The cattle business originally started in Mexico. Railroads constructed after the Civil War opened markets in the East to Texas cattle. The idea of the Western cowboy is created. The cowboys were often blacks or Mexicans that drove the cattle to their destination and were paid little for their dangerous work. The long cattle drives came to an end due to overgrazing, blizzards and droughts that destroyed the grass, and homesteaders (settlers) who blocked off land with barbed wire.
To encourage farming on Great plains, the Homestead Act offered160 acres of public free land to families that settled for 5 years. Promotions of railroad also introduced hundreds of thousands of people in attempt to farm the Great Plains. Supporters of the act believe that it would create new markets for the nation's growing economy. A new invention known as barbed wire, up created by Joseph Glidden, help farmers fence in their lands. It helped close the cattle frontier when the open range was cut off by homesteaders. The windmill helps drill deep wells that provided some water. Sod-busters are settlers that lived on the dry and treeless plains and built homes out of sod bricks.