Why do you think that so many people were willing to give up their homes and move to min- ing towns and homesteads in the west?

I think most of them liked the prospect of getting rich easily. 
They heard that a lot of gold could be found in mining towns, which is why they were led by greed to move there. And they did find gold - although not a lot of it, and it soon ran out so they were stuck there instead of within their original homes.