Boom and Bust Cycles in Texas

In [blank_start]1836[blank_end], the Texas Congress authorized a charter for the first building of a railroad in Texas.

A rail [blank_start]regulatory[blank_end] commission was created to [blank_start]regulate[blank_end] the growth of the rail industry.

The growth of railroads resulted from the [blank_start]oil[blank_end] [blank_start]boom[blank_end].

Today, [blank_start]chemicals[blank_end] and [blank_start]coal[blank_end] are mainly transported by rail and many of the rail companies in the state have [blank_start]merged[blank_end] or are no longer [blank_start]operating[blank_end] in the state.

The cattle industry has been important in Texas for nearly three hundred years. The [blank_start]Spanish[blank_end] brought cattle with them when settling the area.

Ranching became a [blank_start]private[blank_end] enterprise.

In the 1880s, there was "[blank_start]boom[blank_end]" for the cattle industry. In the late 1880s conflict developed between small and large ranchers and the need for [blank_start]grazing[blank_end] land that was sometimes limited by [blank_start]barbed[blank_end]-[blank_start]wire[blank_end] fenced areas. By the end of the century open area grazing had almost ended, with [blank_start]closed[blank_end]-[blank_start]range[blank_end] ranching.

A second boom for the cattle industry occurred before [blank_start]Word[blank_end] [blank_start]War[blank_end] [blank_start]I[blank_end], but prices declined and a slump occurred in the 1920s.

[blank_start]Small[blank_end]-[blank_start]herd[blank_end] [blank_start]stock[blank_end] farming also became important for the cattle industry. [blank_start]Beef[blank_end] cattle raising increased and [blank_start]dairy[blank_end] farming declined during the 1960s and 1970s. Prices for beef rose in the 1980s and declined in the 1990s.

Today the cattle industry is recognized for its commercial [blank_start]feedlots[blank_end] and [blank_start]meatpacking[blank_end] industries. Ranches have shifted the use of their properties.

The first oil field opened in Texas in the last [blank_start]nineteenth[blank_end] century. The "oil boom" was also called the "[blank_start]gusher[blank_end] [blank_start]age[blank_end]" and led to Texas's becoming a leading oil-producing state.

By [blank_start]1940[blank_end], Texas led the United States in oil production. There were wide swings in the prices of oil but they began to [blank_start]stabilize[blank_end] in the 1940s when Texas transitioned into an [blank_start]industrial[blank_end] state.

Petroleum prices rose again in the 1970s and 1980s during the [blank_start]energy[blank_end] [blank_start]crisis[blank_end]. Stagnant prices and rising costs resulted in downsizing of the petroleum sites.

The [blank_start]Spanish[blank_end] were the first to grow cotton in Texas.

During the Civil War, cotton production [blank_start]decreased[blank_end].

In the later part of the nineteenth century, the cotton industry was stimulated by an influx of [blank_start]immigrants[blank_end] into central Texas, the improvement of [blank_start]rail[blank_end] transportation, and the development of the [blank_start]plow[blank_end] and [blank_start]cotton[blank_end] [blank_start]gin[blank_end].

The arrival of the [blank_start]boll[blank_end] [blank_start]weevil[blank_end] caused much devastation to the industry.

The demand for cotton [blank_start]increased[blank_end] during the World War I era but after the war, prices for cotton [blank_start]decreased[blank_end]. During World War II many sharecroppers and tenant farmers moved to cities to work in wartime industries.

Today, there are [blank_start]fewer[blank_end] farms producing cotton but the cotton-producing farms are [blank_start]larger[blank_end] than before. There are also better, and more, [blank_start]weed[blank_end] and [blank_start]pest[blank_end] control methods.

The real estate market responds to [blank_start]economic[blank_end] conditions and to the need for [blank_start]land[blank_end]. The real estate boom occurred during the [blank_start]oil[blank_end] boom. When prices skyrocketed and caused a decline in the industry, the housing market was also affected.

When Texas became a center for [blank_start]banking[blank_end] and [blank_start]computer[blank_end] [blank_start]technology[blank_end], the larger cities were revitalized and real estate sales and prices [blank_start]increased[blank_end].

The first bank, which was the first chartered bank west of the Mississippi River, was established in Texas in [blank_start]1822[blank_end]. The first commercial bank in Texas was established in [blank_start]1835[blank_end] and provided loans for the [blank_start]Texas[blank_end] [blank_start]Revolution[blank_end].

The state's 1845 [blank_start]constitution[blank_end] prohibited the incorporation of banks but many merchants performed banking functions and there were many [blank_start]moneylenders[blank_end] throughout the state. The only chartered bank in the state before the Civil War was established in 1847 in [blank_start]Galveston[blank_end].

After [blank_start]Reconstruction[blank_end], banks were established by special acts of the legislature. The state constitution was amended to permit state banks.

[blank_start]Lending[blank_end] practices, overextension of [blank_start]credit[blank_end], decline in [blank_start]petroleum[blank_end] prices, problems in the [blank_start]savings[blank_end] and [blank_start]loan[blank_end] industry, and speculation in the [blank_start]real[blank_end] [blank_start]estate[blank_end] sector caused damage to the banking industry.

Computer technology services accounts for approximately [blank_start]70[blank_end]% of the employment in the information technology sector.

In 2012, Texas was ranked No. [blank_start]3[blank_end] in the United States for employment in the computer systems sector.