Free lands for railroads
Mar. 23rd, 2014 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lionkingcmslOn a forum I frequent a poster brought up the old myth about railroads getting free land. He even went so far as to say the railroads "confiscated" the land.
First of all the railroads did not confiscate any land.
As to the free land myth, let's set the record straight: The railroads were never given land.
What happened was they were issued land grants, to help promote the settlement of the wilderness. The railroads had to pay back the value of the grants by rate reductions. In 1945 Congress repealed the land grant rate provisions, effective October, 1946. It was estimated, at the time of the repeal, that the railroads had paid the government, through rate reductions, ten times the value of the lands at the time they were granted.
When you pay ten times what the land is worth, even over the course of eighty years, that is not free.
Also the government never gave the pioneer western railroads money or bonds. What they did was make loans of bonds bearing interest at 6%, to hasten the building of the six pioneer railroads. The total amount loaned was $64,623,512. The railroads repaid a total of $167,746,490 which includes principal and interest. That is ~2.6 times the loaned amount.
My data comes from the Association of American Railroads pamphlet Quiz On Railroads & Railroading Thirteenth Edition, published August, 1964.
First of all the railroads did not confiscate any land.
As to the free land myth, let's set the record straight: The railroads were never given land.
What happened was they were issued land grants, to help promote the settlement of the wilderness. The railroads had to pay back the value of the grants by rate reductions. In 1945 Congress repealed the land grant rate provisions, effective October, 1946. It was estimated, at the time of the repeal, that the railroads had paid the government, through rate reductions, ten times the value of the lands at the time they were granted.
When you pay ten times what the land is worth, even over the course of eighty years, that is not free.
Also the government never gave the pioneer western railroads money or bonds. What they did was make loans of bonds bearing interest at 6%, to hasten the building of the six pioneer railroads. The total amount loaned was $64,623,512. The railroads repaid a total of $167,746,490 which includes principal and interest. That is ~2.6 times the loaned amount.
My data comes from the Association of American Railroads pamphlet Quiz On Railroads & Railroading Thirteenth Edition, published August, 1964.
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no subject
Date: 2014-03-24 11:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-03-26 01:31 am (UTC)Before he was married my brother used to travel a great deal visiting places of railway historical interest. On one occasion he told me of a farm house, miles from any railway yet built by the NSWR, with their normal constructional materials and distinct NSWR architecture.
What happened is that way back when the NSWR engineer was surveying the lands for the best route for the track his dog was shot dead by a belligerent farmer. The engineer got even - he plotted the railway right through the farmer's house which was compulsorily acquired and demolished. However the farmer lodged a claim against the state government and won. And that's why the railway ended up constructing the railway building that was never intended to be situated near any railway.
My brother is also an avid photographer, and I'm sure he would have taken pictures. I'll have to ask him at some point.