Tuesday, January 02, 2018

I found this old booklet about the railroad expansion into the west and the 100 plus million acres given to the railroads by the US Govt from the 1850s to the 1910s. It's quite possibly the only copy existing, and it is thoroughly and conclusively analytical as to why it was a good deal for the US govt, and the citizens



it totals 2 dozen pages, and I've buried the whole thing in the archives, out of the way, but complete if you actually want to take about a half hour to read it, or print yourself a copy

it was an incredibly impressive condensed analysis of 30 books about what the railroads were given, and what the govt got in return, and there probably will never be another like it, as the books it's based on are likely to be impossible to find now or in the future.

anyway, summed up, the govt gave away on average, 10 percent of the west, and in Washington they gave away nearly 25 percent of the state. (in the historical context, the wild west was the middle of the country, the states between North Dakota and Texas, and the states just West of the Mississippi)

in return the country was opened up, troops were moved, pioneers went west and stated populating and farming the states, and troops were moved 66 percent cheaper than stage coaches.


just one example of nation building by smart statesmen, mostly in Lincoln's presidency, and unlikely to ever be duplicated by our current greedy corrupt politicians

4 comments:

  1. There are at least 90 in libraries and archives though those appear to have a 1950 pub date, the 1945 version is in only 2 libraries. I'm a librarian so I have dark arts to find these things out.

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    1. Teach me the dark arts! lol... well, this also is just the pages 170ish to 190ish, so, there must be a far larger set of these, or one larger publication that bound all the little pamphlets into one book.
      For a truely unique little booklet, which has to be the only one, try the Vetta Venture owners Manual. I bet you can't find another!
      Only 19 of the cars were made http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/02/vetta-ventura-brochure-and-ownners.html

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    2. I think it's only 20 pages or so, it was first printed in a journal called The Missouri Valley Historical Review. That's where the page numbers come from. I'm guessing this is a photostat of the journal article and the 1950 version was printed as a stand-alone booklet.

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  2. Still, that's not very many copies and yours in great shape.

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