C18 S1 The Mining Booms

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C18 S1 The Mining Booms

• Creation of new states.
• Construction of the transcontinental railroad.
• New wave of settlement.
• Benefited industry.

• What were the causes and effects of mining booms
  in the West?

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Chapter 18 Opening the West

• In 1858 gold was found at Pikes Peak in the
  Colorado Rockies.
• The discovery brought about 50,000
• prospectors to the gold fields of Colorado.
• In 1859 the Comstock Lode, found one of the
  worlds richest deposits of silver ore is
  discovered in Nevada.
• Gold and silver strikes created boomtowns.
• As the quantities of gold and silver
• decreased, miners began looking for other
  metals, like copper, lead, and zinc.

• Gold, Silver, and Boomtowns

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Railroads Connect East and West

• Because railroads were so important, the federal
  government agreed.
• It gave subsidies, or financial aid and land
  grants, to the railroad companies 130 million
  acres of land.
• States and communities also offered
• subsidies to make sure railroads
• were built in their areas.

• Railroad companies asked for free land on which
  to build tracks.

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• This would cross the continent and connect the
  Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
• In 1869 the railroad was completed. The two sets
  of tracks met at Promontory Summit in Utah
  Territory.
• Railroads brought workers to the West, they also
  carried metals, produce, and manufactured goods.

• People saw the need for a transcontinental
  railroad.