Analyze the impact of mining and railroads on the settlement of the west?

When gold was first discovered people went to those areas to find it. The impact that mining had on the settlement of the west was that when people found gold in certain places they developed towns around the mines. Railroads were being built to get people to the further areas where people found gold in the western parts of the United States. As gold was found, mines and mining happened, towns were now being built and our country was being formed.