s and grain fields of the Pacific
States proved to be an even greater source of wealth than were their
mines of gold and silver.

In the forty years following 1860 the number of people in the United
States, exclusive of outlying possessions, rose from 31,000,000 to
76,000,000, the wealth of the nation grew from $16,000,000,000 to
$89,000,000,000. These figures convey some idea of the progress of the
country as a whole. Such an advance was possible only by the most rapid
expansion of all the numerous lines of industry to which the resources
and energies of the nation were devoted.

The growth of agriculture proceeded on a magnificent scale. Within two
decades after the war the United States assumed the leading place among
all nations of the world in the production of grain and live stock,
maintaining at the same time its supremacy as a producer and exporter
of cotton and tobacco. Countless thousands of acres of virgin soil west
of the Mississippi River were given away under the provisions of the
famous Homestead Act of 1862 and by 1880 the continent was practically
settled from one coast to the other. The area of farm lands increased
from 407,000,000 acres in 1859 to 841,000,000 acres in 1899, and the
value of farm property rose from $8,000,000,000 to $21,000,000,000. The
application of machinery to the cultivation of the soil and the
substitution of horse and steam power for manual labor multiplied the
productivity of each unit of land and labor. In 1899 the country
produced from its fields 4,500,000,000 bushels of cereals, 9,500,000
bales of cotton, 79,000,000 tons of hay and 868,000,000 pounds of
tobacco. The value of the live stock that year was $3,000,000,000, and
the production of dairy products, poultry and eggs amounted to
$750,000,000.

The output of the mines increased in value from $219,000,000 in 1869 to
$1,107,000,000 in 1899. Over 240,000,000 tons of coal, 27,000,000 tons
of iron ore, 270,000 tons of copper, and 63,000,000 barrels of
petroleum were taken from the earth during the latter year.

The most significant feature of the economic history of the United
States between 1860 and 1900 was the rise of manufacturing. The radical
change in tariff policy, the rapid expansion of the home market due to
the tremendous growth of agriculture and the spread of railroads, and
the presence of an unlimited amount of cheap fuel and raw materials all
combined to make manufacturing in some respects the dominant indu