Your question is worthy of a master's dissertation as there is no one single answer. The Blount County Newspapers are full of letters of homesick and former Blount Countians from not only Texas, but Arkansas, Louisiana and the Indian Territory writing home to tell of their newfound fortunes or misfortunes. Some of the letters gave glowing reports of their new homes and encouraged others to follow. Others described the black, sandy land in some areas in Texas as not worth the trouble. (Ironically, at the time, these new settlers didn't realize they were sitting on top of substantial undeveloped oil fields!) There seem to be three primary reasons: agriculture, economy (and politics), and transportation. If you follow American migratory patterns, you'll see a evolution toward the West from the earliest days of the colonies. As the farmers wore out the land, as the yeilds dropped off, fresh lands to the West were eyed for development. Back in the day, farmers didn't fully understand crop rotation, tillage practices to control erosion, and fertilization techniques. Guano was the primary fertilizer, if it was available and affordable. The papers ran ads for guano constantly. But if you planted cotton on the same 20 acres for 20 years, eventually you didn't raise much cotton. The economy had its ups and downs following the Civil War. Not only that, but in the Old South, we experienced about 10 years of Union military occupation, and an invasion by carpetbaggers and scalawags. The Black Republican party and the Radical Republicans in Congress put sympathetic southerners, blacks, and transplanted yankees in positions of government in the late 1860s and into the 1870s which proved to be no minor annoyance to the ex-Confederates. Many of whom just got disgusted with the local governments they formerly controlled and moved away. The problem was less so out West. By the 1880s and early 1890s, the US experienced some national banking panics and other economic problems and hard times and some Blount county families went near bust and were forced off their old homesteads and had no choice but to seek homesteads elsewhere. Finally, by the 1880s, Birmingham was on an industrial boom and the railroad had pushed north to Oneonta which made it easier to jump on a train and evacuate across the Mississippi River if times got hard, or if the spirit of adventure grabbed you. For these and other reasons, whole families and sometimes whole settlements in Blount county found themselves transplanted to places like Ellis, Fannin, and Grayson Counties in Texas, among other places out West. The honorable Dr. Stiles can speak to that. Other individuals in Blount, like criminals, could commit a dirty deed and disappear out west. Some were never heard from again. (I have such relatives). But, as you said, sometimes it was for just for the adventure and the cheaper lands; plus the US Government at the time actively encouraged western migration with the offers of cheap or free homesteads. Those are just a few reasons so many folks moved from Alabama to Texas and other places out west. However, it is important to remember that as Blount Countians moved west, Georgians and South Carolinians moved into Blount County to replace those natives who moved away. To them, the Blount County grass was greener. To them, Blount County was "West." As a result, in the 1880s, whole settlements from places East in Georgia and the Carolinas moved to places such as Wynnville and the Rock Springs area, respectively. Many others, such as some of my ancestors from Georgia, moved over to Cullman County, formerly Blount. As a result, western migration is always relative. As a matter of fact, some Blount Countians didn't quite make it all the way to Texas and only got as far as Lawrence or Lauderdale or Colbert counties or some place in Mississippi. In any event, I'm sure there are other reasons not mentioned, but just my two (or three) cents....