Cotton, Cattle, and Railroads

Cotton, Cattle, and Railroads Timeline

• In 1849 the first cotton census
• 1850's Texas cattle ranching becomes popular
• In 1867 railroads resume construction after Civil War
• 1879 Texas has 2,440 miles of railroad
• 1901 Texas has 3.5 million bales of cotton

Cotton in Texas

• 1852 cotton census showed Texas was eighth-placed in producing cotton in the U.S.A.
• 1859 census showed Texas had 431,645 bales of cotton
• 1869 cotton production decreased due to Civil War

Cattle in Texas

• Importance of livestock like cattle shot up post Civil War when they could be sold up to six times more in the north
• Cowboys would risk their lives to make sure the cattle got there safely, this is how the iconic image of the cowboy was born
• Soon cowboys started using trains because they were much safer

Railroad Expansion

• 1871 Houston and Texas Central railroad co. reach Corsicana
• 1872 Houston and Texas Central reach Dallas and Austin while the Missouri, Kansas , and Texas railway co. reached Denison
• 1873 Houston and Texas Central reached the Red River connecting Texas with the naitionwide network

Railroad production

• 1880-1890 more than 6,000 miles of track were built
• Some major lines were the Galveston, Harrisburg, and San Antonio and the Texas and Pacific which formed two transcontinental routes across the state
• Some other lines were made connecting Mexico, New Mexico, and Denver to Texas

Cotton Explosion

• After the Civil War cotton production exploded from 350,628 bales in 1869 to 3.5 million bales in the year 1900
• The introduction of barbed wire and railroad construction further stimulated the industry
• Landowners were the primary beneficiaries of the cotton boom because of poor conditions for sharecroppers and field workers

The era of cotton, cattle, and railroads was a very important time of economic growth. Texas would not be what it is today without it.