Miners helped settle the west by staying and settling towns as they mined.
During the mining fever, which began in 1849, human settlements known as boomtowns began to appear with some speed. The cattle towns, for example, were the destination of the routes for the dispatch of the herd to large cities, and also home to activities related to livestock. In the railroad lines cities arose in each station. There were large metropolises that housed flourishing industries or important financial centers. All this development led to the appearance of lodgings, saloons, gambling houses and brothels.
Many of these settlements were abandoned when their reason for being ceased. The mining localities also caused serious ecological damage by installing hydraulic systems that devastated the natural resources of the area.
In the west, cities that rivaled the large settlements of Chicago and New York in the east started to grow. Such is the case of San Luis, which was the second most important port in the middle of the century, and the starting point of various routes to the Pacific coast. The history of San Luis runs parallel to the golden age of the steamboat of the Mississippi River. San Francisco, on the other hand, was a major industrial, commercial and financial center, with important logging, mining and railroad companies making it its headquarters, becoming the most prominent city west of the Rocky Mountains.
