Westward expansion timeline
1804-1806: Lewis and Clark go on their famous trek along the Missouri River and the Oregon Territory.
1808: John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company takes over from previous companies run by France and Spain and begins to organize some trading outposts stationed along the upper Mississippi River.
1811: Construction of the National Road begins at Cumberland in Maryland and reaches Wheeling, West Virginia on the Ohio River in 1818 and Vandalia, Illinois in the year 1839.
1823: The Champlain Canal connects Lake Champlain and western Vermont to the Hudson River.
1832: Erie Canal connects New York with the Great Lakes and the Northwest Territory.
1835: The Treaty of New Echota was signed giving the Cherokee nation $5.6 million and transportation west for all of their land. This led to the westward movement of the Cherokee nation on the Trail of Tears.
1845: John C. Fremont decides that he will map the untamed west.
1845: Texas becomes the 28th state.
1846: The Donner Party became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada Mountains after taking a short cut through the mountains that added extra weeks to their travel time. Little more than half of the party made it to California and only after many had resorted to cannibalism.
1847: Mormon settlers led by Bringham Young leave the town of Nauvoo in Illinois and settle in Slat Lake City in Utah.
1848: The first gold is discovered in the state of California starting the “Gold Rush”. The next year more than 80,000 people move to California in search of gold.
1850: California becomes a state.
1859: The first commercial oil well was drilled in Pennsylvania by a man named Edwin Drake. This oil well was the first of many to come and led to further expansion in the southwest.
1861: The first transcontinental telegraph line is put in place allowing communication to become more reliable and faster.
1862: The Homestead Act was approved. This gave families farms free of charge based on the size of the family. The only requirement of this act was residence for a certain period of time. This was an incentive for families on the east coast to move westward in search of a better life.
1869: The Transcontinental railroad was completed; it joined the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railways and allowed people to travel from one coast to another in days instead of months.
1808: John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company takes over from previous companies run by France and Spain and begins to organize some trading outposts stationed along the upper Mississippi River.
1811: Construction of the National Road begins at Cumberland in Maryland and reaches Wheeling, West Virginia on the Ohio River in 1818 and Vandalia, Illinois in the year 1839.
1823: The Champlain Canal connects Lake Champlain and western Vermont to the Hudson River.
1832: Erie Canal connects New York with the Great Lakes and the Northwest Territory.
1835: The Treaty of New Echota was signed giving the Cherokee nation $5.6 million and transportation west for all of their land. This led to the westward movement of the Cherokee nation on the Trail of Tears.
1845: John C. Fremont decides that he will map the untamed west.
1845: Texas becomes the 28th state.
1846: The Donner Party became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada Mountains after taking a short cut through the mountains that added extra weeks to their travel time. Little more than half of the party made it to California and only after many had resorted to cannibalism.
1847: Mormon settlers led by Bringham Young leave the town of Nauvoo in Illinois and settle in Slat Lake City in Utah.
1848: The first gold is discovered in the state of California starting the “Gold Rush”. The next year more than 80,000 people move to California in search of gold.
1850: California becomes a state.
1859: The first commercial oil well was drilled in Pennsylvania by a man named Edwin Drake. This oil well was the first of many to come and led to further expansion in the southwest.
1861: The first transcontinental telegraph line is put in place allowing communication to become more reliable and faster.
1862: The Homestead Act was approved. This gave families farms free of charge based on the size of the family. The only requirement of this act was residence for a certain period of time. This was an incentive for families on the east coast to move westward in search of a better life.
1869: The Transcontinental railroad was completed; it joined the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railways and allowed people to travel from one coast to another in days instead of months.