Emerging from ConflictCities are no longer limited to a few deep-water harbors, but have now blossomed at every major rail hub. Industry has moved in everywhere, with immigrants providing the manpower, and railroads providing access to markets. Many Americans are still streaming west, as others are beginning to leave the farm to move to nearby cities. Some miners are searching for riches in isolated western mountains, but elsewhere the new trend is mobility. |
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Bigger and Stronger California has been a state since 1850, but completely isolated on the Pacific coast. Railroads have now bridged the gap, and steam power has arrived in San Francisco. The great coal fields (GRAY) are located within easy reach of almost every state east of the prairie. Indians, meanwhile, have been largely corralled onto reservations across the West (BROWN highlights), though not all have yet been subdued. The US Army, which is no longer needed to suppress rebels, will soon be sent west to finish this job. | |||||||||
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Still Racing West This map shows growth. The brightest BLUE highlights indicate regions with the highest growth rate. RED areas are actually shrinking in population, dramatically so in some areas of the Deep South. This continues a trend that began decades earlier, but the effects now are more pronounced. Notice all the red running in a broad diagonal band from Ohio down to Louisiana. There are areas that were showing strong growth just 20 years earlier. But now, the rush into cheap western land has become a frenzy. | |||||||||