The migration towards the West for Americans was an example of both progress and lost of freedom. The West for Americans was a place of freedom and new beginnings. The West allowed people to start over and live a more free life. However in the process of moving out to the West many Native Americans lost their lives and were treated with the same cruelty as blacks were in America. This is what caused people to look at America and the journey to the west as both an example of progress and a loss of freedom. Examples of progress that came from the immigration out west was the creation and success of the Iron Horse, or the train. However the loss of life that Native Americans experienced at the hands of whites forever tainted the image of the American West. The sheer beauty of the west and its vast landscape attracted many people. But once more and more people started to settle down in boom towns that were created, Americans came up with their own set of laws to govern the people and that is when the lawless West and the cowboy image formed. It was the beauty that captured the attention of people, and led to the creation of the train which transported people and things out to the west, but once boom towns were created the law was controlled by the people and lynching occurred, and as more and more people started migrating boom towns became permeant settlements. The journey towards the American West is forever apart of American history and defines America as a country that is able to achieve what they want, but sometimes by excessive force.
This is a photo from a view atop Shoshone Falls, Snake River, Idaho. This photo displays the beauty of the West and what inticesed may people to settle in the west. (Timothy O'Sulivan/Library of Congress)
This a photo depicting the westward expansion by the means of the rail road. The railroad had a big impact on westward expansion because it created and jobs and allowed people and cargo to be moved very easily.
at Tombstone, Arizona, Feb. 22, 1884. He was implicated in the robbery of the Goldwater-Castan[e]da store in Dec. 1883, wherein there were three men and one woman killed. The other five men were apprehended and legally hanged at Tombstone, March 6, 1884." 111-SC-93377
1886 in Loup Valley, Nebr." A family poses with the wagon in which they live and travel daily during their pursuit of a homestead. 69-N-13606C
Alta City, Little Cottonwood, Utah, ca. 1873. (Timothy O'Sullivan/Library of Congress)