THE DISPOSITION OF OUR PUBLIC LANDS 263 



be used toward the construction of the Illinois Central and the 

 Mobile and Ohio lines, reaching from Chicago to the Gulf. Be- 

 tween 1850 and 1872 about eighty similar land-grants were made. 

 The principal lines of communication in Minnesota and Iowa, 

 and important roads in Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, 

 Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida were subsidized. 

 In 1862 a new problem presented itself. It became a political 

 necessity to lay a line of railroad across the continent. Between 

 Iowa and California there were no states to which the grant 

 could pass. Congress, therefore, promised a subsidy to corpora- 

 tions which undertook to build the road. 



In the ten years following, some twenty-three similar grants 

 were made, in almost all cases for roads running east and west, 

 and intended to form links in transcontinental lines. To satisfy 

 the terms of the acts, about one hundred and fifty-five millions of 

 acres would be necessary. Several companies never built their 

 roads, and earned no grant ; others completed the work after the 

 prescribed time. In a few cases Congress has formally declared 

 the grant void, and has restored the land to the public domain. 

 In 1883 nearly the whole area was at least withdrawn from settle- 

 ment, pending a legal return to the full control of the government ; 

 but only forty-seven millions of acres had been formally patented 

 to the states and companies. A few grants for canals and for 

 wagon roads, between the years 1863 and 1872, make up the 

 three remaining millions of the grand total promised by the gov- 

 ernment, a total of a hundred and sixty-one millions of acres. 



To express the disposition of the public lands in familiar terms, 

 the United States has parted with a tract equal to its whole area 

 east of the Mississippi River, added to the states of Missouri, 

 Iowa, and Minnesota (west of the river). The acreage sold is a 

 little more than the combined areas of the New England and 

 Middle States, with Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. The coast 

 states from Delaware to Florida (including Maryland) represent 

 the area of gifts to individuals. The remainder of the South, east 

 of the Mississippi, closely approximates to the area of grants to 

 states. The remainder of the Northwest, with Missouri, Iowa, 

 and Minnesota, may stand for the internal improvement grants. 



