Classic Westerns have generally preferred settings on the Great Plains of the United States, the area that extends east and west between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, and north and south from the Dakotas to central Texas. If landscape in general is used in cinema Westerns to isolate and intensify conflicts between order and lawlessness, then the plains fit the cinematographer’s dream. The vast stretches of arid land inhospitable to any kind of life, wildlife as well as human, provide perfect visual symbolism. Townsare isolated and railroads stretch for miles without interruption.
Historical Dictionary of Westerns in Cinema. Paul Varner. 2012.