The Wild West/Workaday West debate is an important one because some argue that current levels of violence in the United States are a result of the Western history of violence.
Was the American Western Frontier a violent place? While many agree with the popular Wild West conception, others argue for a Workaday, quiet version of the West. The Wild West/Workaday West debate is an important one because some argue that current levels of violence in the United States are a result of the Western history of violence. Unfortunately, establishing such a history of violence is difficult because of methodological issues. The authors propose here to address these methodological issues and participate in the Wild West/Workaday West debate. The authors examined two death records sources for Walla Walla and Spokane counties in Eastern Washington between 1903 and 1907. The authors found that the two Northwestern counties under study were more violent at the beginning of the 20th century than at the beginning of the 21st century, even though Walla Walla was significantly less violent than Spokane. Abstract published by arrangement with Sage Journals.