Boomtowns

Boomtowns
The Boomtown Era started in the mid-1800s and ended about four decades later. It really started in 1848 when a sawmill worker named James Marshall discovered traces of gold in a place called Deer Creek, in California. Men from the east rushed to California, causing the Gold Rush. After the gold in Deer Creek ran out, people began to go to other areas to mine in what would now be the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico,Kansas,Nebraska,and the Dakotas. San Francisco was the 1st boomtown. It had once been a tiny port, but news of the gold strike made people from Europe and South America, not just the U.S., flock to all regions of California. There were many dangers in Boomtowns. Robbers were a problem because there were unlighted hallways and streets in many towns. Fires were another hazard. Poorly built wooden shacks burned to the ground because of cookstove accidents, kerosene spills, or gangs. Boomtowns sometimes prospered because of cowboys driving herds of cattle through town. These kinds of boomtowns were called cattle boomtowns. The cowboys rode through a town, driving their cattle, which they would then put into pens beside the railroad tracks. The cowboys then rode to restaurants, hotels, saloons, dance halls, or any place where they could have a good time. Although businesses made big money off the cowboys’ carefree spending, cowboys often broke town rules, such as galloping through town streets, celebrating by shooting off their pistols,scaring residents. So some towns then kicked cowboys out, telling them to take their cattle elsewhere. Boomtowns may have helped settle the western United States, but many eventually turned into empty, dusty ghost towns.

by Alison