What were the top towns of the Old West?

[Checkertail20]

Originally Posted by 17thAirborneSon

Leadville Coloradohttp://www.leadville.com/history/

I use to live in Leadville and it is a nice little town. Other than being known as a famous Old West Town it also has the distinction of being the highest incorporated town in the U.S. at 10,152 feet above sea level.

[Mountain Man]

El Paso and Laredo, frontier towns on the border, and an easy escape route to the South.

Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Central City and Blackhawk - gold mining.

Tin Cup - gold mining.

Telluride and Ouray - gold mining.

Durango.

Virginia City - gold mining.

Carson City - home of the Comstock Silver Lode.

Sierra City, California - gold mining

Downieville and Goodyear's Bar - gold mining.

[KRJ]

It depends on the era. Most people think of "Old West" as meaning the post-ACW era and most of the towns mentioned so far reflect that. Pre-ACW, the Spanish towns were very important. San Antonio was rightly mentioned but Taos, Santa Fe and Los Angeles were important too.

Many Rocky Mountian trappers wintered and resupplied in Taos throughout the glory days of the fur trade. The California Rancheros produced a lot of cattle so Los Angeles was important for shipping. Oddly, I don't think LA shipped that much beef, I think it was mostly hides and tallow. I'm not sure what the significance of Santa Fe was but it's a very old town so it must have been serving a purpose.

I'd say the west was just as wild or wilder during the fur trade era or when all the aristocratic Spanish dandies carried blades and were ready to duel as it was during the gunfighter era of popular imagination.

[rebpreacher]

I thought of Atchisson,Kansas You know 'Atchisson,Topeka,and Santa Fe. And Cheyenne,Wyoming. I remember Cheyenne from the song 'Old Paint' or some call it 'Good Bye Old Paint' One man in the service said it was called 'I'm Leaving Cheyenne' So who knows. What we need is a attacks like the pinups of old cowboy songs and standards of that age,like 'Sweet Betsy From Pike' You know?

[Texas Drover]

Any town between Brownsville, Cameron County, Texas and Miles City, Montana was significant and especially so if you were forkin' a horse on the Great Western Cattle Trail between 1874 and 1886. Every town along the trail that had a U. S. Post Office was significant because in that Post Office you might have a letter in the "Will Call" box from your sweetheart back home or from the family telling you about how things were going back home on the ranch. Life on the trail was lonesome. Besides every town had a mercantile that might have in stock exactly what you needed to make the trip up the trail just a little bit more pleasant. There was also a saloon most likely where you could have the barkeep pour you a shot so you could wash some of the dirt out of your craw.
Follow the highway out of Brownsville to San Antonio, to Kerrville, Brady, Coleman, Albany, Vernon, Altus, Oklahoma to Carmargo, Fort Supply, Dodge City, past Ogallala, Nebraska and up the Platte and through Miles City and you will pass through one significant town after another. You won't be sorry you did, either.

[Midnight Star]

I use to live near the town of Silverado California. In the movie Silverado, the main characters state that they are planning to leave Silverado to travel west to California. Was there ever a real old west town called Silverado?