies may appear. Even the most rugged of us appreciates many modern conveniences.

One can still dip a toe in that lifestyle even during modern times. How about a little remote hiking? Can we handle a touch of wood heat as a supplement?

Can we take that buck or elk from the hoof to the table? How’s the garden & fruit trees doing?

I just think there are ways to dabble without going back in time, or shunning modern conveniences.

No thanks.
Entertainment has done wonders to stoke such romantic ideas and notions, but the reality is life was HARD. Disease could easily spread as 'modern science' was just emerging as an idea and even then a large swath of people would denounce such practices; health care what's that? Domesticated animals were still the dominant labor form with your hands being the main supporting act...same as it was for thousands of years prior. Food supply and availability would swing wildly, again no different than it was for the prior several thousand years. I can appreciate the simplicity of 19th century life but, keep it in the history books and entertainment.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
As a pioneer cemetery researcher, I was curious about the causes of death for people for the time period of 1870-1910.
Lots fell to:
Tuberculosis. Rampant, contagious and incurable.
Typhoid. Dirty water.
Other now largely eradicated diseases like Yellow Fever.
Poor care during pregnancy and post birth, for both Mom and the kid.
All manner of accidents (lots horse related) and poor medical care.
Life was hard. Very hard, especially in the more remote areas. Would I loved to be eyewitness to the "Old West"? Yes! But I would not want to live there!

Yeah, I would have liked to observe the era for a short time, but everyday life back then was extremely hard and unforgiving, especially if one is transported back in time after living in these times.

No running water, no electricity, no refrigeration, no waste sanitation, extremely poor drinking water quality, etc. Extremely high mortality rates for children especially, the average lifespan of men during the Antebellum Era was 40 yo. As mentioned, dentistry, medicine in general was extremely crude by today's standards. Half of the children die before reaching adulthood, dying from measles, smallpox, tuberculosis, dysentary, etc. The vast majority of folks back then lived on farms, meaning 12 hour days, six days a week just to come up with food.

I would wager if any number of people living during the 1800s had a general idea of what life is like today, even with all of the problems, most of them would choose to transport to modern times.

No thanks.

I'm a fan of modern medicine, hygiene, and amenities.

When I was younger I wanted to be born in the 1950's

It was bad enough growing up 100 or so years after that period, so absolutely not.

I have read a lot about the history of early medical practices. As I mentioned in one of the cataract threads, at one time, long before any sort of anesthetics, some people opted to have the clouded lens removed so they could at least see light and darkness. During the same period a woman with breast cancer elected to have a mastectomy (and died later anyway). I once had a tooth filled without anesthetic for reasons I won’t go into, and that was more than enough of that sort of thing for me without even considering all the other reasons to prefer being here and now.