What did the Pacific Railroad Act do for the Transcontinental Railroad?
The first Pacific Railroad Act was signed by former railroad lawyer, President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. The Pacific Railroad Acts formed the Union Pacific Railroad, authorized the route to be constructed by the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad, and provided funding for the transcontinental railroad in the form of government bonds (which had to be repaid with interest) and land grants (half the land for the railroads and half for the government in a checkerboard pattern so both would benefit financially when the initially almost worthless land would become valuable [in places where water was available] after the railroad was constructed). Williams’ Pacific Tourist, 1877, has advertisements regarding lands for sale from $1 – $10 per acre according to location (see pages 282, 283, and 284). Also see the Land Office Reports of 1861 & 1862.
Related Questions
- Why did the Central Pacific want so badly to use a 5 gauge when they asked Lincoln to approve it for the Transcontinental Railroad (instead of the 4 8 1/2" gauge that was actually used)?
- What do the people down there think about a transcontinental line of railroad along the thirty-fifth parallel?
- What did the Pacific Railroad Act do for the Transcontinental Railroad?
