Chapter 17 - Section 1 Mining and Railroad 1849-1890 1

Boom and Bust and the Comstock Lode Many people came to the west for the Mining The gold rush of 1849 in California made a lot of people want to take their chances and head over there and see if they could strike gold In 1859 two Irish prospectors found gold in the Sierra Nevada but a man named Henry Comstock said the claim was on HIS land. A the Comstock lode a blue-tinted sand stuck to all the equipment and made the gold hard to dig out

The Boom spreads After the Civil War, prospectors fanned out over the west. They found valuable ores in Montana, Idaho, and Colorado. They made a gold strike in the South Dakota's Black Hills Each strike had great excitement Comstock gave up and sold his mining rights for $11,000 and two mules Many other prospectors sold their claims to large mining companies. By the 1880s. Western mining had become a big business

Boomtown Life Tent cities like Virginia City often arose around the diggings. Soon hotels, stores, and other wood frame buildings appeared. Mining camps quickly grew into boomtown, town that has rapid growth Women who joined the mining boom could make a good living. Some opened restaurants. Other washed clothes or took in boarders Nearly half the miners were foreign-born.

Frontier Justice Mining towns sprouted so fast that law and order were hard to find. Miners formed groups of vigilantes. All the ore was soon extracted. Mines shut down and miners moved away. After that Merchants left because there was no business for them because all the miners moved away, then they left and no one was still in these Boomtowns.

The Railroad Boom Railroads raced to lay track to the mines and boomtowns. Aid to Railroads Federal government began to offer subsidies, grants of money.

Spanning the Continent Many westerners dreamed of a transcontinental railroad, a railroad line that spanned the continent. The railroads hired thousands of workers-native-born whites, Mexican Americans, and African Americans. The work was hazardous; the pay low. Cutting through the Sierra Nevada, Chinese manual laborers were lashed by snow and winds.

Effects of the Railroad New towns sprang up in the West. People and supplies poured in. Rapid population brought political changes.

By Spencer and Kevin