Texas was built on stories of cactus, cattle, and cowboys that have stretched as big as the state itself to encompass the even more fabulous tales of railroads, oil, and the bravest of settlers. Railroads brought commerce, people, and vitality to early Texas creating such strong growth and welcoming numerous industries that now the state's economy is broad based and globally reknowned. Men like Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving pioneered ranching on the prairies and their kind was only tamed when fence posts and barbed wire closed the open range in the 1880s. With more than 26 million residents, the vast majority of which reside in its cities, the Texas of today has the room, the resources, the diversity, and the willpower to continue at the unabated rate of growth of the last century. Texas' international cities gleam with glass and steel. From Austin to Amarillo, a visitor can be understood almost as well (sometimes better) in Spanish as in English. It is the character of the people, so many of them with a Mexican heritage, that gives a savory flavor to all things Tex-Mex.
