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vigilante: ordinary people that punished
criminals in boomtowns
subsidy: financial aid and land grants from the
gov’t
transcontinental: stretches from east to west
coast
Chapter 18:
Opening the West
Section 1: The Mining Booms
Big Idea:
What were the causes and effects of mining
booms in the West?
What opportunity might tempt your family to
move to a new state?
What happened in the past that tempted people
to move to the West?
Gold, Silver, and Boomtowns
● 1858 gold was discovered at Pikes Peak in
CO. Rockies
o papers claimed miners were making $20 a
day panning
● Spring 1859 about 50,000 prospectors went
to CO.
o individuals panned and scraped the surface
● Companies could mine deep down where
the gold was
Boom and Bust
● 1859 one of world’s richest silver deposits
found
o near Nevada’s Carson River
o a.k.a. Comstock Lode
 Henry Comstock owned a share
o thousands of mines opened
o few were profitable
o Comstock boomtown = Virginia City, NV
● boomtowns were
o
o
o
o
lively
lawless
money come and money go
violence
 few had police
 many had vigilantes
o mostly men, few women lived
● women worked as:
o laundresses
o cook
o entertainers
● women founded
o schools
o churches
● Most booms were followed by busts
o ghost towns
The United States Expands West
● as gold and silver disappeared other mining
happened
o copper
o lead
o zinc
● as these mining areas grew new states
came
● CO joined 1876
● ND, SD, WA, MT joined 1889
● WY, ID joined 1890
Railroads Connect East and West
● needed a way to ship gold and silver out
● needed a way to get goods into boomtowns
● wagon and stagecoaches were too slow, too
small
● railroads expanded quickly 1865-1890
o 35,000 -150,000 miles
Government and the Railroads
● railroad construction supported by gov’t
subsidy
● railroad execs. said they should get free land
o the railroad would be important in connecting
E to W
 important for whole country
o they were given 130 million acres
 most purchased or got from Nat. Amer. by
treaties
● gov’t grant included land 20 to 80 miles on
the sides of track
o this land sold by railroad company for extra $
● towns offered cash to make sure the railroad
come to them
o L.A. gave $ and built a passenger terminal
Spanning the Continent
● looking for the transcontinental route began
1850s
o during civil war Union gov’t chose a northerly
route
 gov’t offered land grants
 hard work laying 1,700 miles of rail
● plains hot, rugged mtns.
● Union Pacific Company started in Omaha,
NE building west
● Central Pacific Company started
Sacramento, CA and built east
o both would be paid for the track they laid
● Central Pacific hired 10,000 Chinese
laborers
o 1865 - $28 per month
● Union Pacific hired Irish and Af. Amer.
● all worked hard
o
o
o
o
o
choking heat of summer
icy winds of winter
through mtns.
cleared forests
blasted tunnels
● Central Pacific laid 742 miles in harsher
terrain
● Union Pacific 1,038 miles
The Transcontinental Railway
● completed May 10, 1869
o a Chinese crew lad 10 miles in 12 hours
o joined at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory
o Leland Stanford (CA gov.) drove last golden
spike
Effects of the Railroads
● by 1883 2 more transcontinental lines and
dozen shorter lines built
o thousands of workers moved west
o trains took metals and produce east
o took manufactured goods west
● with more rails, more steel was needed
● coal, railroad car builders, and construction
companies all benefited
● town sprang up along the rail
o Denver was one
● railroad brought next wave of ranchers and
farmers west
● had to come up with new way to unify time
o using the sun not accurate enough
 through off train schedules
 risked train collisions
o solution...time zones
 became official 1918 by congress
locomotive technology improvements and air
brakes = bigger trains
freight costs dropped
1860- 2¢ per ton per mile
1900 - 3/4ths a cent
helped merge the different regions and unite
the country
Big Idea: What were the causes and effects
of mining booms in the West?
● discovery of metals led to the mining booms
● booms led to creation of new states
● creation of new states led to
transcontinental railroad
● transcontinental railroad led to more settlers
● more settlers benefited industries