What was federally owned acreage granted to the railroad companies in order to encourage the building of rail?

Question

lines called?

All I can think of is land grants. Did the have a specific name?

Answer 1

The railroads cleaned up by way of the enactment of the Pacific Railway Act, signed into law by Abraham Lincoln.

The railroads building toward each other was the Union Pacific from the east, and the Central Pacific from the west.

What they got was, a "section" of land (ie, 1 sqaure mile), each mile, on alternating sides of the right of way.

These of course grew to be towns in many cases, which gave the railroads the opportunity to build, or rather, import a customer base.  It is no use to have a railroad if there is no reason for people to ride it.

Machinery and other goods, not to say the least of the high numbers of people, moved from the industrial bases in the east, while the products of the burgeoning west, cattle, grain, perishables like fruits and vegetables, timber, minerals and the like heading to the eastern populace, meant the railroads had "back-haul" loads.  Revenue in both directions.

Thus, the great westward expansion that built itself into the United States we now know in 2008, was fomented by, and to the profit of the railroads.  The goals set forth by those who supported the 1863 legislation were realized.

It should be noted, when building through the Sierras, the CP (which became the Southern Pacific) went right through Gold country.  In and around the areas of Gold Run, Alta, Dutch Flat and a couple others, still in today's timetables, the CP employed hydraulic gold mining from the land granted them.  These lands still bear the scars of the high pressure nozzles, and the large and high piles of tailings are mute testimony to the amount of earth that was divested of its treasure.

It was a quite profitable "double-whammy."

So, in the end, the huge land grants worked out well for pretty much everybody, unless of course you were a Native American or a buffalo...

Answer 2

the term given was the land grant railroads, you are correct

type "land grant railroads" in google and you will have more information than you can read