The Wild West (Part One) - Atlanta Astrology

The Economics Behind Cattle Drives

The Wild West as depicted in the movies last only for about thirty years. South to North Cattle drives began after the end of the Civil War in 1865 and continued until about 1890. By then railroads had built spurs and long treks with cattle were no longer required. Towns grew up along the spurs. The first cattle drive to Abilene, Kansas was in 1867.

Cattle had been left unattended during the Civil War. There were five million longhorns roaming the canebreaks and brush of Texas in 1865. There was a high demand for cows in the North where one could be sold for $40. Conversely, there was a low demand in the South. A cow was worth only $5. The North had a meatpacking industry. (Save My Exams: “Development of the Cattle Industry in the American West” by Zoe Wade)

In 1866 Pisces Charles Goodnight (March 5, 1836) and Oliver Loving, a Sagittarius (December 4, 1812), created the Gooding-Loving Trail to feed new settlements in the plains and the Navajo tribe who were starving. They drove 2,000 cattle through hostile territory and sold them for four times more than they would have made in Texas. (Ibid)

The Most Famous Lawman in Cow Towns

James Butler Hickok was famous in his own time. He liked wearing Prince Albert Coats which were long and frocked, sashes, and ruffled shirts. He probably wore a mustache to hide a protruding upper lip. His enemies called him Duckbill. His nose was long and aquiline. His pistols were placed in his sash.

Restless Wild Bill Hickok was one of the most famous lawmen and gunfighters in the turbulent years of the west. [DOB: May 27, 1837, Troy Grove, Illinois] Growing up, his parents’ family farm had been a stop for the Underground Railroad, a means for slaves to escape their bondage and get to free states or Canada. It was there he developed his proficiency with firearms. (Britannica: “Wild Bill Hickok”)

Hickok served with the Union in the Civil War as a scout. He was also a buffalo hunter. Prior to his enlistment he killed David McCanles in a shootout. He shot Davis Tutt to death in a duel over a girl and gambling debt in 1865. Tutt had been flaunting a watch he won from Hickok. After being elected sheriff in Ellis County, Kansas, Wild Bill ended the lives of two more. He became sheriff of Abilene, Kansas in 1871. Hickok and Phil Coe, a saloon owner, got into a dispute that ended with Wild Bill killing Coe. (Ibid)

In 1876 Hickok was diagnosed with glaucoma. He moved to South Dakota to try his luck in the gold fields there. Wild Bill was shot in the back of the head and killed while playing poker in Deadwood. He was holding pairs of black aces and eights which thereafter became known as the Dead Man’s Hand. (Ibid)

Wild Bill’s Horoscope

Wild Bill’s time of birth is not known. The Ascendant is therefore speculative.

James Butler Hickok was a Gemini with a Pisces Moon and Ascendant. His Moon was conjoined with Uranus. With a Gemini Sun square the Moon and Uranus, he was independent and a bit of a nonconformist. Emotions and emotional tension were high.

Each astrological sign is loosely associated with a house. A Pisces Moon has a nexus with the 12^th House of prisons and secret enemies. Jupiter represents the law and is sextile investigative, protective Saturn in Scorpio. Hickok’s career as a lawman was well-chosen.

Relationships were important to Wild Bill. [Stellium in Gemini] With his Sun/Venus conjunction in Gemini and Pisces Moon, Hickok possessed a great deal of charm, was known to be a ladies’ man who frequented houses of ill-repute (Venus square Uranus) and was married but once.

Hickok was innately flexible and adaptable [5 planets in mutable signs] but also probably sensitive to slights. [Moon, Uranus, Ascendant in Pisces]

With planets in both Pisces and Leo (Mars, Jupiter, and Black Lilith), Wild Bill was probably a natural showman with a certain flair for the dramatic.

The Outlaw Jesse James

James was still in his teens when he rode with guerillas in the Civil War. They were more desperado than soldier; irregular was a good term for them. It was thus easy for him to turn to a life of crime.

Jesse James was emblematic of a certain type of criminal activity in the Old West. In 1866 he and brother Frank robbed the Clay County Savings Association, their first bank heist, in Liberty, Missouri. They made off with over $60,000 in cash and bonds. They robbed their first train in 1873 after banks increased their security. (Legends of America: “Jesse James—Folklore Hero or Coldblooded Killer,” Kathy Alexander)

“During their fifteen-year crime spree, the James-Younger gang committed twenty-six holdups, made off with more than $200,000 and killed seventeen men.” (Ibid) Jesse killed at least two people during the course of these robberies. He shot one teller in the back of the head and killed another when the man refused to open a safe.

Jesse James was born on September 5, 1847, the fifth of six surviving children. His dad was a minister but died in 1850. The stepfather was not affectionate, but he too passed away. His mother then married a physician who taught the boys horseback writing and the use of firearms. (Ibid)

During the Civil War Jesse James served with guerilla units—William Quantrill and Bloody Bill Anderson. They engaged in a number of atrocities. Lawrence, Kansas was set ablaze by Quantrill while Anderson pulled unarmed Union soldiers from a train and murdered them. (Ibid) James probably became inured to violence.

Jesse James met his demise when he was shot in the head by Bob Ford while straightening a picture made by this mother on April 3, 1882. Ford had been promised money and a pardon by the governor. (Ibid)

Jesse James Horoscope

Jesse James’ horoscope has a Rodden Rating of C. This means the Ascendant should be viewed with caution. No time on a birth certificate was available.

James was Virgo with a Cancer Moon and Ascendant. Mercury, the ruler of his Sun, is in Leo, trine Pluto, and opposed by Neptune. He was restless, crafty, scheming, and deceptive.

Jesse’s Moon was square Uranus. Restlessness is again noted but also willfulness and irritability.

James’ Sun trine Mars would have given him ample energy and courage. He would have had the ability to make quick decisions.

Jesse James had his Sun opposed by Saturn. He may have felt he had no opportunities after the Civil War and simply slipped into a life of crime. James may have had an inferiority complex and thought he had no useful skills to offer society.

Settling the West

Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act in 1862. This gave any settler 160 acres provided they built a home and farmed for five years. (History on the Net: “American West Timeline.”) About 500,000 families migrated to the West. About 2/3 were forced to give up because of drought, hail, insects, and inadequate plots. (Angelfire: Settling the Wild West, 1865-1890”)

Five times as many settlers purchased land from railroads, states, and land companies. Ten times as much of the public domain ended up belonging to dummy corporations who took the best property and used fake promoters. (Ibid)

Railroads greatly facilitated the settling of the west. The Central Pacific and Union Pacific started from Nebraska and California and met in Utah in 1869 to link the two halves of the country.