The Vanishing West

The western United States was a unique place in history. There are green fertile Rivers there are scorching hot deserts there are  fourteen thousand foot Peak mountains. And in one spot there's  a beautiful Pine Forest surrounded by desolate desert for 100 miles in all Directions. It has death valley, the great salt lake and lake Tahoe. Some of the best wines on Earth ARe produced here and in some places prostitution is legal. The first train track connecting the east coast to the West Coast was finished in 1869 in Utah. The horse was still largely the main mode of transportation until the early 1900s. It was a beautiful place and quite often a lonely and Deadly Place. My grandfather told of a cowboy who was caught in a hail storm. He and his horse were killed. That was a little over a hundred years ago. It seems like a thousand years removed.