How Did The Transformation Of The West Change The Frontier

The transformation of the West changed the frontier into a new and growing part of the United States. Over the period of twenty five years the land changed drastically. New technologies were created allowing the expansion of the United States to continue marching forward. The Native Americans were conquered and the railroads brought greater civilizations. The United States had already started creating a path leading into the West by laying down railroad tracks, consequently the Indians fought back in fear of losing their homelands and people. Since the Native Americans kept interfering with the progress of the expansion, the United States attempted to create treaties with the native populations and tried creating reservations. These small areas of land were nothing compared to the Great Plains their people had once ruled, so the Indians fought back. In the beginning the Indians had an advantage, of course with the knowledge of the terrain but they were also able to fight back quicker with their bow and arrow then the American troops could with their muzzle loaders. However, that all changed when the .45 Colt revolver and the 1873 Winchester repeating rifle became more popular. These two technologies dramatically influenced the expansion. The Indian Wars weren’t even

They also played a major role in developing the agricultural West. The perfected refrigerator cars allowed the cattle/meat market to grow immensely due to the large quantities of cattle grazing land now opened up by military campaigns. They also transported numerous amounts of settlers and treasure hunters to the new lands. During the exploration of the West the Americans found gold, silver, and other precious metal deposits all over. These findings brought many more settlers to the West, even though after a while many of these “boom towns” began to fade; bigger mining corporations came bringing more people and