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001121 ----- .~ '- ". In Time Selllers Built A Sod House and Used the Hillside Dugout for Livestock desire by <l large number of the settlers to insure the fulfillment of certain deep convictiulls and opiuiol15 they Iud developed b<lck home. Many of the settlers chose this area of the frontier 10 increase lhe voting power of either the North or the South in regard to the slavery question Jnd the Dlher issues which divided the NiJlion at the time. Because of their pre-occupation with the transplanting of institulioll31 concepts developed in the east, few well' prepared to ad,qH quil:kly to the unique environment of the Gre:::!1 Pl...ins.. Consequently, the drama of contliet which preceded the Civil War in the Kansas and NebrJska territories W:JS confined to the more humid are;,} east of tht' 97th Meridian. At this early dale, the area we~t of the 97th Meridian was considered a barrier to the ril.'hes of the Pacific Coast and thus became J land to CTOSS or at best a base of operations. The war with Mexico, i:Hl attachment to California, and settlement of the dispute with Great Britain over Oregon were the interests that occupied the immediate attention of the pioneer. the millt'r. and the statesman. There was no determined effort 011 the part of the whIte man to live 011 the pl::1ins portion of the basin unlil after the dose of the Civil Waf. The decade of the 1850's produced a rapid migr<ltioll to the Pacific Coast. By 1860, a western seulement frontjer had been established. It was composed of people who had trekked across the basin ill the initial rush to find gold in California or land in Oregon. but who began to backtrack inlo areas which hild been ignored earlier. In the region between this western sertlernent frontier and the earli~r settlement line along the 97th Meridian lay approximately one-third of the territory of the United Sta.tes, but, in J 860. this area probably contained less than one percent of the NUlion's population. Following the gold rush to California, numerous prospecting parties entered the Rocky Mountains. Gold was found in the Pikes Peak region of Colorado in 1859 Settlers on the Oregon Trail Used Scotts Bluff as a Land Mark and all estimated 100.000 people reached the are. the tirst year. Although many of the people in this first influx later moved on to other disl.;overies. those wIlD remained laid the foundation for the eSIJblishment of the Territory of Colorado in 1861. Denver was founded during this gold rush and, even (hough the gold deposits in its vicjnity were signifi~allt, it became more important as a major tr:msportJtion and service center for other mining areas within the Colorado Rockies. The westward rush that laid the foundation of Colorado was but one of a series of booms which formed the economic base for a number of scattered settle- ments. Gold discoveries ill 1863 gave birth to Alder Many of Today's Mountain Towns and Cities Originaled With Mining Booms 19