1860 To Western Expansion Essay

From 1860 to 1890 the United States was changed forever by western expansion. Prior to the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1869 there were only three major cities in the west; St. Louis, MO, New Orleans, LA, and Chicago, IL (Westward Expansion 1) This limited the American economy to a finite number of distribution and shipping options. This all changed though with the east and west coasts being connected by rail. While Chicago, IL gets most of the historical credit for being a critical city in the growth westward, the true underdog is Denver, CO. What started as a small mining town at the base of the Rocky Mountains, became a keystone rail junction in the western frontier. Denver, CO was founded in 1858 when prospectors from Georgia

The Union Pacific Railroad was the first railroad to connect the east and west coasts as it stretched from Chicago to San Francisco. The Union Pacific Railroad decided to skirt the Rocky Mountains on their north side, and instead of going through Denver, CO it ran through Cheyenne, WY. The people of Denver were not very happy about being left out, so a group of investors raised over $300,000. They then used this money to build their own railroad, calling themselves the Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company (Noel

Moving into 1870 though, railway travel to San Francisco was becoming increasingly easier. The construction of railroads was one of the leading job industries in the country. Between 1870 and 1890 almost 75,000 miles of railroad track were completed. During this same time frame, two significant events occurred that solidified Denver as the pivotal city for American expansion west. The first event occurred in 1879 in the small town of Leadville, CO. Shortly after the United States Government passed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, over 80 million dollars’ worth of silver was discovered in the mountains around Leadville (Leach 1) This sparked another flood of personnel, west to Denver. Businessmen, prospectors, mining companies, jewelers; thousands more moved to Denver via railway in the hopes of striking it rich. The second significant event occurred when in 1888, a second railroad to the west coast was completed hen Denver ran a rail line south to Santa Fe, NM just as construction was finished on a rail line from Santa Fe to a young Los Angeles, CA. Now American all over the country had options. A New Yorker could take a train to Chicago, then on to Kansas, Kansas to Denver, then Santa Fe, and lastly out to Los