The West Region: The United States

By Hannah Finley

1. Los Angeles, California12,875,587

2. San Francisco, California7,468,390

3. Phoenix, Arizona4,281,899

Any Major Resources?• chemicals • dairy products • electrical equipment • jet airplanes • lumber • metal products • paper products • processed foods • machinery

- Fishing:  crabs, fish, oysters, scallops, shrimp

- Mining:   coal, copper, gold, lead, national gas, oil, silver, uranium, zinc

- Farming:   beef cattle, coffee, cotton, dairy cows, fruit, hay, potatoes, rise, sheep, sugar beets, barley, sugar cane, vegetable, wheat       

• Rocky Mountains -extends more than 3,000 miles across the western part of North America

• Great Basin - a large desert that covers 200,000 sq. miles in California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming

• Mt. Ranier - 14,410 ft., 4,392 meters, Cascade in Washington, Highest peak in Washington

• Mt. McKinley - 20,320 ft. 6,194 meters, Alaska Range in Alaska, Highest peak in North America

• Mt Hood -11,239 ft, 3,426 Meters, Cascade in Oregon, Inactive volcano with many glaciers

• Great Plains - vast, dry land in North America

• West of Mideast, and Northeast.• North of Southwest• Northwest of southeast

• 34°N, 118°W (Los Angeles, CA)

Its warmer in the west region, but you can still get snow. California and Hawaii have the warmest July temperature of 75 degrees F. Alaska has the coldest January of 5 degrees F. Also, the yearly precipitation for the west region is about 32in. a year. That includes snowfall and rainfall

• Fourth of July, • Halloween• Thanksgiving• Religious holidays • Christmas and Easter (Christian)• Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Hanukkah

(Jewish)• Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr (Muslim)

• parts of the West get extremely high amounts of rain and/or snow

• other parts are true desert and get less than 5 inches of rain per year.

• seasonal temperatures vary greatly throughout the West.

• Low elevations on the West Coast have warm to very hot summers and get little to no snow. The Desert Southwest has very hot summers and mild winters. While the mountains in the southwest receive generally large amounts of snow.7

What effect does climate have on settlement patterns in the region

• People who enjoy warmer weather would more likely want to live here. There and a few small parts that get winter weather, but few, and the majority of the land doesn’t stay cold for long.

How has climate affected the settlement of the region?

• Long story short… as pioneers began moving west, they expected living to be difficult. Traveling with horses, livestock, and their families, the pioneers encountered challenges both from the harsh environment and with the Native Americans already living in this region. While some Native American tribes were friendly, others regarded the white pioneer settlers as invaders. Disease and lack of adequate food and water were trials that the pioneers confronted as they traveled from eastern towns and villages to the open spaces of the West, and because drought was a regular it was hard to grow crops.

Why Have People Chosen to Live Here?

There’s warmer weather, and not as harsh winters. Some natural disasters include hurricanes, flooding, and blizzards so some may choose to live where there is usually no winter weather. People may also avoid the flooding areas, and some may avoid the shore lines because of hurricanes, though many people enjoy living on the beach. Some people may live in the bigger cities because they’re simply looking for job opportunity.

Why have people chosen to live where they have in the region

The seasonal temperatures vary greatly throughout the West. Low elevations on the West Coast have warm to very hot summers and get little to no snow. The Desert South West has very hot summers and mild winters. While the mountains in the southwest receive generally large amounts of snow. The Inland Northwest has a continental climate of warm to hot summers and cold to bitter cold winters.

• Major Highway- Route 56

• Major Airport- LAX

Well, the most popular are…

• - Asian• -African American• -Native American• Hispanic/Mexican

What might happen if one or more of the major

transportation routes within the region

were interrupted?

Many people would be stuck where ever they were, causing traffic jams, and lose of profit for airports, and highways.

• Yellow Stone -Wyoming • Cayonlands -Utah • Rocky Mountains -Colorado • Yosemite, Disney, HollyWood,

Golden Gate Bridge -California • Glacier -Montana • Hoover Dame -Nevada • Idaho Falls -Idaho • Crater Lake -Oregon • Olympic -Washington

Yellow Stone National Park

View of Hoover Dam

from Bypass Bridge.

What Economic Impact Does the Western Region

have on the United States?

Based off of how many of the tourist attractions, and major cities the Western region obtains, there is a lot of money in that region, since it brings in so many people and tourists and has such a high population.