Jan 28 2009
What Defined A Town in The Old West
Towns in the old west were a bit different from the notion of towns common today. In Kiowa Trail L’amour describes a town as “ten buildings long on the north side of the street, and seven long on the south.”
There are few towns these days that would meet that description. Personally I’ve lived in only one town in my life time that comes even close to that description, and by today’s standards it would be considered nothing more than a rest stop along the highway.
Even the smallest of towns have more than seventeen buildings. In the west a town could be defined as nothing more than a place a wagon stopped to sell whiskey or anywhere more than two or three people gathered regularly. Often these towns lasted no more than few years, some only a few months. Those that had resources and something to offer grew into the towns of today.
