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Lower Plains: Kansas, Nebraska

Cattle graze on the plains in northwestern Nebraska. During the 19th century, ranchers discovered that prairie grass was excellent for feeding livestock.

Nebraska, including the western lands where cattle thrived. Railroads also gave the settlers access to a nation- wide market for their products. Nebraska’s cattle industry boomed. No battles were fought in Nebraska during the Civil War, but the territory indirectly contributed to the war effort by supplying beef to the Union Army. The war, in turn, boosted

stagecoach and steamboat to railroad, innovations in transportation were opening up more and more of the frontier. By 1867, the whole of Nebraska was connected by railroad. By 1869, the transcontinental railroad was complete. Now, the entire country was connected by rail, coast to coast. The railroads made it easier for set- tlers to populate more remote areas of