How often did duels actually happen in the wild west?

by blakester731

The showdown at sunset is synonymous with cowboy culture, but how many documented cases do we actually have of this, if any? And where did this idea come from in pop culture?

Novawurmson

This thread has a number of answers.

Edit: Automoderator recommended I ping some of the previous commenters to credit them and involve them in the conversation.

/u/SnowblindAlbino and /u/rubberbaron both had comments that were helpful to me personally, and I especially liked this comment by /u/verticaljeff .