What allowed for the expansion of the ranching industry?


• Laws created by the government prohibited cattle drivers from cutting barbed wire.
• American Indians and buffalo had been removed from the plains of north Texas.
• Railroads allowed for sedentary ranchers to take their cattle far distances.
• Windmills created a way for the mass amounts of cattle to have fresh water.

• The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed settlers to claim land for free.