The Old West

[millwright]

Originally Posted by fordtrucksforever

What was the average life span back then, like 29 or so? If you got a common cold, it likely resulted in death. You get snake bit, you died. You didnt have canned food. Meat had to be fresh, salted or smoked, or you died from food poisoning. Vegetables were seasonal at best. Hamburgers had not been invented yet. No insulation in your home, if not a log cabin. Highly likely to burn your house down when using the fireplace during the winter. Smallpox, Yellow fever, Scarlet fever, Pneumonia, Influenza, All usually killed a large part of the local population. Yea I am liking the idea of living back then.....not.

FTF:

I suspect your windage and elevation are a bit off in this instance ! From my researches past age 18 for males - sixteen for females - the most likely causes of death resulted from accident/injury or infection. For females it was usually childbirth and postpartum complications. For males it was almost anything resulting from physical activity far from companions or doctors. Even a tooth ache could kill you in that era !

A lot of pioneer homes were very well "insulated" being constructed of sod, and often "bank buried" as well. A properly constructed "soddy" was a warm/cool structure ! Even the unbiquitous/legendary "log cabin" could be/often was made efficient by means of doubled walls, mud chinking and interior linings. Most were roofed with split shakes/wattles/sod or any combination thereof . All were insulating. They had to be as the source of heat was usually a rather crude fireplace. >MW

[millwright]

Originally Posted by HunterAlpha1;852189[B

]lifespans were actually much higher than that back then, 40-50 for women, 60-80 for men. people rarely got common colds, because [/B]1. fewer people around to spread it and 2. stronger immune systems. canning was discovered in 1810 and was wildly popular, so food could be preserved for some time. much fewer people got food poisoning than today, again because of stronger immune systems. vegetables and other seasonal foods could be preserved. the franklin stove was invented in the 1700s, so people could keep their homes warm. disease only claimed sizable portions of the population when they became epidemics, or in areas where people were living in filth.
all in all, things were much better back then.

Statistics lie and liars figure !

Rumors - let alone facts - of contagious disease were responsible for a lot of "panics" in the 19th century ! Add to that the practice of certain individuals to spread small pox and typus to the indians.......

FWIW any perusal of cemetaries shows just how many infants/children died ! Add to that toll "childbed deaths" of fecund females ! IOW, if you were male and lived past age 16 you had a fifty/fifty chance of reaching age 50. If our were lucky you could exist past age seventy ! >MW