American Studies Blog 1

http://www.rmabrokers.com/cattle-ranches-for-sale.php

The meaning of the West has evolved over time due to the expanding settlement within America. Originally, the American West can be pictured as cowboys and Native Indians, riding around on horses in the open plains. Large families living in wooden houses with huge open fires, wearing the ‘cowboy’ boot style, shirts and waistcoats. Or, so that image comes to my mind. However, due to the frontier moving, my snapshot of how America is viewed today is very different of this. It is of the State of California. The beautiful coast, Hollywood and where the first Disney Land was built. I think this perception of the ‘American West’ would be what most people would originally think of.

The website I have chosen, which reflects back on an aspect of the traditional representation of the American West, is of the Cattle Industry. The first settlers had to build a successful foundation to create a successful way of life. Unlike Europe, there were not shops to just buy food and other basics from and therefore they had to adapt. By the early 19th century cattle ranches were common across Western America. Interestingly, the cattle were first used for their skin rather than meat, however with time beef became increasingly popular and made ranchers extremely wealthy. This continued to grow with the Civil War in 1861.

Specifically looking at the website I have chosen, it is clear that the cattle business is still successfully on-going and is an expensive career to get into. The website shows that you can buy a cattle ranch from anywhere from one million dollars to fifty-five million dollars. Today, Western America “appears” to have it all.