Which is the.... "WILD WEST?"... CC or S ?
topstuf
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I know (and I also am guilty) of considering Carson City to have the "romance of the old west" but I wonder.
Carson City seems to me to be the "assay office" to handle bullion from Nevada and environs.
But San francisco was where the "action" happened.
Or is it? 
Which is the.... "WILD WEST?"... CC or S ?
This is a private poll: no-one will see what you voted for.
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CC is the definition of the Wild Wild West
Thank you, Mr. Cartwright.
Both.
There's no law west of Dodge and no God west of the Pecos. Right, Mr. Chisum?
Carson City.... Frisco could not measure up in that respect.....Cheers, RickO
OK, San Francisco is west of Carson City, but Carson City was at least per capita arguably wilder, assuming neighboring Virginia City is included.
Can't compare the two. One is on a beautiful harbor and ocean, the other over the hills. CC was a mud hole with not much wild west happenings. At least from reading diaries from those that lived there, Carson was quite mundane. No gunfights, gunfighters, gangs or other pests to bother the hard working folks.
SF on the other hand was the real "wild west" with all the money flowing into the city, drugs, prostitution, and yes, gunfights....California was a minors mecca with gold in streams not seams (placer verses hard rock mining). Totally different and can't compare the two.
I would not want to live in either place.
bob
Nice analysis, but neighboring Virginia City was and remains the poster child of what a stereotypical Wild West town looked like with its concentration of Dancing and Gambling Halls. Interestingly, Mark Twain did choose to live in both places.
On added reflection though, the frog races he wrote about in the hinterland probably were a bit tamer except didn't he end up having to depart due to a threatened gunfight duel?
San Francisco in 1854 was probably wilder than Carson City in 1870. What about Denver? Came along even later, so more civilized, I guess.
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SF was wild before CC
1856 Vigilance Committee
When I think of the Wild West
at least for a brief period of time
Bodie comes to mind.
SF had as many spurs as CC.
It is an interesting question as to why people tend to think of CC more than CAlifornia as the wild west. I'm guessing later pop culture fictions had a lot to do with it.
Even the aforementioned Bonanza used to talk about SF as this civilized city.
I consider them both to be the wild west.
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Elaborating on Mark Twain's "dueling" experiences in the two locations, this from the Wikipedia account of Mark Twain's life in Nevada:
Historian Ron Powers states that when Twain left Nevada he "drew the curtain of charity over the wildest, most irresponsible and dangerous period of his life. …But this dangerous interval was also the most important gestative period of his writing life. Sam discovered the true essence of his craft…"
Good question. I didn't answer the poll as I think both qualify.
I think we (coin collectors) think of CC as the Wild West as much because the mint there mostly operated in that era, whereas the S mint is still going strong.
And @AUandAG had a good point - I also am not sure I would really want to live in either place. There are plenty of modern day "wild" cities in the US where I would not want to live. We have romanticized the old west, but it was a tough place with tough people living tough lives. There are modern day counterparts but I doubt they'll ever make sanitized movies or musicals about them.
The "beautiful harbor" in SF during the gold rush was a festering muddy bog of decaying ships that were utilized for shops and bars. The "Barbary Coast" was as wild as it gets.
By comparison, Nevada was relatively mild. Unless of course you look at the Paiute massacres of settlers and the brazen murders and stage robberies.
I guess they may have had a ....tad... cleaner clothes when mugging in SF.
San Fran was the capital of the West, Carson city is the wild part
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Neither CC nor S.
The Wild West was Tejas!
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Both.
my thoughts are that San Francisco probably set the standard in part due to the California Gold Rush and in part because it was such a great seaport. I think if we look at it through the lens of a US Branch Mint being established there that it becomes clear that San Francisco was a head of Carson City by at least a few decades. then it would seem that SF became a little civilized and the mantle went East to Carson City.
I think we always presume Carson City was the Wild West due to its involvement in the latter part of 19th Century, but in truth San Francisco had already "been there and done that" in the first half of the Century.
I'd say the PUBLIC perception is colored by the location.
And ....The TV show, Bonanza.
Just wish I could still find an occasional CC mintmarked coin in change or roll searches like I find S mintmarked coins.
Weren’t some forum members around back then? Maybe they could tell us.
I couldn't find either when I stepped off the Mayflower.
SF was as wild as anywhere in the west at one time, however it also became a cultural destination with plays, opera and other civilized activities. Carson had little to none of those pursuits so its easier to think of it as uncivilized and more of the stereotypical wild west.
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CC had "none of those pursuits" in the 1880s when SF did. But if you compare 1840s SF to 1880s CC, I don't think you'll find much difference.