history

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The First Settlers-Mountain Men and trappersme

  • These were the first adventures and explorers- they relayed information about the plains back to the east- they made a good living out of selling the Beaver skins in the east
  • They halped set up the First Trails- for examplewhat would later becamethe Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail
  • The US goverment believed in Manifest Destiny- the idea that whites should own the entire country and so regularly helped out trailblazers
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The First Settlers-The Gold Rush

  • In the 1848 gold was discovered in California- by the end of the year 10000 people were crossing the plains to did for gold- these were know as the forty-niners
  • As the west developed there were many problems: Racism-many different cultuers and races crased over the land rights and taxations placed on the foreign miners. Poor living conditions-  so many people rushed to the area so quickly that conditions were very poor with many living in dirty tents.(Deseases spread quickly.) law and order- there was no proper system of law. Miners turend rapidly to havey drinking and gambling. Murders and claim-jumping was very common. Vigilantes-gangs developed that tookthe law into their own hands- many were as bad as the criminals they were  attacking.
  • The Gold Rush did halp to "open up" the west- more and more industries were set up in the west, San Fransico became a financial center that revalled New York and it also paved the way for the increased development of the railroads.
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