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Summary: Economic Motivators For Western Development

686 Words3 Pages

Brooke Powell
M-W 1220
Homework #1

Economic Motivators for Western Development

By the end of the Civil War, Western America was not known as the “Great American Desert” but as the “frontier” (Brinkley). The land was full of opportunities for a new found freedom. Between cattle ranching, the transcontinental railroad being completed, and the gold rush the western boomed economically. After the Civil War there was a surplus of people and foreign immigrates with skills and money. They saw the west as a new opportunity; hence the idea of Manifest Destiny.

The start of the migration west was for gold and silver. With the news of the abundance of gold and silver miners rushed to start discovering what could lye before them. The California …show more content…

As white Americans began exploring the west, the quickly realized that Anglo-Americans had already settled and developed methods and technics as well as equipment for ranching and had done it successfully. The white men saw the cattle and mustangs as free resources in the open …show more content…

Along with that demand, there was a need to get the product to the eastern side of America to continue in profiting. With that came the use and expansion of the transcontinental railroad in 1962 with the Pacific Railroad Act. With the Pacific Railroad Act, in 1870, the railroad would be about 10% in the east, with a total of 131 million acres. With the increase in acreage for railroads, it increased the demand for steel and coal. Eventually the Railroad Company and steel company will come together in leading the east in a driving economy.

The transcontinental railroad indefinitely controlled the price of many products being imported and exported due to the fact that it was the only effective way to get produces to east American. The idea was to deliver more for free, an impact mindset. As the railroad was able to reach the east, more and more items were being shipped to the east. Businesses were branching out and building companies in the east now that steel was able to be transported to the east. The population in the east increased by 300% while the manufacturing increased by

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