Anson Mills is a good example of a frontier success story. Arriving in the west with almost nothing but some skills, he surveyed the town of El Paso, served in the US Army in the Civil War, was an officer in the US Cavalry following that and tried to deal honorably with the Western tribes (in the short period of time that the Grant administration wanted to do so). His cavalry unit was armed with new rifles that used metallic cartridges. Those clattered around noisily in the regulation tin-lined cartridge boxes, and Mills had a harness maker create those cartridge belts that later became a stock item in western films and photos of the Mexican Revolution. This invention seems to have made him modestly prosperous, and his early dealings with Mexico in laying out El Paso gave him experience and language skills that later brought him into the US diplomatic corps for negotiations over water use of the Rio Grande.

It's not the grandest life, but it does exemplify a big advantage to being on any frontier- there's a lot to be done and not many hands to do it, so someone with ingenuity and energy would face little competition and could sometimes thrive. For a bigger success story, of course there is Mark Twain. He arrived in Nevada in the 1850's and, with no credentials, was soon able to establish himself as a journalist and writer .

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Anson Mills :My Story

Mark Twain : Roughing It

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