The west was known to be a free, wild frontier where people could go to start over and get land for cheap.  The paintings by the “rocky mountain school” showed extravagant landscapes which were not true. Most people thought that no one lived in the west but many types of people lived there they were not expecting this which caused so competition which brought the military into the west clearing out places for Americans to live. The West was falsely composed but because of all of the picture and the book “The Virginian” the west and the American Cowboy was shown as a rugged place full of rigged individuals. 

As people moved towards the West they weren't ready for what they expected. The people were expecting vast landscapes with lots of farming land. This is where the idea of a cowboy and the free man arose from the press. When the settlers got to the West they found things they weren't expecting like Indians, Chinese, Canadian, Hispanic and many other types of people whom had taken all of the good farming land.

The idea of the cow boy was a rugged individualist who did what he wants and was manly. The cowboy was a respected person who was a hero in stories and was displayed as a southern gentleman type of attitude. Yet many people didn't know about the real cowboy.. A real cowboy was at the bottom of the social ladder and he was the lowest paid job anyone could find. They worked with cattle all day with many physical pains and loneliness was a major factor. It boiled down to if you lived in the west being a cowboy was the last thing that you would want to do. Most people think that a cowboy fights Indians and he stands up for his self. This was wrong if you were a cowboy you most likely didn't have a gun and you were afraid of Indians. The idea of a American cowboy was displayed in the book “The Virginian” which was later made as a movie and later on into a TV series. The idea of the American cowboy was falsely shown much like the Idea of  the west.