How Do Frontiers Influence Westward Expansion

1) The main idea presented in the text is about how different frontiers influence the westward expansion. The frontier help expand to the West by giving Americans land for settlement, which attracted many people like pioneers, miners, ranchers, and farmers. As people move to the West and the population grew due to the different frontiers. During the mining frontier, miners only cared about searching for fortune and wherever the fortune was the miner was sure to be there, which was in the West. Miners started out in California then moved on to Rocky Mountains, and other places in the West. When news of gold being found was spread prospectors people from almost everywhere came rushing to the gold places. Gold was also found in Pike’s

Due to the poor transportation before railroads, there was not a lot of buyers that bought meat from the west and it was hard for the west to transport meat to the populated cities of the east in the east markets so most ranchers sold their meat locally. Authors Faulkner and Kepner states, “Railroads brought the farmers to the West, sold them land, and carried products to market.” Railroads became a big thing, as it was an efficient transportation. Ever since railroads were created it helped business, especially in the West. Author Faulkner and Kepner also mentions that “It moved the packing industry westward and forced the solution of problems in the packing, refrigeration, and transportation of meat products.” In other words, railroads not only help the industry, but also solved problems. When products and cattle became profitable the ranching spread throughout the West to the East. If it had not been for the railroads, people like miners and farmers/ranchers would not have been able to get their products to market or struggle to. An example would be the cattle drives of the Old West. Cattle were taken from ranches to the railroad trains to be shipped back to the East. The railroad was made possible by government, as stated by authors Faulkner and Kepner, “The transcontinental railroads were aided by large grants of land from the federal

The barbed wire fence and windmills helped the farmers with their land development. Because the West mainly consisted of agricultural there were farmers and livestock. Farmers needed a way to protect their land property and the idea of barbed wire fencing came into play. Both authors Faulkner and Kepner state, “If the farmers were to advance onto the plains, they must have some sort of means to protect themselves against the ranchers.” If the farmers didn’t protect their land then it would be in ruins, for example, livestock eating crops. So it was important for farmers to keep livestock out from their crops so they can market. In the West, not all areas had sufficient rainfall, affecting crops and other things, so the development of windmills helped solve the problem. Even though there was not enough rainfalls for the crops, the farmers did dry farming to try and make profit. Faulkner and Kepner states, “Examples of the latter are Turkey and Crimean wheat, Kafir corn, and Sudan grass.” Still, farmers needed a way to get water for their livestock and themselves, which led to the development of windmills. The windmills made it possible to pump water from the ground to use for livestock, farmers themselves and crops. Windmills help expand the West by having access to water for farmers, ranchers and