I've run into a bit of a block for a Western I'm trying to write, in that I'm not sure what the process was for a township to actually be formed on the frontier. I'm familiar with towns popping up around mines or other work sites, but I'm not sure about what the legality is or was for someone to show up someplace and declare that they're building a town. The research I did on the Homestead Act in 1862 focuses mostly on individual houses and private homes being built in an area, not for the setting up of a communal area. Does anyone have any ideas, or can point me in the right direction?
a very simple way: typically, some resource is found... oil, water, gold, etc. then people move there (primarily workers and their families). a working community forms. more people arrive to make money off of those workers (restauranteurs, taverns, brothels, banks, entertainment, etc.) community grows. if community thrives, more people come and a town begins. Town is run by a mayor. typically a wealthy person that was there at the start (lets say the person who discovered the oil that brought the workers who brought their families, and so on). Though this wasnt out west... in Their Eyes Were Watching God, Eatonville was started when a group of people literally picked a spot and built their homes there. Janie's husband, Jody Starks, buys more land and puts a general store there which attracts more people. town grows, he becomes wealthy and is elected mayor.
the General Mining Act of 1872 gave someone the right to legally claim land that had resources on it. They'd essentially purchase the land... and then keep purchasing more and more land, and sell some of the land to people moving there to work. or build homes on the land and then charge rent to the working moving there to work
Watch the old HBO show Deadwood if you haven't already. That's essentially the premise of the show, a Western camp (Blackhills, Dakota Territory, c. 1870) that becomes a town. There's a whole sub theme about that, and they form their own government to say, "Deadwood exists, so we don't need to create it." I'm paraphrasing the quote, but that's what inspires them to do so. Legally speaking though, a town is incorporated (or certified) into a pre-existing political/government entity, usually a county or state in the US. It still happens today on a limited basis, I believe, in both directions. Towns can be certified or decertified. Probably only in extremely rural areas, though. Here's something I found quickly: https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/homenews/nexstar_media_wire/3862250-whats-the-newest-city-in-the-us-it-depends-what-you-mean/amp/
You could look at famous places like Tombstone, AZ. I only mention it because apparently it was founded by a prospector in 1879 and the famous shootout at the O.K. Corral occurred in 1881. So it would be interesting to research how the government and law enforcement organized in such a short period of time. They obviously passed laws because the shootout was sparked, to some degree, within the enforcement of one of the ordinances.
many towns sprung up along the new transcontinental railroad (completed between 1863 and 1869) For example - I just took a town at random - Durango, Colorado -
Amarillo, Texas was founded, not for natural resources, but for railroad corporate convenience. A fairly flat area where multiple railroads could merge. The first two were the Santa Fe and the Fort Worth & Rio Grand, IIRC. The land was purchased from 2 or 3 ranchers.
