Wild West Greed: Why Gold and Money Was the Root of All Evil

Wild West Greed: Why Gold and Money Was the Root of All Evil. Gold. What started as ore and rock in cavern walls became powdery flakes and eventually bars. For centuries, humans have been fascinated by gold and all its properties, but, more importantly, by the wealth it can bring them. During the Wild West Era, it was no different, but in many ways exaggerated to the highest degree. Cowboys from Alabama through Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, even up through Kansas, and all the way to California wanted one thing: gold. During these times, people had to mine for gold, and if they struck it big, that’s when the real test of humanity and will began. There is a saying that goes one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, but one man’s treasure is another man’s opportunity to seize it and claim it for himself. Gold during the Wild West was the highest form of currency a man could have, and the things it could buy him were endless. Money itself was just as important, so much so that banks and trains were robbed by people on horseback just to get their hands on it. Greed was not good during the Wild West; it brought out all the outlaws, and more importantly, it brought out the worst in people.

Watch any Western today, and you’ll usually find that the plot revolves around gold or money one way or another. Clint Eastwood starred in three films known as the Dollars Trilogy. The 3^rd film, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, was centered around money for three men right until the very end. Kill Them All And Come Back Alone focused on gold, and to get it, shady deals were made, and backstabbing was done just so each man could get their hands on the prize. In Western novels, it’s the same deal. Cash rules everything around men; to have gold is to have true power, and how did these men get the gold? They killed for it. Sure, the West wasn’t always wild, but when it was, it usually involved multiple greedy men fighting for the same goal, the same greed, the same evil. Even if there was enough gold and money to go around during those times, men would still try to kill each other over it just to stake the claim that they had more of it than any other man. There is a reason greed is a sin, and the irony is that during the Wild West, a man would commit the other six without a second thought just to fulfill his appetite for greed.

Two of my western horror novels have greed which serves as the main plot. Portrayed in different ways, but also in the same ways as well. In Brimstone Express, five outlaws try to rob a mysterious train for wealth and everything they could ever dream of, and they try this fully knowing that anyone who has ever tried to rob the train has died trying. The lengths these men go through just to get their hands on wealth know no bounds. In High Stakes at the Bonesaw Saloon, five outlaws wreak havoc upon a small western town until one night they decide to play poker like they always do. The owner lets them play only this time, the pot to win isn’t just all the money; it’s their lives, and only one of them is leaving the saloon still breathing. I’ve seen and read enough westerns, and one thing I knew they all had in common was greed. But let us not be fooled. While greed usually takes the form of gold or money in most cases, that’s not the only form it can take. Greed is when you have an immense abundance of something in excess. Is having too much of something enough? Not to some people, and during the Wild West, most men didn’t think so, and they didn’t waste time talking to find out; they killed to achieve greed, and most times it ended with them getting killed for it.

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