We often hear about the "Old West" however I've always wondered what the transitional period between the "Old West" and just the "West" was. When did the western "cowboy" lifestyle fade out and become more modern?
The influential contemporary historian Frederick Turner famously declared that the frontier (akin to 'Old West') in 1890 whereby the Native American population, harshness of the landscape and much of the mystery and intrigue of lands to be explored had been mitigated and suppressed [1].
This trend evidenced it can be argued by the creation of the national park system in the US commencing with Yellowstone in 1872. The symbolism of this is that its founders were attempting to recreate scenes of a 'virgin landscape' [2]. The National Parks attempted to restore a lost history and serve as a memorial to the 'frontier spirit' which was the glue which held the early United States together [3].