The first great rush of population to the far west was drawn to the mountainous regions, where gold was found in California in 1848, in Colorado and Nevada ten years later, in Montana and Wyoming in the l860s, and in the Black Hills of the Dakota country in the l870s. Miners opened up the country，established communities and laid the foundations for more permanent settlements. Yet even while digging in the hills, some settlers perceived the region's farming and stock-raising possibilities. Eventually, though a few communities continued to be devoted almost exclusively to minimal, the real wealth of Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and California proved to be in the grass and soil.

　　參考譯文：

　　最初大規(guī)模遷往極西地帶的移民，大多集中在山區(qū)。在那里，加州于一八四八年發(fā)現(xiàn)了金礦，十年后在科羅拉多和內(nèi)華達(dá)州，十九世紀(jì)六十年代在蒙大拿和懷俄明州，十九世紀(jì)七十年代在達(dá)科他的黑山地區(qū)都先后發(fā)現(xiàn)了金礦。采礦者開發(fā)了這些地區(qū)，建立了村鎮(zhèn)，打下了永久定居的基礎(chǔ)。不過，在山區(qū)采礦的同時，有些移民已看到這些地區(qū)有從事農(nóng)業(yè)和畜牧業(yè)的可能。后來，少數(shù)城鎮(zhèn)雖然專門從事采礦業(yè)，但蒙大拿、科羅拉多、懷俄明、愛達(dá)荷等州的真正財富，也和加州一樣，還是在草原和沃土中。