1. Going for the Gold Ch 18 section1

2. Big Business Pikes Peak located in the Colorado Rockies was rich with gold. Newspapers were claiming that miners could make $20 a day panning for gold. Doesn’t seem like a lot of money? It was… Servants were typically paid $1 a day!!! Bt 1859- over 50,000 prospectors fled to Colorado.

3. Pikes Peak Prospectors were so eager to get to Colorado they had a slogan called “Pikes Peak or Bust”

4. Panning for gold was common- but most of the gold was deep between the layers of earth or “lodes”. Silver was found in “lodes” later called the “Comstock Lodes” named after Henry Comstock.

5. Boomtowns Towns that were started almost overnight by mining sites. Where did those who mined at the Comstock live? In Virginia City, Nevada. What do you think boomtowns were like?

6. Boomtowns Were usually lawless Lively Filled with lots of different people from different places (even from Mexico & China) Lots of $ was made but lots of money was lost… by doing what???

7. That’s right!- Gambling

8. What kind of $ did a miner make? A good miner made about $2000 a year - 4 TIMES THE AMOUNT OF TEACHER BACK THEN!!!

9. Boomtown continued… Ok- so boomtowns sound great huh??? No laws, good money- card games… but there's a catch. You see, things like clothes, food, and housing was very expensive. After you paid for those things- you had very little to save or send back home.

10. Violence in Boomtowns was very common. Why???

11. That’s right- No laws People carried a lot of cash and weapons like guns. Cheating & Stealing were common too. No police or prisons so there were no consequences. People didn’t feel safe. Vigilantes- dealt out their our kind of justice- usually hanging people that did wrong.

12. What about women you may ask?? Most Boomtowns were men. For every 100 men their were 50 women and for every 100 men their were only 10 kids. Some women opened businesses like: Laundromats Were cooks Or were entertainers Or teachers

13. “Booms” then “Busts” When the gold & silver was gone, so were the workers. In 1870 Virginia City Nevada had 30,000 people living in it. By 1900 only 4,000 called it home Boom Towns became Ghost Towns

14. New States enter the Union Colorado joined the union in 1876 North Dakota, South Dakota Washington & Montana 1889 Wyoming & Idaho 1890

15. Railroads

16. Get connected The East & West are now connected by the railroad. The railroad was paid for by subsides- which is financial aid from the govt.

17. TRANSCONTENTIAL This means a span of the Atlantic Coast & Pacific Coasts On May 10, 1869 the railroad was completed. A Chinese crew laid 10 miles of track in 12 hours. Do you think the Chinese have a good work ethic?

18. 2 sets of track The two sets of track met at Promontory Point in Utah territory. The countries economics BOOMED because of the railroad. This meant a lot of people could travel & spend money in America.

19. Time Zones Because of all the people and new towns, we divided the country into four time zones. Can anyone name them???

21. 4 time zones Pacific Central Mountain Eastern