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Chapter 22: Railroads & Farming
Section 1: The Growth of Railroads
New Railroad Lines
•State’s economic development slowed by transportation problems
•Rivers and roads unreliable
•Time consuming & expensive to ship goods
New Railroad Lines
New Railroad Lines
•Shipping goods by railroad could reduce freight costs by more than 50%
•Civil War interrupted plans to build rail lines in Texas:–1861: 470 miles of rail line
New Railroad Lines
•Biggest difficulty in expanding railroads in Texas was financing their construction
•Many cities issued bonds to pay for rail construction
•Constitution of 1876 banned such local bonds
New Railroad Lines
•State of Texas enacted a land grant law to help finance rail lines
•Railroad companies received 16 sq. miles of land for every mile of track completed
New Railroad Lines
•Railroads sold land to finance construction
•More than 30 million acres of public lands were given to railroads to encourage them to lay track across Texas
The Railroad Boom
•1876-1879: 750 miles of track laid in Texas
•Companies begin a race west
•Lines ran to Mexico border
The Railroad Boom
•Panhandle one of last regions to receive rail service
•Towns along railroads boomed w/ business
•1879-1889: 6,000 miles of track laid in Texas
The Effects of the Rail Boom
•New cities born, new areas settled
•Texas more connected to rest of nation
•Goods could be shipped more easily out of state
The Effects of the Rail Boom
•Junction—meeting places of two or more rail lines
•Cities bypassed by railroads suffered population & economic losses.
Farmers Move West•Railroad companies actively
promoted farming in West Texas.
•Railroads sold parcels of land to farmers
•Settlers were willing to locate their farms near railroads.
Farmers Move West
•Farming followed the railroads to the frontier because:
–Offered an inexpensive way to ship goods to market
–Land less expensive
–Companies promoted opportunities
