Americans moved west in several great waves. The first took place from the 1760s through the early 1800s.
The pioneers of this first movement crossed the Appalachian Mountains and settled the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys. The second movement took place between the 1840s and 1860s. It brought settlers from Europe, the East Coast of the U.S., and the Midwest all the way across the prairies to the fertile valleys of Oregon and the goldfields of California. In the final move westward, which began in the 1860s, pioneers settled the Great Plains, turning grassland into farmland. Many in the first wave were farmers in search of cheaper farmland as cities and towns along the East Coast grew more crowded, and good farmland became scarce and costly.
