Quote:
Originally Posted by Chas H
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.
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The land grants were every other section of land 20 miles on each side of the main line of the railroad.
Kind of a chicken and egg situation, nobody would buy the land from the railroad until the railroad had a line in so you could get there in the first place. Also a lot of the land was not very desirable. The railroads floated a lot of the funding until critical mass was reached on infrastructure.