How the West was Really Won Issue 66 | 2000 Purchase this issue

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Population of the United States in 1850: 23,191,876
Center of population: 23 miles southeast of Parkersburg, western Virginia

Population of the United States in 1890: 62,947,714
Center of population: 20 miles east of Columbus, Indiana

Population of western states and territories in 1850 (including present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, and Utah): 179,000

Population of western states and territories in 1890: 3,134,000

Land area of the United States and its territories in square miles,
1840: 1,753,588
1860: 2,973,965

Miles of railroad
1840: 2,808
1890: 163,597

1833 Four Flathead and Nez Percé Indians journey to St. Louis to inquire about Christian missionaries

1836 Missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman arrive in Walla Walla River valley, Washington

1837 Cherokees forcibly removed from Georgia to Oklahoma by U. S. government

1841 Migration begins along the Oregon Trail

1846 Mexican-American War begins; the first stage coach line west of the Missouri, Oregon's "Telegraph Line," established

1847 Mormons begin trek to Salt Lake City

1847 Cayuse Indians massacre the Whitmans and 12 others

1848 Gold discovered at Sutter's Mill in California

1856 Methodist bishop William Taylor publishes Seven Years' Street Preaching in San Francisco

1857 Dred Scott Decision prohibits banning of slavery in U. S. territories

1861 Civil War begins; completion of the first transcontintal telegraph makes the Pony Express obselete

1862 Homestead Act offers 160 acres of land to anyone who will live on it for five years

1866 Episcopalian Daniel Tuttle named missionary bishop of Montana

1867 U. S. purchases Alaska

1869 First transcontinental railroad completed when east and west meet in Promontory Point, ...