What Role Did the Railroad Play in Westward Expansion
Natasha Black
Assignment 1
Settlement West
There are many reasons the settlers were motivated to face dangers and hardships to move west. They believed they would have better opportunities in the west that they did in the east. The west was completely open and a place for new beginnings. Farmland was available and no one owned anything so everything was available for them to take, many settlers made a living working on farms, so this brought on many job opportunities for them. The United States made a deal to anyone that if they moved west they would each receive a certain amount of acres for a certain price. As the settlers moved west they noticed that the central United States was a great place to allow cattle to graze. The land was very flat, the cattle liked flat ground, and this made it much easier for the settlers to watch them. Gold was one of the main reasons for moving west. The gold rush sent settlers to California to “strike rich”. They faced many troubles and hardships on their journey west. It was a very long journey with mountains and deserts to cross. The Rocky Mountains proved to be the most trouble for some travelers, but it did not stop them. They couldn’t bring a lot of their belongings with them on the journey, so they just had to struggle and make do with what they had. They faced many obstacles on the journey. Not just the land, but they had to be concerned with the Indian attacks, which many of them faced. They were traveling on wagons; this made the journey very long. Some were only traveling ten to twelve miles a day. They had to worry with wagon accidents and broken axels. This was just a few of the problems they endured with the wagons. Another hardship was the weather. There were some days that they couldn’t even travel due to the bad weather. When winter started to set in they had to find a town with available jobs and homes for them to stay in. Since the winter was too hard for them to travel in. But one
Assignment 1
Settlement West
There are many reasons the settlers were motivated to face dangers and hardships to move west. They believed they would have better opportunities in the west that they did in the east. The west was completely open and a place for new beginnings. Farmland was available and no one owned anything so everything was available for them to take, many settlers made a living working on farms, so this brought on many job opportunities for them. The United States made a deal to anyone that if they moved west they would each receive a certain amount of acres for a certain price. As the settlers moved west they noticed that the central United States was a great place to allow cattle to graze. The land was very flat, the cattle liked flat ground, and this made it much easier for the settlers to watch them. Gold was one of the main reasons for moving west. The gold rush sent settlers to California to “strike rich”. They faced many troubles and hardships on their journey west. It was a very long journey with mountains and deserts to cross. The Rocky Mountains proved to be the most trouble for some travelers, but it did not stop them. They couldn’t bring a lot of their belongings with them on the journey, so they just had to struggle and make do with what they had. They faced many obstacles on the journey. Not just the land, but they had to be concerned with the Indian attacks, which many of them faced. They were traveling on wagons; this made the journey very long. Some were only traveling ten to twelve miles a day. They had to worry with wagon accidents and broken axels. This was just a few of the problems they endured with the wagons. Another hardship was the weather. There were some days that they couldn’t even travel due to the bad weather. When winter started to set in they had to find a town with available jobs and homes for them to stay in. Since the winter was too hard for them to travel in. But one