How Did The Transcontinental Railroad Contribute To The Discovery Of Natural Resources

From 1864s to the beginning of the 20th century the American economy was transformed from free-market to monopoly and became a typical imperialist country. The economy was quick growing in the new ranges in the nation.This period saw the settlement of Anglo-American in the western fields, which were unlimited unmoving grounds possessed by Indians through The Homestead Act of 1862. The western boondocks had the capacity bring various improvements through commercializing of mining, rail route transport, and cultivating and dairy cattle organizations.

It was originally opposed by Northern manufacturers, who feared the loss of inexpensive labor; and Southern slaveholders, who feared the development of free soil. It was intended to branch Western immigration, but numerous frontiersmen would fail and arrive home. The Homestead Act provided settlers with 160 acres of surveyed public land. By living on the property for five years and improving it, a small fee would grant the settler the land. This served as a way to encourage the development of the family farm and fill in the normally unoccupied region in the Great Plains in which railroads facilitated this growth. Because of the severe environmental circumstances of the Great Plain region, the Homestead Act turned out to be less effective than anticipated.

     The west was rich in natural minerals such as gold, silver, and coal. These natural resources and the prospect of making a quick profit brought many young men to the west. These emigrants were not looking to settle, but to make a quick profit and return home. Cities like Portland, San Antonio, and Denver practically grew overnight as people flocked to get their share of the gold, as seen in Document D and G. News of

Richard White’s 2011 book titled Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America is about the corrupt and mismanaged transcontinental railroads and bold arguments of the story how they came and went. In this book White describes how the construction of the transcontinental railroads across the US in the late nineteenth century would change America socially, economically, and politically. He also describes the companies that built these railroads and argues with three main points on why they were corrupt companies. First I’d like to go over the three different ways that the railroads would affect America, socially, economically, and politically.

During the time, Northern Europeans settled in Prairies. The federal government encourage by creating the “Homestead Act”, an act to allow any American or freed slave to have their own property; such as 160 acres of land. In common to the Railroads, it helped provide many people jobs and brought civilization to many areas that were abandoned before. As the railroads linked together from East to West, people also shipped out raw materials, and goods to other states. Many challenges affected families on the Great Plains such as, protecting the crops against Cattle herds; many farmers try to avoid them getting near the crops so it won’t be eaten, or can develop a form of disease. Also, dry seasons: which can convert the land into a dry desert;

At this time in the US, citizens were looking forward to a pattern of sustained economic growth. While most of this was due to the large weight of slave labor-dependent cotton production and cotton exports of the Southern states, the economies of the Northeast, with industry, and of the Middle West, with food production, also paid tribute to this economic growth by means of inter-regional trade. While the majority of industry was situated in the Northeast, there was a growing trend of movement to the West; while in 1840 the Northeast had 43% of the population, with the West Central having only 2%, that number had grown to 7% in 1860, and 12% in 1880. There was also a massive gold rush in California, triggered on January 24, 1848 by random

After the Transcontinental Railroad, a railway that stretched across the entire US, was completed in 1869, there were new opportunities expanding in the West. According to the Homestead Act Document which was written in May of 1862, people could obtain free land when under certain conditions, such as “...who has never borne arms against the United States Government…,” and being an approved citizen of the United States. These people were allowed a certain allotment of land in the west, and all they had to do was move there. This allowed expansion for the US, and it made more room for the massive amounts of immigrants pouring in to the country. The Homestead Act of 1862 created a positive effect on the people coming into the United States, and it helped to expand the territory of the country to potentially develop more towns and opportunities for

On May 20, 1862, The United States Congress passed the Homestead Act. This act encouraged thousands of Americans living in crowded conditions along the east coast to move to the Great Plains and begin farming the land. By the 1930s the farmers of the Great Plains engaged in poor farming practices. Some of the poor farming practices included over plowing and failure to rotate their crops for maintaining healthy soil. Soon this area

During the 1800's there was much speculation of geographic and demographic opportunity out in the west. Much of the east coast was crowded and overpopulated with lack of opportunity. The land east of the Mississippi River appealed to these due to the discovery of gold and spacious fertile land to build ranches and grow crops. The Homestead Act of 1862 entitled these new settlers one hundred and sixty acres of land for a small fee with the agreement the land would be improved and maintained to occupy crops and raise cattle within the 5 years. Once the 5 years were up and these challenges were met, the land would be given to them by the government. Homesteading

Have you ever seen a railroad? Well, there was a time when railroads were desperately needed. This was the time of the Transcontinental Railroad. In my paper I will explain the purpose of the railroad, challenges the workers faced, and the results of the finished railroad.

The first transcontinental railroad began was building in 1863. Half of this railroad was built by Chinese immigrants. The Chinese immigrants came to find jobs because there was famine in China. Since the Chinese workers were hard workers and they would do the same job for less, there were soon thousands of Chinese workers. The transcontinental finished building in 1869, but by that time, there were too many Chinese workers in USA looking for jobs.

I learned many events of history and my most favorite one was the building of transcontinental railroad. A transcontinental railroad is a railroad that spanned the entire continent. For the transcontinental railroad to be built congress passed a bill that called two companies to built a transcontinental railroad across the center of the United States. The two companies was the Central Pacific and Union Pacific. The Central Pacific hired Chinese. The Union Pacific hired former soldiers from the north and south, freed slaves, and Irish immigrants. Both companies hired native americans. The two companies building the railroad were given given 20 square miles of land for every track that laid. With land they got they got money because they sold

In order to promote expansion, the federal government needed a tactic that would allow everyone to easily migrate. The United States was able to grow even more due to the bills and acts that they passed. Through the Homestead Act, citizens or immigrants could apply and go through a three-step course that would allow them to claim one hundred sixty acres of land for free or for a small amount of money (The Homestead Act of 1863). The Preemption Acts of 1830s and 1840s and other earlier acts were also created in favor that citizens could acquire cheap land. During 1862, the Civil War was in effect and the issue of slavery was at its peak. The federal government wanted more people to have land without slaves. They achieved this goal by supporting new innovations and inventions. The government supplied railroad and

In the mid-1800s, many Americans began to move westward, with a variety of motivations. Farmers were drawn west by all of the fertile, open land in the west, offered to them cheap by the Homestead Act. The California Gold Rush was another reason many moved west. Gold was discovered in California, and miners flocked there, hoping to strike it rich. Additionally, cattle ranchers were attracted to the west because their beef cattle thrived on the abundant grasses and open range of the Great Plains. Later on, newly built railroads, including the first transcontinental railroad, made transportation of people and goods west much more feasible, and opened the West to rapid settlement (History Alive). Although Westward Expansion was a time of full

Three factors led to the Homesteading Boom in Montana. Firstly, dry farming was used in agriculture. Secondly, land was cheap or even free due to the Homestead Act. And finally, a great promotional campaign was started. Settlers were told they would have ample amounts of water that would produce great harvests. This proved to be greatly untrue because drilling for water was difficult and