1. Why people settled in the Wild West By Julia

2. THE GOLD RUSH
When the Indians were defeated thousands of people hurried west.
In 1848 people discovered gold in California and thousands of people rushed there to find their fortune.
Within a couple of years there were 40,000 miners in California.
This was the start of the gold rush, which lasted 8 years.

3. THE GOLD RUSH
At first almost all the miners were men and they hoped to find gold and make a fortune.
But only a few miners found enough gold to make a fortune.
Eventually they gave up trying to find gold, instead they settled there and became farmers.
After some time mining camps became large towns.

4. CLAMING LAND
Some farmers did not have enough money to buy farmland in the east.
Some hoped to find new and rich farmland in the west.
Other people came from different countries to build new lives in the USA.
A law passed which let anybody who wanted land to pay just 10 dollars for 65 hectares if they built a home and they farmed it for 5 years.

5. CLAIMING LAND
The railways were built in the west, they brought wood for homes and coal for fuel.
The farmers worked on the plains and they farmed crops.
They grew a lot of corn and wheat so they got good prices selling it to Europe.

6. THE END