There were thousands of trappers looking for furs all through the Rocky Mountains and Canada. It took only about ten years for the animals to become scarce. Beaver, which had been hunted to make beaver hats were almost hunted to extinction and then fancy people in the east and Europe decided they wanted silk hats and the market for beaver died.
Northern states who could use the lands to create colleges for all United States citizens are the ones who benefited the most from the Morrill Land Grant of 1862.
