YEARS OF GROWTH
-- 1 4--
MINERS, RAILROADS AND CATTLEMEN
In March 1848,a g ro upofw or kmenw asbu il ding a
saw m ill besidea strea m in Califo rnia for a landovvncr
namedJ o hn Sutter.O ned aythefor em anill chargeo f
t heworkerssaw goldenspecksglit teringilltill'
wate r. Pickingupa handfulofblack g ravelfromth e
bedofthestrea m.helookedmoreclosely,It was
gold!
T he fo rem anrushed to tell Sutter. Befo relongth e
new sofhis discoverywas swccpmgth rou gh
C alif o rni a.Uy themiddleofth e summer a goldrush
h ad begun.Thegovernor o f Califo rn ia repo rtedto
Washin g to n th at" m illsarclyin g id l e. field s o f w hea t
arc0 Pt'lltocatt lean d hor ses,hou ses vacant an d
farm s go ing towaste"asm en and womenfromall
5<o ve rth e territo ry hur ried to th e goldfield s to make
themse lv es rich.Uy th e springo f 1849,peo ple fromall over the wo rld
wererush i ng 10 Califo rniatolo okforgold.In 1848
its pop ulationwasI SJ )()()people.By 1852the
populationwas mo reth an250.000.SOllieofth e new
arrivalstraveledbyseatot heportofSanFran cisco.
O th erstraveledoverland,enduringthesamekindof
h ard ships that facedsettlers onthewaytoOregon.
Inthe nexttwentyyearsgolddiscoveriesattracted
fo rtune-seekers to othe rpartsofthe far West.Uy th e
late1850sth ey were m illingIIIthem o u ntainsof
N evada an dColo rad o. byth e 1860sthey had moved
into M o ntan a an d Wyom in g and byrh cIH70s th ey
weredi gging in th e BlackI IillsoftheDakota
country.
Thefirsrmini ngsettlementswerejustuntidy
collectionso f r cu ts andhuts,scatteredalongro ug h
tr ack s that were mudd y inwinter and dust yIII
summer. Butsomeg rewlaterintoperma nen t
communit ies.T h e p resentcityo f D en ver .thecapital
o f C o lor ado ,beganlifein thisway.
T h o usan d so f miles separatedthesewesternm ining
set tlem entsfrom the rest oftheUnited States.Look
:Jt;1mapofthecount ry at th e en dofthe C ivilWar in
1 H()5.You will secth at white settl ementin the East
stops a littletothe w es tofthe Mississip pi and
Misso u ri rivers.Beyo nd theselastfarms. th ousands
o f m iles of Rato r gently ro llin g land coveredw ith tall
g rassstre tchedwesttothefoo th illsoftheRock y
M o untain s.Early travelerswhopassed through this
regi ondescribed it asa "seao f g rass."fo rhardly any
t rees or bushesgrewthe re.Geographerscallthese
grasslandstheG reatPlains. or theP rairies.ofNorth
Ame rica.T he G rt'a[Plainsan:generallym uchdrier t han th e
lan dsto[he east o f the Mississipp i.Rainfallran ges
fromab out fortyinchesa yea r o nthewett er, easter n