Page 101 - The Lost Ways

- By Ruff Simons -

“If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel

it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most
powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must
be known that we are at all times ready for War.”

― George Washington

Westerns give us a vivid picture of law enforcement in the Old West. When a
gang of outlaws starts to terrorize a town, the frightened inhabitants beg their sheriff to

do something—but usually he’s either corrupt, a coward, or just not up to the job.

Everything seems lost until an enigmatic stranger appears, confronts the troublemakers,
and saves the day. It’s a striking image—but it’s wrong in almost every detail.

The people who settled the West were not shrinking violets. The fact that they were out
there in the first place should tell us that. These were people who’d left their homes and
traveled—sometimes from the cities of the East Coast and often all the way from

Europe—to make a new life in uncharted wilderness.

They were pioneers and adventurers—bold, determined people. They may have lived in
towns, but in most cases, they had built those towns themselves—few western
settlements at the time had seen two generations raised there, and many were only a few
years old. Even recent arrivals had struck out on a long, tough, and often dangerous
journey to reach their new home, and not many of them were easily scared.

Then there were the lawmen. Movies and novels often mix up the roles of marshal and
sheriff, but they were very different. The history of the Old West mostly played out in
territories that hadn’t yet achieved statehood.

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