18 - 3

West Texas Climate• Very Dry• Little annual rainfall

Ranchers used windmills to pump water from underground

aquifers to the surface for livestock and household use.

Dry Farming

Railroads bring new towns

• Towns grew along the railroad’s route through west central Texas

• Abilene• Sweetwater• Big Spring• Amarillo

Cotton

•Most valuable cash crop in Texas

The typical Texan of the late 1800s was not a rancher.

He was a cotton farmer!

Proceso Martinez• Businessman who brought

cotton to the Rio Grande Valley

More Texas Crops

• Wheat

• Corn

• Rice

• Sugarcane

• Honey

Some Farms Unsuccessful

• Boll weevil• Grasshoppers • Drought• Egypt and India increased their

cotton production, lowering the price. (When supply goes up, prices go down)

After the Civil War, many plantations were subdivided into

small farms.

The smaller farms were either sold to new owners or rented to tenant farmers and sharecroppers.

Tenant System Replaces Slavery• Tenant farmers - rented the land

and shared the profit of whatever they grew with the land owner.

• Sharecroppers - Tenant farmers who did not provide their own seeds and tools (They rented them from the landowner.)

Farmers brought more people and towns to Texas.

These grew into small communities with schools, churches, roads, and businesses.