6.1 Westward Expansion: Economic Development

The economic transformation of the West in the late nineteenth century was both a continuation of earlier expansionist impulses and a new phase of industrial integration. After the Civil War, the federal government actively promoted settlement and economic development through policies such as the Homestead Act, which granted land to settlers willing to cultivate it, and the Pacific Railway Acts, which provided vast land grants and subsidies for the construction of transcontinental railroads. These measures linked the West to national markets and encouraged the extraction of natural resources on a massive scale. Mining, cattle ranching, and commercial agriculture became the dominant economic activities, each shaped by technological innovation and corporate investment. The discovery of gold, silver, and other minerals attracted prospectors and corporations alike, while railroads provided the arteries through which goods, capital, and people flowed across the continent.