What was the important issue for many westerners in the early 1800s

well, I mean the gold rush, and the dust bowl which was kinda part of the great depression bc of the droughts and sandstorms which made it hard for farmers to grow crops happened during the great depression. Westerners were the farmers that were trying to escape the dust bowl and moved west to California where there were jobs and nice weather. However, the people who lived in California before started to resent westerners coming in, referring to them as intruders