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While there are many reasons to immigrate, by far the hope of economic
prosperity has had the strongest draw over the centuries. Early settlers
saw the new land as a vast, untapped source of wealth and set out to make
use of its gold, vast stands of timber, and new farmland. Our grandmothers and grandfathers left their homes in Norway and Germany and Poland and Russia - the lands they knew and the homes they loved - to come to America to make a better life for their families. Economic opportunity was often associated with the availability of land in America, which was often reserved solely for the oldest son in European countries. In advertisements and in letters, America was touted as the "land of opportunity, where anyone could be successful no matter who their parents were. With had no land of their own, and paying rents to wealthy landlords for the right to farm our ancestors realized that even with all its risks, the new world offered opportunities for those who were willing to work hard. These newcomers were the people who built America. They dug the canals, cut the timber, mined the ores, ran the factories, herded the cattle, dammed the rivers, laid the railroad tracks and plowed the uncut prairies of the western wilderness. In a few short years, the vast western lands changed from a wilderness to a bustling network of farms, towns and railroads. Homesteading was not the first opportunity the railroads offered immigrants with dreams of wealth; the huge undertaking of building thousands of miles of track demanded the labor of thousands of men. They swarmed in from poor villages in China, from famine-stricken Ireland, from England, France and Germany, to spend months living in tents while they blasted and graded the land, laid track and crossties and drove spikes into the track. No sooner was the track laid than the great gold and silver rushes in California and Colorado drew more immigrants - as well as citizens - chasing the dream of wealth in the mines. Even after homesteading land was largely settled, the growing cities offered factory jobs and even ownership opportunities. Some immigrants opened groceries, restaurants and other shops where their neighbors could buy food, books and other items from home. Migrant workers were part of the economic mix. Many workers from the
East would follow the crops and worked on the early Bonanza Farms. When
this labor pool dried up after the Depression, migrant workers came from
Mexico. Growing tired of the migrant life, or too old for productive "stoop
labor", many of the migrants settled in the area taking full time
farm and non-agricultural jobs. Immigration dropped during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and it wasn't until the late 1960s that immigrants again began to arrive in large numbers, seeking economic opportunities. Immigration from Asia and the West Indies rose rapidly, largely among people hoping for a more prosperous life, in a less restrictive environment. Today economic opportunity remains the main motivator for new immigrants to the United States.
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