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I thought it might be interesting to take a quick look at some real Old West towns that most of us have heard of, either through history or from movies and television. (Why? Because I’m kind of a nerd like that.
Placerville, CA ("Hangtown", home of the Hangtown fry) is still there and still well-kept and somewhat touristy.
I thought Placerville was where the initial gold deposit was found that sparked the Gold Rush, but apparently that was in nearby Coloma. I'd never heard of Coloma until today, so I'll say that it has not been well-marketed.
Here are a couple Old West towns you probably haven't heard of - Hays, Kansas, and Ogallala, Nebraska. The latter was at the end of the Texas Trail, and it was used as a roundup spot for getting cattle on the Union Pacific Railroad. The former was the end of the line for the railroad for a handful of years. It was a fairly lawless town. Wild Bill Hickok was the sheriff of Hays briefly. Calamity Jane and Buffalo Bill Cody also spent time there.
St. Elmo CO is cool, a mining town that almost died by around 2000 but then is currently getting resurrected as a stopping point in a whole outdoor adventure trail ring. It's cool because it's largely in tact from how it would have been long ago, without being abandon and falling apart.
Taos NM is cool because it still feels like you're in the old west here. Just went to a little live music show in a furniture store this weekend and the outfits some of the people had on looked like they walked straight out of a John Wayne film . I think it's one of the more interesting spots because there the Pueblo which predates the old west, the old west piece still standing with the plaza "downtown" and then new history on top of all that with earthships and things that have come out post "old west". The house a quarter mile down the road from me is so old it doesn't have indoor plumbing. And someone still lives in it lol!
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. I think it's one of the more interesting spots because there the Pueblo which predates the old west, the old west piece still standing with the plaza "downtown" and then new history on top of all that with earthships and things that have come out post "old west". The house a quarter mile down the road from me is so old it doesn't have indoor plumbing. And someone still lives in it lol!
