This time was one of great activity in all the West, and the restless
population which had gained a taste of the adventurous life of that
region was soon to have yet greater opportunities. The discovery of
gold in California unsettled not only all the West, but all America,
and hastened immeasurably the development of the West, not merely
as to the Pacific coast, but also in regard to the mountain regions
between the Great Plains and the Coast. The turbulent population of
the mines spread from California into every accessible portion of
the Rockies. The trapper and hunter of the remotest range found that
he had a companion in the wilderness, the prospector, as hardy as
himself, and animated by a feverish energy which rendered him even
more determined and unconquerable than himself. Love of excitement and
change invited the trapper to the mountains. It was love of gain which
drove the prospector thither. Commercial man was to do in a short time
what the adventurer would never have done. California, Oregon, Idaho,
Montana--how swiftly, when we come to counting decades, these names
followed upon those of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio!