NOTES ALIGNED TO CHAPTER 4.1 MR. BABCOCK 7 TH GRADE SOCIAL STUDIES Westward Expansion and the Mining Booms

A New Gold and Silver Rush After the gold rush of the 1840s and 1850s came to an end, prospectors began looking in new locations across the West  Gold was first discovered on Pike’s Peak in Colorado in 1858 Boomtowns grew over night around these newly discovered gold and silver lodes  Comstock Lode- found in 1859, it is the largest silver ore deposit ever discovered  Created the Boomtown of Virginia City, Nevada

The Comstock Lode

Life in the Boomtowns Defined- towns that developed almost overnight around mines Characteristics-  Lively and Lawless  Full of gambling and drinking  Violence was common and many people carried guns  Few women or children lived in the boomtowns

From Boom to Bust? Most Boomtowns only last as long as the silver and gold minds kept producing. Once the mines were useless, often boomtowns would see their populations shrink. If everyone eventually left the town (as often was the case) it became a ghost town.

The Transcontinental Railroad Why build it?  The RR provided eastern cities with raw materials such as gold, silver, zinc, and copper  The RR was also the key means of transportation for people and manufactured goods heading west

The Transcontinental Railroad (Cont’d) How was it built?  The US government, along with many states and towns, subsidized the building of the transcontinental railroad  Subsidy- financial aid or land grants from the government  In addition to space for the rail tracks themselves, the government often granted railroad companies tracts of land around where the tracks would be laid sometimes as large as 80 miles wide- RR companies often sold this land to private customers to pay for the cost of continuing to lay the transcontinental railroad tracks.  This not only benefitted mining companies but also coal producers, construction companies, railroad car manufacturers, Eastern manufacturers, etc.

Transcontinental Railroad (Cont’d) Spanning the Continent  Why a northern rather than southern route?  This decision was made by the US government during the Civil War therefore its easy to understand why they would choose a route through Union states rather than through several of those in open rebellion (confederate states).  Who actually laid the track?  Two companies took on the roll of building the actual tracks. The Union Pacific Company hired most African American workers (many of whom were former slaves) who built the track from Omaha west. The Central Pacific company started laying track in Sacramento, CA in an easterly direction. They primarily employed Chinese immigrants.  When, where, and by whom was it completed?  The final spike (a solid gold spike) was driven into a tie to join the two railroads on May 10, 1869 at Promontory Summit in the Utah Territory by Leland Stanford who was the Governor of California at the time.

Effects of the Mining Boom and the Transcontinental Railroad Major Population Growth in the West Growth and Development of the entire US Economy Addition of multiple new western states Creation of the time zone system