Why did European settlers start pouring into minnesota around 1852?

European settlers did not start pouring into Minnesota around 1852. While there was increased settlement before the Civil War, Minnesota did not start to undergo mass European settlement before the end of the 1860s and beginning of the 1870s. This period saw waves of settlers arriving as a result of various factors such as availability of free and fertile land due to government policies like the Homestead Act, improvements in transportation like transcontinental railroad lines facilitating migration from the East Coast and Europe, the rise of farming with new innovations, and opportunities of economic prosperity and job openings for non-farm work from expanding commerce, lumbering, and mining industries in the region.