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The California gold rush of 1849 set the pattern for other gold rushes. Individual prospectors poured into the region and used a method called placer mining to search for gold in the mountain streams. Mining companies soon followed that employed deep-shaft mining that required expensive equipment and the resources of wealthy investors. Individuals were able to do work on the mines and strike huge profits if lucky.
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Encouraged farming on the Great Plains by offering 160 acres of public land free to any family that settled on it for a period of five years. While the farmers faced many challenges, those who found success adopted a technique known as dry farming, and deep-plowing techniques to make the most of the moisture available.
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Public Schools after 1865 emphasized the 3 R’s of Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. New compulsory education laws that required children to attend school increased the number of students enrolled. Higher education also became more popular among men and women. This schooling prepared students to be clergy or lawyers, and land-grant schools focused on careers in agriculture, mining, engineering, science, and industry. School helped prepare students to join the workforce in specialized fields.
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Workers hired by the Union Pacific started from Omaha, Nebraska, and built westward across the Great Plains. The UP employed thousands of war veterans and Irish immigrants. The Central Pacific workers, including as many as 20,000 Chinese immigrants, laid track and blasted tunnels through the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
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The telephone by Alexander Graham Bell allowed people to communicate over long distances almost instantaneously. Large corporations would use telephones to scale their companies across larger distances, putting them above local and smaller producers.
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Johns Hopkins University founded in Baltimore in 1876 was the first American institution to specialize in advanced graduate studies. Following the model of German universities, Johns Hopkins emphasized research and free inquiry. Johns Hopkins produced its first generation of scholars who could compete with the intellect of Europeans. They would then join the workforce as highly educated individuals.
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Edison’s inventions for generating electric power resulted in the development of the electric lightbulb, which revolutionized life, especially in cities, from the way people worked to the way they shopped. This later led to the lighting of cities and the operation of electric streetcars, subways, and electrically powered machinery and appliances.
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Soon after the completion of the first transcontinental railroad, three other transcontinental railroads were completed. In addition to these routes from the East to West, companies built many other shortline railroads to open up the western interior to settlement, leading to more towns and cities.
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Improvements in urban transportation expedited the growth of cities. Horse-drawn cars and cable cars were being replaced by electric trolleys, elevated railroads, and subways, which could transport people to urban residences far from the central city. This technology allowed people to travel further distances to get to and from work, creating a separation between work and home.
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While industry expanded in the south, it remained mostly agricultural. Tenant farmers who rented land, and sharecroppers who paid for the use of land with a share of the crop, made up most of the population in the south. Cotton and other crops made up most of the farmers’ work.