In the last two decades of the 19th century, railroads had made sweeping changes in the lives of many of Texas' mostly rural, mostly agrarian citizens and forever altered the face of the state. Settlements formed around temporary railroad-workers' camps. Speculators created brand-new towns out of virgin prairie beside the gleaming rails. And existing communities that were bypassed by the tracks often curled up their municipal toes and died unless they were willing to pick up businesses, homes and churches and move to the rails.
The arrival of railroad transportation expanded Texas farmers' and ranchers' markets by providing faster and cheaper shipping of products. Cattle raisers were no longer forced to trail their herds long miles to railheads in the Midwest. In their classic Texas history text, Texas, the Lone Star State, Rupert Richardson, Ernest Wallace, and Adrian Anderson summarized it this way: " ... railroads were the key to progress and prosperity at the end of the 19th century."
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