I'm not saying that there was a lot of water in the old west. I'm saying that people lived near water sources, otherwise they died away from water sources. The water that they got from natural springs usually wasn't safe to drink. They could bathe with it safely, but in order to drink it they would have to boil it, and to keep it for more than a short time they would have to put it in a disinfected bottle, and I'm sure you can imagine that disinfecting a glass bottle wasn't the easiest thing to do. Other they could use that water and whatever else they had in a still and make alcohol, then they wouldn't have to disinfect the bottle because the alcohol would kill any bacteria or parasites.
Those are maps of modern rainfall. The amount of rainfall probably hasn't changed much but I don't think we really know that for certain. But rainfall isn't reliable enough for larger populations of people, they would need a water source like a river, a spring, or a well if the aquafer held water closer to the surface.
If they didn't have water then how did they maintain their crops. How did they keep those horses hydrated, not to mention themselves. The amount of water in the area is a more significant problem now because people are spread out all over the area and water has to be trucked in. If there were fewer people living there, and only around the natural water sources then it wouldn't seem like such an arid place.
I would agree with just about everything in this post.....
I'll add a bit....mainly cause I'm a bit of a wild West ethusiast......
People definitely lived near the water....hence the sparse populations in those areas today......
Exceptions to the near the water rule....when a resource is to be extracted.....good rushes....railroad construction....cattle drives.....and interestingly when the resourse as been extracted.....often times the people move out......hence the littering of ruins of towns you see over the West (it's really cool....your driving along and out of nowhere a ruined town....not on any map)
Now this part is anecdotal story.....when no was in medical school i did a rural rotation in western Kansas.....very dry...very sparsely populated....
One of my patients was an old farmer....he was talking about weather(a favorite farmer topic)....he said..."it's been a very dry summer....good thing there was that 6 inches of snow last year.....or we would be in trouble".....
That kinda shocked me....so evidently they guys are really good at getting the most out of little
Horses.....no clue.....I have owned horses.....they require a shot ton of water.....careful planning?
Now we are way off topic...back to topic....
I got to thinking about old western days when water was not as accessible as today when we can turn on faucets and take a bath or shower. I'm thinking most men were not circumcised. It must have been a problem for men with a foreskin to practice cleanliness of their penis to wash the smegma from their penis with any regularity. How did they keep their uncircumcised penis clean, especially on the trail? I also wonder how prevalent was circumcision back in the old wild west days?
I don't think lack of water...has anything to do with circ status
1...doesn't take much water to clean a wiener
2...when you don't have water...cleaning a foreskin is really low on prodigy list
3...life on trail is not a fuck fest....your concerns are....keeping cattle together....attacks (people and animal)....getting food....water...a bit of shut eye...
4.roll into town get a bath problem solved
Anacdotally.....in was in the army....we were often inn the field for weeks or months....no shower or bath...you clean up when you can....I have no idea who in my unit was circumcised or not....sooooo it must not have made to much difference.....we were all a group of smelly mother fuckers