The American Expansion Into the West

the expansion of americans into the west was a major step in the 1800's. the united states had a great deal of land that no one had ventured to settle. however, that all changed as the prospect of making it big in the west entered people's minds. although white settlers wanted desperately to settle the west rapidly, they encountered varous problems. the west was land like thye had never seen. the climate could change from one extreme to the other in a matter of hours, it was very dry, there was hardly any water, the begetation was different, and the settler's crops would not grow. in order to be successful in the west, americans had to find a way to get around these problems. in order to make up for the lack of water, settlers used windmills to generate their own. in order to make up for the lack of wood, which was needed to fence around land, barbed wire was invented. finally settlers had to alter what they grew in order for it to survive. instead of traditional wheat, they grew red wheat, which faired better in that environment. one problem white settlers faced in the west was the great plains indian population. when america was settled, most of the indians had been forced westward. those indians were now on land that white settlers wanted. the beginning of the conflict between settlers and indians came whent he transcontinental railroad was being built. the railroad itself not only disrupted indian land, but the workers killed millions of the indian's chief food source, the buffalo. the buffalo were supposedly hindering the progress on the railroad, so they were slaughtered. next came the plea from the settlers to the government to allow them to travel through indian land. the government allowed settlers to do so but promised the indians that no one was going to take their land. although our government made promise after promise to the indians, they hardly ever followed through. as the gold rush beganb to boom, indians' land was taken from