In the mid-1800s, settlers on the East Coast began to look west.

The territories there promised a new life and a place to generate wealth.

But getting there was fraught with peril, and some of the best lands were already inhabited by the indigenous peoples.

Of course, building homesteads and raising

crops and cattle meant a lot of work. Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas proposed the Kansas-Nabrasca

Act of 1854, allowing the territories to permit slavery or stay a free state. Nebraska remained a free

state. Kansas turned into a battleground,

and so began the era known as Bleeding Kansas. Abolitionists arrived, hoping to keep Kansas a free state.

Thousands of heavily armed settlers also came to Kansas, with the intent to cast illegal votes

and harass voters opposed to slavery.

Murder and destruction escalated, with activists from each side patrolling neighborhoods

for their enemies destroying property without mercy. The physical and psychological warfare

forced many families to flee. It's not a story we often associate with early life on the frontier,

but then again the West is full of legends, some familiar, and some not so much. I'm Aaron Manke,

and welcome to the Wild West.

When we picture cowboys, we envision men like Clint Eastwood or John Wayne.

We see 10-gallon hats and men driving herds of cattle across an open range.

The image of men wearing caps, spurs, and the iconic Stetson hat,

riding down dusty trails, is an image that we all have in our heads. But did you know that cowboys didn't wear cowboy hats? For starters, the traditional Stetson hat wasn't invented until

1865, and even then people didn't frequently wear them until the late 19th century.

So, what did cowboys wear?

They wore bowler hats, which were originally designed in London in 1849.

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