How did rail companies get the land they used to build the transcontinental railroad?
In 1862, Congress passed the Pacific Railway Act, which authorized the construction of a transcontinental railroad. Four of the five transcontinental railroads were built with assistance from the federal government through land grants.
Did railroad companies get free land?
Together, the Burlington and Union Pacific Railroads had sold more than 7 million acres to private purchasers. Over 9.6 million acres was obtained free of charge under the Homestead Act. The railroads did not abandon settlers after they sold them the land.
How did railroads come to own millions of acres of land?
How did railroads come to own millions of acres of land? Railroads came to own millions of acres of land because for every mile of train track, the government would supply the Railroads with 10 square miles of land next to it. The government could not afford to lend the Railroads money, so they gave them land instead.
What is a railroad land grant?
In the United States, federal, state, and local governments as well as individuals gave railroad companies gifts of land to build their lines through the Plains. Railroads received an estimated 185 million acres of land from these sources.
When did the US give land to railroads?
Between 1850 and 1872 extensive cessions of public lands were made to states and to railroad companies to promote railroad construction. [ 18] Usually the companies received from the federal government, in twenty- or fifty-mile strips, alternate sections of public land for each mile of track that was built.
Where did the railroads get their right of way?
Under the provisions of this legislation the railroad companies building the line were given a right of way on the lands along the line and also 10 square miles of land for each mile of line built (excluding this grant when the line went through a community or crossed a river).
How did the federal government promote the construction of railroads?
Between 1850 and 1872 extensive cessions of public lands were made to states and to railroad companies to promote railroad construction. Usually the companies received from the federal government, in twenty- or fifty-mile strips, alternate sections of public land for each mile of track that was built.
When did the Illinois Central Railroad get land?
The Illinois Central had procured smaller land grants back in the 1850s. Small land grants were also offered in Ohio and Wisconsin in the late 1850s. The earliest land grant bonds in the database date from 1859.