Western Culture in New Mexico

The New Mexico Western culture is rooted in hard work, individuality, and a love for the frontier. The blue skies and wide open spaces provide for a perfect setting for the legendary cowboy traditions, which still run true today. Cowboy boots, blazer and a bolo tie are considered proper business attire in the Land of Enchantment. Today, New Mexico is not as unruly as compared to the Wild West era. In the mid 1800s when western expansion was getting underway, the west was in the public domain, open to homesteading and establishing livestock.

There was little law, and the U.S. Military was confined mostly to outposts and forts in concentrated areas on trails throughout the territories. Railroad men, Buffalo and animal trappers scrapped and sometimes paid with their lives in the establishment of the west. The pioneer spirit was born in the fact that people could settle their own land, develop their farms and towns with ease. Missionaries and explorers told lavish stories of vast landscapes, abundant game, and glistening rivers and lakes in the region. These images fed the hunger of the pioneers to come westward towards a life of promise.

By the early 1880s, the railroad arrived in New Mexico and increased the population and culture of the region. Even with the military still in the area, law enforcement was vague and order was established by the use of the gun. The mystique of the Wild West era can still be felt today in New Mexico where many aspects of the cowboy culture are alive and well. The cowboy boots and hats worn by locals are more than just a fashion statement. Many of the people still work ranches and farms, some just a stone throw from the bustle of urban New Mexico.