The land beneath the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada range is rich in minerals. In the mid 1800s, gold and silver were discovered in the West. After the discovery of gold and silver many people were looking to strike it rich, so they moved to the West. Few people made a fortune during the gold rush, but some mining companies did prosper after they moved out west. The companies used large-scale equipment to reach the available minerals like copper and tin, as well as to look for gold and silver. Besides the gold prospectors, the West attracted people looking to start businesses that would help the miners. Both sets of people led to the population of the West growing quickly. Take a look at this photo of San Francisco Harbor in 1850. All of those boats are likely carrying people to gold mining sites.

Besides the minerals found in the west, it is also a region where oil and natural gas deposits have been discovered. In the 1960s, oil was discovered in Alaska. The availability of this resource changed the state’s economy. Business boomed as people came in to work for the oil companies.

The West is also known for its forests and its fishing. The Pacific Northwest provides the nation with almost half of the lumber used in construction. The Pacific Coast states, along with Alaska and Hawaii, catch billions of tons of fish each year.