Cotton, Cattle and Railroads Review

Why did the practice of cattle drives begin in Texas?

• Cattle needed to be moved constantly.

• The Shawnee Trail enabled drovers to ship cattle to New Orleans.

• The Texas plains did not provide enough grazing land for cattle.

• The price of beef was low in Texas but high in other parts of the United States.

What happened as the railroads expanded across Texas?

• The railroads became less popular as time went on and there were less jobs.

• Transportation of goods and people across Texas became easier as the railroad expanded and Texas cities were eventually connected to other parts of the country.

• Some Texas cities became wealthy without the help of the railroads expanded as cities were eventually connected to other parts of the country.

• There were less jobs.

How did Texans use the railroad to positively modify their environment?

• Coal-burning steam engines were much cleaner.

• Railroad tracks required Texas rivers to be blocked permanently.

• Trees were cut in Texas to be used for railroad ties.

• Railroads were able to access parts of Texas that rivers did not.

Which statement is true about cattle trails?

• The cattle trails did not cross rivers.

• Fort Worth was the starting point for most of the cattle trails.

• Cattle trails ended north of Texas.

• Most cattle trails were less than 500 miles long.

Which factors contributed to the end of the great Texas cattle drives in the 1880s?

• Americans’ changing food preferences away from beef

• danger from Native American raids and loss of cowhands

• falling beef prices and closing of the open range

• rise of competing industries in eastern states

Who invented the barbed wire?

• Charles Goodnight

• George Wilkins Kendall

• Joseph Glidden

• Richard Kleberg

What project did the owners of the XIT Ranch fund in exchange for a large land grant?

• building new railroad lines

• establishing meatpacking plants

• moving Native Americans to reservations

• rebuilding the state Capitol

Which of the following was a major reason for the decline of the open range in Texas in the late 1800s?

• invention of barbed wire

• invention of refrigeration

• conflict between ranchers and farmers

• expansion of sheep ranching

Why did most sharecroppers not become independent farmers?

• They chose to invest their farming profits in other opportunities.

• They chose to continue renting because landowners charged low rents.

• They could not afford to buy their own land and supplies because of high debt.

• They did not work hard enough because the land did not belong to them.

Which statement is true regarding tenant farmers?

• Sharecropping was a practical way to make enough money to someday own a farm.

• Tenant farmers outnumbered ranchers in western Texas.

• Drought, overproduction, and competition forced most tenant farmers to leave Texas.

• Working extremely hard was no guarantee of success for tenant farmers.