This book is an economic history of Texas at the end of the nineteenth century. In 1875, Texas was an agrarian state with limited industry. A generation later, agriculture was heavily commercialized, thousands of miles of railroads carried people and goods around the state, and urban populations increased rapidly. Even before the Spindletop gusher that irrevocably changed the state’s future, Texas had already moved far from its days as a Mexican and American frontier.

"No previous study had attempted such an ambitious overview and synthesis of the events and movements which brought Texas to the threshold of the twentieth century." - West Texas Historical Association Year Book