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Originally Posted by t walgamuth
That was what I was going to say. In some cases the right of way land was just the beginning, the government also gave them additional land to sell to help pay for the cost of building the railroads.
Didn't you ever wonder how they managed to shoot those railroads across the whole country in one fell swoop?
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Stephen Ambrose's "Nothing Like It in the World" is a very readable account of the history of the trans-continental railway. According to Ambrose the task was a bit more complicated than a fell swoop. But the railroads did receive considerable land, up to 15 miles, on either side of their tracks as payment.