What effect did population growth from 1850 to 1890 have on the physical environment of the American West? A. Migrants cut down the plentiful trees throughout the Great Plains to build large, wooden homes close to one another in towns throughout the West.

B. Railroads were built moving primarily North to South to carry southern cash crops to Northern cities without disrupting the Western cattle trails.

C. Settlers built homesteads, farms, and ranches that destroyed the natural grazing lands of wild herds of animals like buffalo.

D. Native Americans used barbed wire fencing to protect the boundaries of their reservations and limit the impact of settlement on their territories.