本文选自于An Outline of American History，是美国国务院国际信息局出版物，由美国多所大学教授共同编写，对于普及美国历史知识很有帮助，在美国大使馆网站上有完整版。本文选自于其中的第二章，属于典型的非文学翻译，翻译现象较多。

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 1860s, and in the Black Hills of the Dakota country in the 1870s.

最初大规模迁往极西地带的移民，大多集中在山区。在那里，加州于1848年发现了金矿，十年后在科罗拉多和内华达州，十九世纪六十年代在蒙大拿和怀俄明州，十九世纪七十年代在达科他的黑山地区都先后发现了金矿。

Miners opened up the country, established communities and laid the foundations for more permanent settlements.

采矿者开发了这些地区，建立了村镇，打下了永久定居的基础。

Yet even while digging in the hills, some settlers perceived the region's farming and stock-raising possibilities.

不过，在山区采矿的同时，有些移民已看到这些地区有从事农业和畜牧业的可能。

Eventually, though a few communities continued to be devoted almost exclusively to mining, the real wealth of Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and California proved to be in the grass and soil.

后来，少数城镇虽然专门从事采矿业，但蒙大拿、科罗拉多、怀俄明、爱达荷等州的真正财富，也和加州一样，还是在草原和沃土中。

Cattle-raising, long an important industry in Texas, became even more flourishing after the war, when enterprising men began to drive their Texas longhorns north across the open public domain.

在德克萨斯州，养牛早就是重要事业，战后尤见繁荣。大胆的赶牛人赶着德州的长角牛，穿过开放的公共地带，向北走去。

Feeding as they went, the cattle arrived at railway shipping points in Kansas, larger and fatter than when they started.

牛群边走边吃，到堪萨斯州的铁路运输站时，已长得比出发时更大更肥壮了。

Soon this "long drive" became a regular event, and, or hundreds of kilometers, trails were dotted with herds of cattle moving northward.

不久，这样的“长征”就成为常事了。向北移动的牛群，在几百公里的征途上，留下了无数的足迹。

Cattle-raising spread into the trans-Missouri region, and immense ranches appeared in Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakota territory.

养牛业迅速超出了密苏里地区，在科罗拉多、怀俄明、堪萨斯、内布拉斯加和达科他等地区，都出现了巨大的牧场。

Western cities flourished as centers for the slaughter and dressing of meat.

西部城市因成为屠宰业和调制肉类的中心而繁荣起来。

Altogether, between 1866 and 1888, some six million head of cattle were driven up from Texas to winters on the high plains of Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana.

在1866年至1888年间，大约有六百万头牛从德州放牧到科罗拉多、怀俄明、蒙大拿等地的高原上过冬。

The cattle boom reached its height by 1885, then the range became too heavily pastured to support the long drive, and was beginning to be criss-crossed by railroads.

养牛业的兴旺发达，到1885年已达到最高峰，当时的高原，已经不足以供这么多长征牛群吃草的需要了，而且这些草原也开始为纵横交错的铁路线所割裂。

Not far behind the rancher creaked the prairie schooners of the farmers bringing their families, their draft horses, cows, and pigs.

在牧牛人身后不远之外，有许多草原篷车在吱吱作响，农民把他们的妻儿，还有拉车的马、奶牛和猪群也带了来。

Under the Homestead Act they staked their claims and fenced them with barbed wire.

根据《宅地法》，他们圈定了所得的土地，并用铁蒺藜围起来。

Ranchmen were ousted from lands they had roamed without legal title. Soon the romantic "wild west" had ceased to be.

原来未经合法手续取得土地的牧牛人都被赶了出去。不久，这片具有浪漫气氛的“西部荒原”，便不复存在了。

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