Final answer:
After the Civil War, ranchers had the foresight to capitalize on railroad expansion to drive cattle from Texas to sell at significant profits in Eastern markets. The development of cow towns, meatpacking industries, and barbed wire transformed the Western cattle industry from open-range drives to mass production and altered the cultural and economic landscape.
Step-by-step explanation:
After the Civil War, ranchers and livestock dealers recognized the lucrative opportunity to transport their cattle to the railroad, enabling them to sell the longhorns for a huge profit and ship them east to market. Initially, longhorn steers roamed the Texas frontier in great numbers, but the challenge was in getting them to eastern markets. The advent of the transcontinental railroad revolutionized this, making cattle round-ups and transportation to rail lines immensely profitable, fetching up to fifty dollars per head.
With the rail terminus initially in western Missouri, the cattle drives that began in Texas required significant effort and were fraught with danger, yet the payoff was sizable. As the railroad expanded, it further facilitated these drives, establishing cow towns along the way. However, the invention of barbed wire in 1874 and the growth of large-scale ranching and meatpacking enterprises like those of Philip Armour and Gustavus Swift foretold the decline of the open range and the rise of mass production in the cattle industry.
Ultimately, the emergence of commercial meatpacking and increased eastern investment ended the era of the free-range cattle drive. The western cattle drives not only shaped the cattle industry but also reflected the broader economic and cultural transformation of the American West during the late 19th century.