Im guessing they were called "wagon trains". Apologies if i'm incorrect!
It benefited in numerous ways but mainly it and maybe most importantly it gave them the access to the China trade. The Pacific route was also Spain's exclusively for a certain period of time and there was also a great need for silver in China which was supplied by the Spaniards from their silver mines.
The New England colonies were more focused on the Religion as the people who came there from Europe tended to be pilgrims (a Traveler who is on a journey to a holy place) and were more isolated and had very small farms just to provided for its owners. The middle colonies were mostly ports and industry as well as lumber, they built ships and the south was used for cash crops some examples of cash crops were cotton, tobacco, rice,wheat, rye, corn, barley,potatoes) and food and required the most slaves because it was the least populated