Settling the West After the Civil War, a dynamic period in American history opened-the settlement of the West. The lives of Western miners, farmers, and ranchers were often filled with great hardships, but the wave of American settlers continued. Railroads hastened this migration. During this period, many Native Americans lost their homelands and their way of life.

Growth of the Mining Industry Early prospectors used placer mining-using simple equipment like picks, shovels, and pans, or quartz mining-which dug deep beneath the surface.

Comstock Lode Henry Comstock staked a claim in Six-Mile Canyon, NV in 1859. He found pure silver ore. Almost overnight, the town went from a few to over 30,000 people. The town hosted the West’s first elevator called a “rising room.” Then the silver was exhausted, mines collapsed, and people moved, creating “ghost towns.” Crime was a serious problem during booms. Law enforcers were scarce, and self-appointed volunteers sometimes formed vigilance committees to track down wrongdoers.

Miner working in Comstock Lode.

Ranching and Cattle Drives Geography and climate of the Great Plains-flat, scarce water, prairie grasses. Texas longhorns adapted to living there. 1860s-railroads reached the Great Plains, and were used to ship cattle back east. Chisolm Trail (page 417)-cowboys drove nearly 1.5 million head of cattle up this trail to Abilene, Kansas. Open range helped the cattle industry to grow. It was a vast area of grassland owned by the government, where ranchers could graze their cattle free of charge. The invention of barbed wire ended open range.