Southern Texas Cattle Industry Essay

Southern Texas is the original place of the cattle industry in the 1700s. During the 1860s through the 1890s, the cattle industry was transformed and grew rapidly. The cattle industry was changed from a small trades among owner to enterprise which had a huge scale. The reason of the growth and transformation of the cattle industry are Indian removal and the advancing railroad.
The most important key of transformation of the cattle industry is the extension of the railroad. Purpose of grazing changed from making money among a little town to making business among several towns near the ranch. With the development of the railroad, the industry had opportunity to expend their cattle to urban market in The East and Midwest. “The key was to establish a shipping point on the railroads west of the settled farming regions, a step first taken in 1867 by Joseph McCoy, an Illinois cattle shipper”( Goldberg,ed7,The American …show more content…
“The cattle trade attracted other entrepreneurs who created a bustling town” (The American Journey, 555). The railroad also helped the development of the western cities. Because of the cattle drive, the cattle industry was not only limited in Texas, but also other states. In Kansas, the Indian removal provided a good condition for open-range ranching. Because of the removal of Indian, huge area of western land were free and were explored. The land is used to graze, which brings both benefit to the government and the rancher. It not only can make grass land reduces but also free grass to feed calves. It is popular at that time because it is a good way to make more benefit. Open-range ranching is to use public land for feeding the cattle. What they need to invest is ranch house and the water source, they do not even need to buy the land. At the early 1880s, this kind of grazing way made a