Geo Boomtowns
Historical Geography
Extra Credit
In the late 19th century there was a large boom occurring in the west coast of the United States. The gold rush became the most important event of the era. Thousands of people fled to the west coast in search of instant wealth. With this increase of people migrating to the west, towns began to pop up in the vicinity of mines to facilitate the influx of people. These towns were known as boomtowns and usually became a bust as quick as they were started. The majority of these towns fell right after all the gold was mined out of that area. While the majority of these towns became busts there were a few that survived and never became ghost towns. One of these towns is Columbia, California a small town of about 2,000 people. When gold was discovered in this town its population rose by 5000 people in a short period. From 1850 to 1900, 150 million dollars was mined out of this region, at its height it was California’s second largest city and was even taken into consideration for being the states capitol. This boomtown rose to such a high level of prosperity that it became nearly impossible for people to abandon it and with copper discovered nearby it made it even more difficult to abandon. It never became a ghost town like so many other boomtowns because there was so much profit coming out of this region for nearly half a century. In 1945 the Columbia State Historic Park was made out of the remains of the historical buildings in the city making it a national treasure, which also aided in making sure this town is never abandoned like the rest of the boomtowns. This is why this is one of the rare boomtowns that did not end in a
Extra Credit
In the late 19th century there was a large boom occurring in the west coast of the United States. The gold rush became the most important event of the era. Thousands of people fled to the west coast in search of instant wealth. With this increase of people migrating to the west, towns began to pop up in the vicinity of mines to facilitate the influx of people. These towns were known as boomtowns and usually became a bust as quick as they were started. The majority of these towns fell right after all the gold was mined out of that area. While the majority of these towns became busts there were a few that survived and never became ghost towns. One of these towns is Columbia, California a small town of about 2,000 people. When gold was discovered in this town its population rose by 5000 people in a short period. From 1850 to 1900, 150 million dollars was mined out of this region, at its height it was California’s second largest city and was even taken into consideration for being the states capitol. This boomtown rose to such a high level of prosperity that it became nearly impossible for people to abandon it and with copper discovered nearby it made it even more difficult to abandon. It never became a ghost town like so many other boomtowns because there was so much profit coming out of this region for nearly half a century. In 1945 the Columbia State Historic Park was made out of the remains of the historical buildings in the city making it a national treasure, which also aided in making sure this town is never abandoned like the rest of the boomtowns. This is why this is one of the rare boomtowns that did not end in a