Chapter 22 - Railroads & Farming

* Texas lagged behind the rest of the U.S. Section 1 – The Growth of Railroads New Railroad Lines Texans hoping railroads would spur economic growth. Moving people & goods was time consuming and expensive. * Texas rivers too shallow & unreliable for shipping. * Dirt roads turned to mud in wet weather. Railroads offered cheap, fast, and reliable transportation. * 35 mile trip on horse took 1 ½ days = Less than 2 hours by rail. * In 1870s wagon rates = $1 for 100 pounds. * Railroad = less than 50 cents per 100 pounds. In 1861 Texas had 471 miles of rail lines = Civil War interrupted plans for new rail lines. * Texas lagged behind the rest of the U.S.

Community leaders all over Texas offered to pay for railroad construction. * Many cities offered bonds to pay for rail construction. Legislature outlawed this type of bond in 1876 = Allowed land grants for railroad companies. * For every continuous mile of track completed, company would get 16 square miles of land. * Railroad companies would sell the land to pay for the construction of the rail lines. Under this plan Texas gave 32 million acres of land to 40 railroad companies.

The Railroad Boom Between 1876 and 1879 more than 750 miles of track was laid in Texas. Companies competed to be the first to meet rail line from California. * More track you laid = More land grants = More $$$ December of 1881 = Texas and Pacific Railway (T & P) first to meet Southern Pacific line from California = First transcontinental railway through Texas. Texas railroad companies also laid tracks to Mexico border = Encourage trade with Mexico. Between 1879 and 1889 over 6,000 miles of track was laid in Texas.

The Effects of the Rail Boom New cities were born and new areas were settled. * Abilene, Big Spring, Sweetwater, etc. Cities at junctions grew rapidly. * Repair facilities and other railway related businesses. * Farmers and ranchers came to ship their goods. * Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Galveston & El Paso, Austin. Texas became more connected to the rest of the country. * Farm goods raised in Texas could be sold out of state. * Texans could purchase goods produced elsewhere. Towns that were bypassed by the railroads often became ghost towns.

Farmer’s Move West As Railroads were built in the west, settlers followed. Railroad companies advertised all over the country. * People came to West Texas for the inexpensive land. * Farmers would buy land from railroad companies and use the railways to ship their crops. Texas had 61,000 farms in 1870, 350,000 in 1900.

Section 2 Changes in Farming West Texas farmers had to make changes = Drier climate. * Grew wheat and other grains instead of corn. * Dry farming to keep moisture in the soil. * Deep steel plow to loosen the soil. * Windmills to pump water from underground. Texans began using new mechanical tools. * Horse-drawn plows. * Threshers

Commercial Farming Commercial farming = Large scale growing of crops for $$$. Cotton becomes #1 crop in Texas. * Grew well in Eastern and Western Texas. Railroads provided a way to ship cotton and cotton related products out of state. Between 1874 and 1878 number of cotton bales shipped tripled.

Farming Troubles As farmers grew more crops, supply began to exceed demand = Prices fell. * Cotton dropped from 11 to 6 cents per pound. The price of farmland continued to grow = $10 an acre is 1870 to $500 an acre in 1900. Many people could not afford land. * Became farm laborers, sharecroppers, and tenant farmers. * Between 1880 and 1900 the number of tenant farmers tripled. Droughts in the 1880s and crop-destroying pests in the 1890s made farming a struggle. * The boll weevil infected cotton crops throughout Texas.

Section 3 – Agricultural Industries and Workers Leading Industries After agriculture flour mills were the leading industry in Texas. By the 1890s lumber had overtaken flour mills. Railroads helped move timber to treeless West Texas. Timber was shipped from Galveston all over the world. By 1900 Texas was the top producer of cottonseed oil in the U.S. With the development of railroads meatpacking became a leading industry in Texas. When locomotives began running on coal, the Texas mining industry developed.

Industrial Workers By 1900 only 2% of Texas worked in manufacturing. Some Texans joined labor unions = Worked for improved hours, wages and working conditions of laborers. The Knights of Labor were the first national labor union in Texas. * Supported skilled and non skilled workers including farmers. * Open to women and African Americans. * There were over 300 local groups throughout Texas by the mid 1880s. * They helped organize a railroad workers strike in 1885. Support for Unions decreased after a violent railroad workers strike in Fort Worth.