.
You continue to battle your strawman and false opinions, rather than address the fact that the wast was booming.
You live in a paper mache world.
Total nonsense unless by "booming" you refer to California gold and Nevada silver, then sure.
But in 1860, in a nation with over 30 million people, fewer than 400,000 lived in California and fewer than 10,000 in Nevada.
The entire Far West's population was barely 600,000 or 2% of the nation's total.
And, in 1860 there were no transcontinental railroads connecting the Far West to the Mid-West.
Of course, gold & silver were very important indeed, not trying to minimize them.
But in 1860 the Far West was still basically the Empty Quarter in terms of the nation's population & economy.
Do you disagree?