Pioneer Life

1. Pioneer Life Commerce and Transportation p. 306 - 311

2. Trades and Professions • Some Texans made their living in trades, including brick masons, blacksmiths, carpenters, and wheelwrights. • Others entered professions such as law, medicine, the ministry and teaching. • The increase in population meant more people with specific skills settled in the republic.

3. Industry and Commerce Fuel Growth • The few industries in early Texas were located in towns or along major roads or rivers. • Over time Texans built brickyards, tanneries, iron foundries, cotton gins, soap factories, carriage factories, and textile (cloth) mills. • Able and creative leaders promoted the growth of business.

4. Better Transportation • Travel in Texas was difficult. • Some roads had been Native American trails, while others were originally built in the Spanish and Mexican eras. • Almost all the roads were unpaved, and rains often turned them into mud. • Almost all of the goods transported in early Texas were carried by freight wagons drawn by oxen or mule teams.

5. Stagecoaches and Steamboats • Stagecoach was a popular but expensive means of travel. • The Butterfield Overland Line provided transportation and all mail service to St. Louis and Memphis to the east and San Francisco to the west. • Stagecoach lines connected towns and cities within Texas. • They traveled about 7 miles per hour in good weather.

6. Stagecoaches and Steamboats • Steamboats carrying passengers and freight operated on Texas’s major rivers. • While steamboat travel was comfortable and cheap, but encountered problems like driftwood (rafts) and sandbars. • Buffalo Bayou was the most heavily traveled waterway in Texas. • It was an effective passageway for steamboats that carried cotton from the interior of Texas to Galveston.

7. Railroads Aid Business • The first Texas railroads were built shortly after statehood and into the early 1850’s. • To encourage the extensions of the rail lines, the state gave bounties of land and loaned money form the school fund to railroad companies. • By 1860 several railroads connected Houston with neighboring communities. • These railroads brought many kinds of products in and out of Houston and helped to make it one of the state’s most vital cities.

8. Telegraph and Newspapers • A telegraph firm called the Texas and Red River Telegraph Company had been chartered, or established by a state contract, in January 1854. • The company opened the first telegraph office in Marshall and began extending lines to many other cities. • Newspapers were an important source of information. • The Telegraph and Texas Register was the most influential of the early newspapers.

9. Texans Gather for Social Life • During the 1850’s most Texans lived on isolated farms and had few occasions to visit with their neighbors. • Texans combined many social activities with work like quilting and log rolling. • Dancing was one of the most popular forms of recreation. • The fiesta, a festival or religious celebration, was a part of the Hispanic culture.

10. Formal Education Advances Slowly • Although the Texas Congress set aside land for public education during the Lamar administration, no state public school system was established. • In rural areas, mothers often taught their children the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. • In 1854 the legislature set aside $2 million as a permanent school fund but Texas established few schools. • Colleges were founded by churches.

11. Religious Diversity Flourishes • Before the Texas Revolution, the Mexican government recognized only the Roman Catholic faith. • After independence, the Constitution of 1836 guaranteed freedom of religion. • Protestant churches grew in popularity. • Methodist had the biggest gain, and the Baptist and Presbyterian faiths also were successful.