I am writing a fictional short story about two families in the West who are in economic and social competition, one is a family which runs mafioso-style a moderate frontier town, the other is a ruminant tribe of cowboys who have learned and adopted the ways of the Indians, who roam the lands surrounding the town and stop in every once and awhile. They both consider the other barbaric in their own right.
I need some excuses for tension between these two families and cultural tension is not enough. I am hoping someone can help me identify what some key resources would have been (cattle?) that could serve as a springboard for feuding families in the Old West.
Any other ideas are also welcomed!
Water is an essential resource that has caused a lot of "wars" in the wild west. These wars are still going on in the courtrooms of the western states.
Back in the 19th century surface water was essential because powered pumping of water was not as easy or not possible as it is today. Springs, rivers and lakes were the rarest and most valuable thing to have on your land, and any land outside of those rare areas was considered barren wasteland.
An interesting primary resource about attitudes and events of the wild, wild, west are given in the book "Western Wilds" by John Beadle. He was a newspaper reporter and writer who lived in the Utah territory, and wanted to document the west before it disappeared, knowing that once the western frontier opened up to mass immigration, the Native American culture and early settler culture would disappear. His writing is fluent and entertaining, and he tours the western states by foot, horse, and train to dig out stories that show the culture. He is friends with many of the indian tribes and stays with them in some parts of his travels.
Here's a free copy on archive.org ---> https://archive.org/details/westernwildsmenw01bead