1、 reflections on the exploitation of natural resources in American westward movement Westward movement,took place between 1600s and 1800s ,is a large-scale immigration of European settlers moving from the Atlantic ocean westward the coast of the pacific ocean ,which contributed greatly to the boom of
2、 Americas economy and the development of society .but in this essay i want you to look the experience as a study case in what to do and what not to do in the exploitation of the west part of our country. First of all,the worthiest practice we should learn from them is to maximize the value of the re
3、sources we possess.With an abundance of fertile land ,a moderate climate ,plenty of water to irrigate ,like the system of Mississippi river ,the five great lakes ,and vast prairies providing lushy plants ,a large variety of landscapes ,thousands of ranches and farmland were gradually established ,wh
4、ich turned the wildness around the Appalachians and the Great Lakes into abundant barns of crop,wheat,corn .apart from satisfying staple food for living,the natives also try to make more profits by growing cash crop in the south,cotton ,tobacco,vegetables ,fruits ,beef and dairy are among the most s
5、triking examples.there are many family farms began to process food into finished products to increase the extra value of agricultural products ,which should be highly praised .In addition to pleasant inhibitable environment ,Americas prosperity also owes to the utilization of technology .in the west
6、 ,there are rich deposits of natural resources.iron ore west of the Appalachians ,coal around the five superior lakes ,rare resources like gold ,silver,aluminum,phosphate under the Great Plain ,oil and natural gas reserves along the coast of the Gulf of the Mexico and large areas of forest on the ro
7、cky mountains and so on .people there timely grasped the golden opportunity of the Industrial revolution ,which resulted in three major waves of technical innovation .gold rush is a case in point ,people used advanced technology to dig mines ,numerous mining centers were established.smelting-industr
8、y,generation of electricity,steel-making,petrochemistry industry sprang up like mushrooms.it is during the technological revolution that America had realized the industrialization and modernization and smoothly transformed the economic pattern featured with high technology.The infrastructure constru
9、ction makes people move west more easily and should also be an factor taken into account which leads to the flourish of the western part.take the traffic system for an example.early immigrants traveled to the west by wagons with canvas as cover drove by horse,sheep,they can only went by pathways,but
10、 after the invention of the steamboat,the Mississippi river began to play a role in transportation.still not enough,people built canals to connect the braches of rivers ,which greatly strengthened the bond between the east and west.the road was really unobstructed until the construction of the inter
11、state railways.the thrive of transportation also brought about the rapid development of public facilitieshotels,stores, schools,parks can be seen everywhere. The results of industry chain reaction is the highly development of the west area.Last but important,government also played an indispensable r
12、ole in this movement .the American government made many beneficial policies and offered help directly to speed the process of westward movement.The homestead act is an example , the government encouraged immigration to attract more European immigrants,who brought new inventions and creative ideas to
13、 the land,provided low cost labor and expanded the domestic market for products.during the Great Depression,the us congress passed the Tennessee Valley Act and set up the Tennessee Valley Authority to be in charge of the public project of constructing thirty-three major dams to solve the unemploymen
14、t problem.the Americana government also set up many sectors to be in possession of projects and invested lots of money in the west development ,it can be said without the government the west could not thrive.However,when we see the remarkable achievements the westward movement has made ,we should al
15、so not ignore the undesirable phenomena occurred in the procedure.Excessive reclamation for farmland led to the devastating damage of vegetation ,over-exploitation brought about the exhaustion of mines and the loss of nutrient in soil ,making the land difficult to grow crops .there were many “ghost
16、towns”in the west ,left behind by those miners who just wanted to make big profits , charactered by empty buildings and deep holes in the earth.the establishment of a variety of chemical factories more or less accounted for the heavy pollution there,manufacturers poured industrial wastes into rivers
17、 ,discharged poisonous gases into the atmosphere,making the west an unpleasant inhabitation to live .to a certain degree,Americans persue the economic development at the cost of environment.From what I have mentioned above ,we can learn the experience and lessons from Americans westward movement whe
18、n we implement the policy of the western development .above all,environment protection come first,we cant follow the negative example of America,on which base can we make best use of the natural resources to benefit people there .besides ,the Chinese government should tilt towards the west whenever making a policy,and financial aid should also be offered to improve the basic facilities ,especially the transportation,which is of vital importance to open a door lead the west people to the outside world.
