What was the "real west" actually like?

At its geographical narrowest, it's unbelievably huge: from Texas to Montana, from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. And you could say that it was even bigger than that. The Western story is often traced as far back as Cooper's often-filmed Leatherstocking Tales, which are set in upstate New York. Was the Klondike Gold Rush part of the Wild West? Emperor Maximilian of Mexico and the battle of Buena Vista? You could argue it.