Today I Bust Two More Myths About The Old West

They circled the wagons at night to corral the livestock. They had all these horses, mules, cows, and oxen that they didn't want wandering off in the night.

The idea of circling the wagons to protect from Indian attacks is a good idea but the problem there is..these wagon trains stretched out for miles. If there was a surprise attack it would take hours to circle them for an attack anyway.

Now having said that, if they knew of hostile Indians in the area then the circled wagons would also be used as a makeshift fort and protection from that and of course more watchmen would be posted. But the number of times that happened are very few.

I think it's interesting that the term "circle the wagons" is based on an event that rarely happened in real life. The phrase really should mean to "corral your livestock!" lol.

Those swinging saloon doors

This is another great one. Have you ever seen a Western movie that didn't have a saloon scene where someone walked up to the swinging doors and looked over the top of them? Or at least showed someone walking through them from the sidewalk outside?

The problem is they didn't use these types of doors on buildings back then. Can you imagine the amount of heat and dust and smells rolling in from the dusty streets outside if these were the doors? lol.

And with the bitter cold winds howling in the winter time and turning the place into a big freezer? No way!

Did you ever watch the tv show Gunsmoke? Do ya think for a second that Miss Kitty would put up with those conditions? Oh nooo..not hardly! (and make no mistake, the Madames ran the town. I need to do a post about that)

So this is just a ridiculous idea that Hollywood came up with for dramatic affect but which is ludicrously impractical. And yet everyone thinks that saloons had doors like that.

This is the type I'm talking about and even though these are from a film set, even they aren't leading to the outside:

Now some of them DID have glass doors. (which they had to replace frequently) Here is a photo of the famous Long Branch Saloon in Dodge City, Kansas(my home town)and this is an exact replica of the original which was replaced when it burnt down.

The nicer ones like the Long Branch had glass doors.

Meanwhile back in redneck country

I've been working on that big tree that fell over onto one of our lawns. I'm cutting it up in pieces just using an axe and little hand saw like the pioneers did. And hauling it up to the burn pile with a wheel barrow instead of a tractor.

It's brutal work but I'm making progress. It makes me appreciate the pioneers.

And here's the North pond that we want to clean up, landscape and develop:

Thanks for reading folks, I got a few more myths that I want to bust.
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck

PS- ya know...you might just be a redneck if..

this is your favorite beer!

Yes this is a real beer. My fellow Texan and classy lady @rebeccabe informed me of this one!

I don't know what the source for my top photo of that Texas girl is. I stole it from @joeyarnoldvn who has tons of fascinating information on his blog. And some great photos!