All the communications and military satellites would be gone, shot down and destroyed. Most of the world's power grid would have failed due to EMP bombs.
Mining and cattle ranching help prepare western territories for statehood by : Creating large industries that attract people to move to the west.
These industries provide a lot of job opportunities because it need a lot of manpower to keep up with the production
hope this helps
Ahh im pretty good in american history but the government, well i never really understood it xD