Western Settlement and Economic Development

Transcontinental Railroads

Railroad Land Grants and Time Zones

Western Mining

Boom Towns to Ghost Towns

Mormon Migration to Salt Lake, Utah

The murder of Joseph Smith ledto the Mormon migration to Utah in the 1840s.

Cattle Industry, Cowboys and Ranching

Barbed Wire, Homesteaders and the closing of the Open Range

As farmers (homesteaders) moved into the plains, they began to stringbarbed wire fencing around their cropsTo protect them. This caused the Openrange era of cattle driving to developinto large ranches and year round andthe Age of the lonesome cowboy came to an end lasting about 20 years.

Homesteaders