An Economically Sound Idea

Along with duty, women went west for economic reasons.  The West offered a new chance, a new life, one that promised prosperity and land.

Farming was the main occupation of most frontier families in the Ohio Valley and eastward.  It was hard work and didn't often pay off (as we know from watching the Ingalls struggle in Little House)  Disasters and setbacks were always around the corner and the idea of good open land and new opportunities convinced many families to move further west.  Many first time settlers were tired of factory life in the East, and the crowded cities, so the chance for open country and owning land was too good a temptation to pass up.

The estimated cost for a family of 4 to go west was around $600 ($20,000-25,000 today).  By selling homes, furniture, even livestock before the journey, and then the wagon and cattle at trip's end, a family could recover 1/3 of the cost of the journey or about $200 ($7000 today). It was a sacrifice that families were willing to make for a new start and a new life on the western frontier.

Next time...one more reason to go west, young women.