WESTWARD EXPANSION AND DEVELOPMENT
THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT OF POPULATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
The gold seeker
Three routes to the Pacific coast
New discoveries of gold
193. The New West. We have seen how the discovery of gold in the sand near the American River over one hundred miles from San Francisco started the tremendous rush to the Pacific coast. The gold seekers went by three routes: by ship all the way around the Horn, the longest and stormiest way; by ship to Panama and beyond, a way beset by danger from fever in crossing the isthmus; and by long overland trails on which travelers suffered untold hardships from losing their way on the sandy plains or among the mountains. Many hundreds perished from sickness and hunger. In 1858, ten years later, gold was discovered near Pike's Peak; in 1859, silver was found in what is now southern Nevada. People streamed westward in ever-increasing numbers. Long lines of covered wagons, called "prairie schooners," filled with fortune seekers toiled over the plains and mountain trails. "Way stations" sprang up along the routes of travel, to supply the needs of immigrants. These supply stations soon grew into towns. Then came the discovery of gold in what is now Idaho and Montana, and in the Black Hills of the Dakotas. The westward tide of population broadened. It filled the bounds of the United States from the Dakotas to Texas; but it was the lure of gold and silver that caused all this early development.
194. A Faster Means of Travel. The demand for means of rapid communication with the new West became strong. It was necessary to bind the new country firmly with the old. The "pony express" and the overland stage were too risky and too slow.
California admitted as a state