In the beginning, moving west was the majority of barriers and obstacles setters faced. Indian attacks, blizzards, tornadoes, flash floods, and simply being ill-prepared among numerous other difficult ships caused many colonists to die and were difficult to overcome. The journey was through uniform, dusty, windswept, treeless nothingness. Temperatures would be well between 110 and below zero. Not to mention there were no trees for shade or shelter from storms. In this book there are many journals, artifacts, and first hand photographs that show what it was like in the 1800s and how difficult it really was to make the trip out west and live there. This book is about how the West was conquered. It is also about emigrants from China and Europe, newly freed slaves, New England school teachers, and simply some farm kids or opportunists from the South and Midwest. Everyone found that the West was so huge and commendable. They couldn't believe that this homeland was so immense and enormous. One reason for heading west was the Homestead Act, which would grant deserving sites or land to individuals who remained there for five years. There were six main paths to follow; the Oregon Trail, the Santa Fe Trail, the Mormon Trail, the Gila River Trail, the California Trail, and the Old Spanish Trail. Some people even came west on the Transcontinental Railroad that had recently been built. Settlers could even purchase land on the plains from the Railroad Company. The railroad company had been granted large tracts of land by the U.S. government on both sides of the railroad and was later sold to settlers. Native Americans suffered from this influx of people from the East and it would change their lives forever. There were many struggles and the quest to stay alive is why we call it the “Wild West” today. Especially when a good number of them were dishonest scoundrels or simply wanderers and adventurers. Furthermore, most of them were armed. The first thing the settlers had to do was dig a well. Well, digging was very hard work and often had to be done several times because they dried out or simply couldn't hit the water. For newly arrived families, harvesting was another of many important tasks.