 |
Re: According to the Ceremony in Ogden Who's who??? Casement and Strobridge...
Author: J Mann
Date: 05-09-2019 - 16:45
BOB2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Abraham Lincoln, and the Pacific Railroad Act of
> 1862, establishing a very specific route, very
> favorable to those interests, giving the
> corporation they established a whole lot of
> publicly owned land to mortgage, develop, or sell,
> and what would be, in today's dollars, as a
> percent of the GDP, tens of billions of dollars in
> taxpayer direct payments, probably helped just a
> wee bit, too.
What everyone forgets is that the land that was granted to the railroads was worthless until the railroads were built. After the railroads were built the land that could support farming and ranching became productive tax producing assets for the government. The act granted alternating 10 square mile tracks of land for every mile of track but the government kept control of the non-granted land. This land was also sold by the government at a far greater value than what they could have got for it without transportation infrastructure. The railroads (specifically CP) were also granted a bunch of desert land of no value that is counted in the total. Much of this land has reverted to the government and is BLM land.
It is interesting to note that UP was accused of building a meandering route to increase the land they were granted. After the link-up at Promontory they went back and basically rebuilt the railroad straightening it out where they could. I have wondered if the reporters of the era took into account that straightening the line required cuts and fills that would have slowed down the UP in it's race to meet the CP. Following the land contours would look meandering and did give UP more miles of track, but also got the UP farther west preventing the CP from getting to the more valuable land. The CP didn't meander because most of the land they crossed had no resale value.
A lot of people also forget that the act was passed during the Civil War. The biggest reason the central route was selected is because the southern route was in control of states in rebellion against the Union. The US government was worried that California would join the Confederacy and created the act "to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, and to secure to the government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes." By doing this it was believed it would lock the loyalty of California to the Union. Oregon could (and was) connected to the Union after the key link was forged to California. Note that in the above quote is that use by the military was identified as a reason to fund the act. The Civil War was the first war where railroads with the ability to rapidly move of troops and supplies became a factor. The Union wanted the link with the west (all the land along the route) to be able to rapidly move troops to keep it under Union control. What is also rarely talked about is that part of the deal gave the government reduced transportation rates. The government too advantage of the reduced rates until after WWII when they were eliminated.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Abraham Lincoln, and the Pacific Railroad Act of
> 1862, establishing a very specific route, very
> favorable to those interests, giving the
> corporation they established a whole lot of
> publicly owned land to mortgage, develop, or sell,
> and what would be, in today's dollars, as a
> percent of the GDP, tens of billions of dollars in
> taxpayer direct payments, probably helped just a
> wee bit, too.
What everyone forgets is that the land that was granted to the railroads was worthless until the railroads were built. After the railroads were built the land that could support farming and ranching became productive tax producing assets for the government. The act granted alternating 10 square mile tracks of land for every mile of track but the government kept control of the non-granted land. This land was also sold by the government at a far greater value than what they could have got for it without transportation infrastructure. The railroads (specifically CP) were also granted a bunch of desert land of no value that is counted in the total. Much of this land has reverted to the government and is BLM land.
It is interesting to note that UP was accused of building a meandering route to increase the land they were granted. After the link-up at Promontory they went back and basically rebuilt the railroad straightening it out where they could. I have wondered if the reporters of the era took into account that straightening the line required cuts and fills that would have slowed down the UP in it's race to meet the CP. Following the land contours would look meandering and did give UP more miles of track, but also got the UP farther west preventing the CP from getting to the more valuable land. The CP didn't meander because most of the land they crossed had no resale value.
A lot of people also forget that the act was passed during the Civil War. The biggest reason the central route was selected is because the southern route was in control of states in rebellion against the Union. The US government was worried that California would join the Confederacy and created the act "to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, and to secure to the government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes." By doing this it was believed it would lock the loyalty of California to the Union. Oregon could (and was) connected to the Union after the key link was forged to California. Note that in the above quote is that use by the military was identified as a reason to fund the act. The Civil War was the first war where railroads with the ability to rapidly move of troops and supplies became a factor. The Union wanted the link with the west (all the land along the route) to be able to rapidly move troops to keep it under Union control. What is also rarely talked about is that part of the deal gave the government reduced transportation rates. The government too advantage of the reduced rates until after WWII when they were eliminated.
