Given the scale of technology at the time, it was a hotbed of agriculture, timber, mining and transport. To New York and London of the 1800s, the Midwest (espe

Given the scale of technology at the time, it was a hotbed of agriculture, timber, mining and transport. To New York and London of the 1800s, the Midwest (especially) looked a lot like China did to us 20 years ago -- a massive pool of resources that could be exploited using the new technology.