The frontier was opening to those brave enough to explore it and whether to settle there or not. Most decided on settling there a have a new beginning despite the hardships. It was a time when canals were beginning to make inroads into the interior. Those who helped build them chose to stay. Soon the railroads began to further open the forests west of the Alleghenies. The population began moving west as immigrants from Ireland and Germany fled the confines of the eastern cities and their increasing populations.