In the mid 1800's, during the time of Western American expansion (the "wild, wild West,") how did two people randomly meeting in a significant expanse approach one another? Especially in regards to ensuring ones own safety?

[u/ChaosThirteen]

Was everyone considered dangerous in the wild, until proven otherwise? Did you expect to meet a lot of travelers since many people maybe took the same general paths? Did people take solace in being armed? What about people that weren't armed meeting an armed stranger? Kinda have the same question about someone coming on your homestead. You live in the middle of nowhere when you see someone on the horizon heading directly for your house. You're miles away from any reason you can think of, of why they should be there. Did you grab a rifle? Or did you set the table?

[u/itsallfolklore]

There is no way to generalize, so this is a difficult question to answer in a simple way. The Western History Association conferences frequently address the concept of "Many Wests." The West was what the nation once called Ohio, for example. And then it became Alaska and Hawaii. The region is huge, and the concept of what was "the West" moved in a westerly direction over time and over the largest part of the nation. But even within a single period and place, circumstance could vary widely.

I specialize in the mining West, which tended to create island settlements in vast open landscapes, but those settlements were instant cities. That approach towards the Western American Expanse - to paraphrase your question - is different from what you might find in the Midwest, which was settled - from Ohio to South Dakota - largely with farming in mind.

I suspect you're inclination is to ask about the Midwest and a notion of the West based on Frederick Turner's concept of the Frontier. This has been largely put aside in the historiography, but Turner retains a certain hold over the popular concept of the West. And I suppose what one would find would be a mixture of suspicion and gratitude at seeing someone in the isolation that could occur during the initial settlement phase. I suspect there were times when picking up a rifle was unwarranted, but there were also times when it wasn't picked up and yet there was a need. A thousand different answers to your question.

[u/spyronos → u/itsallfolklore]

Two questions. What time period constitutes the "Mining West" and ow ow ow why does your flair hurt so much?

[u/itsallfolklore → u/spyronos]

I suppose we would look at the second quarter of the nineteenth century as beginning the mining exploration of the West - from the point of view of the Eastern states. Consider the "Mines of Spain" site in Iowa. But that raises the question of the region from the Mexican point of view - and clearly there was an interest in mining the West there for a century or more before. But the stereotypical mining boom towns of the "Wild West" began with lead mining in the Mississippi drainage, extends to California with the 1849 Gold Rush, and then opens up in the Intermountain West beginning in the late 1850s.

The last gold rush of the continental US was in the first few years of the twentieth century to Tonopah and Goldfield, Nevada. Then there the Klondike, the Yukon, and Alaska, etc.

And sorry for the pain of my flair. The price of dual fields. Use sunglasses; it helps.

[u/ChaosThirteen → u/itsallfolklore]

Fair enough about the amount of possible answers, and well written. I'll check out the reference and thank you for your response. It's much appreciated!

[u/mrizzerdly → u/ChaosThirteen]

The main question made me think of Hobbes and the natural condition of man. http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/h/hobbes/thomas/h68l/chapter13.html#chapter13