1. The prosperity of his establishment stimulated the creation of other ranches and growth in the region , creating a population that would define the early city .
2. The prosperity of his establishment stimulated the creation of early ranches and growth in the region and created a population that the other city would define .

Select your answer from the options. Are these two sentences paraphrases of each other?
Available choices:
a). no;
b). yes;...I think the answer is
a).