Cowboys and Chaos, the third book in the Magical Mystery Book Club series, is set in the Wild West of the 1800s. Although the story is fiction, I like to include as many accurate details as possible to keep the story real for my readers. While researching this era, I discovered many funny or odd things about the old West. Here are a few.

Hollywood Gets it Wrong

There’s the REAL Wild West and the Hollywood version of the Wild West, and they are often very different. All the leading men in Westerns are handsome, clean-shaven, neat, and well-spoken. In the real Wild West, being a cowboy was dirty work. They were often toothless, messy, dirty, and very, very hairy. No cowboy in the 1800s shaved every morning, and they often bathed only a few times a year! They likely had just a few years of schooling, so while smart when it came to rounding up cattle, they weren’t great at conversation. 

Cowboys didn’t wear Cowboy Hats

Well, they were cowboys, and they wore hats, but those hats looked very different from today’s cowboy hats. In the 1800s men wore short-brimmed bowler and Derby style hats. These didn’t protect them from the desert sun, so eventually the pioneers created newer hats patterned after the Mexican vaqueros’ sombrero. Cowboy hats as we know them today weren’t born until 1865, and weren’t common until many years later.

Gunslingers didn’t fill the Town

Most men in the wild west were farmers who worked the plows and tended the farm animals. Certainly there were gunslingers, but they were the minority. Men didn’t roam the town wearing pistols. Street violence, hired guns, and quickdraw gunfights were rare.

Brothels were Commonplace

Most towns had a cathouse, and no one cared. These were a normal aspect of life in a place where men outnumbered women by huge percentages. Parlor house owners were often some of the wealthy in town and used some of their funds for the benefit of the community.

Few Gun Owners were Crack Shots

Ammunition was very expensive, so very few gun owners were skilled. They couldn’t afford to practice.

The Hollywood Wild West is More Fun

The real Wild West was filled with hard work, disease, and struggle. The Hollywood Wild West is fascinating and exciting. Guess which Wild West appears in Cowboys and Chaos?