THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT OF POPULATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION
[Sidenote: =The gold seeker=]
[Sidenote: =Three routes to the Pacific coast=]
[Sidenote: =New discoveries of gold=]
=193. The New West.= We have seen how the discovery of gold in the
sand near the American River over one hundred miles from San Francisco
started the tremendous rush to the Pacific coast. The gold seekers
went by three routes: by ship all the way around the Horn, the longest
and stormiest way; by ship to Panama and beyond, a way beset by danger
from fever in crossing the isthmus; and by long overland trails on
which travelers suffered untold hardships from losing their way on
the sandy plains or among the mountains. Many hundreds perished from
sickness and hunger. In 1858, ten years later, gold was discovered near
Pike's Peak; in 1859, silver was found in what is now southern Nevada.
People streamed westward in ever-increasing numbers. Long lines of
covered wagons, called "prairie schooners," filled with fortune seekers
toiled over the plains and mountain trails. "Way stations" sprang
up along the routes of travel, to supply the needs of immigrants.
These supply stations soon grew into towns. Then came the discovery
of gold in what is now Idaho and Montana, and in the Black Hills of
the Dakotas. The westward tide of population broadened. It filled the
bounds of the United States from the Dakotas to Texas; but it was the
lure of gold and silver that caused all this early development.
=194. A Faster Means of Travel.= The demand for means of rapid
communication with the new West became strong. It was necessary to
bind the new country firmly with the old. The "pony express" and the
overland stage were too risky and too slow.
[Sidenote: =California admitted as a state=]
The number of people in California was increasing steadily. In 1850,
two years after the discovery of gold, California with about one
hundred thousand inhabitants was admitted as a state. The Homestead
Law of 1862, by which settlers could easily obtain land, brought great
numbers of farmers to the western plains.
The first railway engine in the United States was built in 1830.
Such engines had been in use in England for some time. The earliest
railroads were very short. Seven companies owned the parts of the first
line from Albany, New York to Buffalo. Now in the same number of great
systems is included two-thirds of the mileage of the United States.
[Illustration: A CALIFORNIA MINING CAMP OF '49]
[Sidenote: =Rapid growth of railroads=]
On March 10, 1869, the Union Pacific Railway, the first link between
the Atlantic and the Pacific, was finally completed. There were then
only a few short lines besides, west of the Mississippi. It was hard to
find the large amounts of capital needed for railway building. Congress
and the states helped the railroads by granting them many square miles
of land along their rights of way. After 1869 the miles of railroad in
the United States increased over seven times in twenty years. To-day
(1920) seven great railways cross the mountains to the Pacific coast.
[Sidenote: =Farming develops=]
=195. The Growth of Farming.= The railroads brought thousands of
settlers into the new regions. But it was no longer to hunt for gold.
It was to build homes on the rich farm lands of the West.
Miners, cattlemen, farmers, and permanent settlers crowded on the lands
of the Indians. The regions occupied by the red men now became smaller
and smaller. Nearly all the Indians were placed on reservations on
land which the national government does not allow to pass out of their
hands.
[Sidenote: =Irrigation projects aided by the government=]
The need of more and still more land brought the farmers to the dry
slopes and plateaus of both sides of the Rockies. Here were vast
regions which water would make productive. The government gave its
support to great irrigation projects. Water was brought to the barren
deserts and they became vast expanses of waving grain.
[Sidenote: =Gold becomes more difficult to get=]
In California the rich gold deposits which lay comparatively free were
growing smaller. The gold seekers were no longer able to wash gold from
the sands and gravel of the river beds, or to find nuggets in rocky
hollows of the hillsides. They had to make a living in some other way.
Vast mineral resources were still there, but they could only be reached
by mining. Expensive machinery was necessary, and companies were formed
to work the deposits.
[Sidenote: =California a great agricultural state=]
Then began the real development of California and the great Pacific
Northwest. Up to 1875 California had been peopled with prospectors for
gold. Now the output of minerals kept increasing, but the farm crops
grew still faster in value until in 1920 they were worth many times the
mineral output, because of the wonderful climate and the richness of
the land.
[Sidenote: =The leading fruit-growing state=]
The first product to which the settler turned was wheat. California
became one of the leading wheat states of the Union. Then the state
discovered its great fruit-growing possibilities, and to-day it raises
the largest fruit crop in the nation. People at first became almost as
excited about their golden orange crops as they had been over yellow
metal.
[Sidenote: =Great cities develop=]
Meanwhile great cities were springing up rapidly, and the riches of
forest, mine, and stream brought unlimited prosperity and growth. Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland have taken their places
among the great cities of the Union.
[Sidenote: =Agriculture on the great plains=]
From the Mississippi valley to the mountains agriculture and commerce
developed with great strides. Enormous elevators were built to handle
the vast quantities of grain. Great packing plants were established,
where immense numbers of cattle and sheep could be slaughtered and the
meat shipped to all parts of the world.