RAILROADS Flashcards
Benefits of transcontinental railroads
Ensured a great migration for people and westward expansion
Alternate sections of land the government retained along the tracks fetched twice the normal size
Life on the plains
Most settlers who went westward earned their livings from the land . A few ranchers and cowboys and Shepard’s depended on there crops for live hood
Cons of becoming a farmer
Livestock, wagons and fences were expensive
Unpredictable weather, Tornados, hail storms
Interest rates on loans were very high
Far away from society if in danger of
Pros of becoming a farmer
Own the land you live on
160 acres of land for free if you lived there
Could escape poverty and unemployment
Why did cattle drives develop?
Texas climate conditions were ideal for raising cattle and its new land use policies enabled individuals and ranchers to acquire grazing lands at 50 cent an acre
What put an end to cattle drivers ?
Railroad lines spread across the west, cattlemen realised they could best function by establishing cattle ranches on the plain
