1. Railroads Lead to Commercial Farming Section 2

2. Main Idea: To sell their crops, farmers needed a reliable and inexpensive way to transport goods.

3. Railroads solved this problem
Railroads solved this problem. Soon, commercial farming became a major Texas industry.

4. The period from 1876 to 1885 was a time of rapid expansion for railroads in Texas.

5. With a better transportation system, farmers could grow crops commercially. =

6. This encouraged many farmers to buy large pieces of land.

7. Railroads owned a great deal of land in Texas, and selling land to farmers on either side of railroad tracks would be profitable.

8. The sale of land by railroads had two effects.

9. 1) Gradually, towns and cities grew up along the railroads, and farming expanded into West Texas.

10. 2) Settlers. purchased cheap. land from the railroads in West Texas
2) Settlers purchased cheap land from the railroads in West Texas. The land was cheap because it received little rainfall.

11. However, farmers discovered underground water sources
However, farmers discovered underground water sources. Windmills were used to pump the water up to the surface.

12. Railroads and windmills were not the only technologies that revolutionized farming.

13. The steel plow was effective in breaking though hard soil.

14. New innovations in the cotton gin made it faster and more economical to process cotton.

15. With new technologies, cotton was poised to become the king of the crops in Texas.