Many of the roads
had lands of their own for sale, but what they wanted most was
the traffic of the settlers. They knew the profit to be derived
from the industry of a dense population raising products which
must be shipped, and requiring imports which also must be
shipped. One railroad even offered choice breeding-stock free on
request. The same road, and others also, preached steadily the
doctrine of diversified farming. In short, the railroads, in
their own interests, did all they could to make prosperous the
farms or ranches of the West. The usual Western homestead now was
part ranch and part farm, although the term "ranch" continued for
many years to cover all the meanings of the farm of whatever
sort.
There appeared now in the new country yet another figure of the
Western civilization, the land-boomer, with his irresponsible and
unregulated statements in regard to the values of these Western
lands. These men were not always desirable citizens, although of
course no industry was more solid or more valuable than that of
legitimate handling of the desirable lands. "Public spirit"
became a phrase now well known in any one of scores of new towns
springing up on the old cow-range, each of which laid claims to
be the future metropolis of the world.
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