Cowboys

There were 5 million cattle in Texas. The cattle were known as longhorns and sold in Texas for $4 each. However, in eastern cities cattle were worth $40 each because beef was scarce. Realizing that a profit could be made ranchers needed to find a way to move their cattle across the country.

Their solution was the cattle drive. On a cattle drive, cowboys would guide large herds of cattle north to the rail road lines across the Great Plains.

After the Civil War, freed slaves left the South because it was too hard to find a job and they moved westward. Many went to Texas and found work as ranch hands. Many of the cowboys who rode the cattle trails during the 1800’s were these freed slaves. They became known as the Black Cowboys of Texas.

The cattle drives ended in the late 1800’s because of the expansion of the railroads into Texas. The ranchers no longer had to use trails such as the Great Western Trail or the Chisholm Trail to drive their cattle to places such as Dodge City, Kansas to ship them to the Northern and Eastern States, such as Chicago.

Cattle drives ended in the 1880’s because farmers in the plains set up fences around their land to keep the cattle out. Also, new railroad lines reached into Texas, making cattle drives unnecessary.

Industry

New inventions changed the way of life in the United States. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Thomas Edison captured electricity and created the light bulb. Edison also brought electricity into homes across the country.

The Wright Brothers took flight in the first airplane. Andrew Carnegie produced steel to be used to make large buildings. John D. Rockefeller produced oil and Henry Ford created an automobile company that used the assembly line and mass production.