Questions you should be able to answer by the end of this unit:

· How did the building of railroads in Texas affect the cotton, lumber, coal, and cattle industries?

· How were settlement patterns in Texas changed by the building of the railroads?

· Why was the Texas Railroad Commission created?

· What new inventions helped farmers to produce more crops?

· What changes helped farmers in Texas to become commercial farmers?

· What other industries flourished in Texas following the discovery of oil?

· What cities became economic centers for Texas in the early 1900s?

· Why did the refinery industry in Texas concentrate in the Houston area?

· What was characteristic of the economic boom that developed in Texas as a result of the oil industry?

· Why was it necessary to expand the role of the Texas Railroad Commission to regulate the oil industry?